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Gossip Friday: Quite the Chicken Rancher
From March 1939: You’ve never heard of a more enthusiastic rancher than Clark Gable. He has bought 1200 chickens to go with the five that Andy Devine gave him as a gag birthday present, also some pheasant and a plow for the mule, Bessie, the gift of Carole Lombard.
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Gossip Friday: Not For Sale
From December 1941: The dilapidated automobile that Carole Lombard gave Clark Gable is “not for sale at any price,” Gable told salesmen and souvenir hunters. Specifically, he refused $1,000 for the ancient chariot.
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Gossip Friday: En Route to Pheasants
From October 1941: Clark Gable, the movie star, and his equally famous wife, Carole Lombard, paused briefly at the Omaha airport Tuesday night enroute to Watertown, North Dakota, where Gable plans to go pheasant hunting.
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Gossip Friday: Informality Rules
From April 1941: If Carole Lombard calls you on the phone and tells you that she and Clark Gable would like to have you come up to their San Fernando ranch for dinner, by all means don’t get yourself all gussied up. When the Gables are at home, informality is the law. Clark likes to loaf around in gray slacks without any semblance of a press. Carole, while always smartly dressed, still gets a big kick out of being garbed like a rancher’s wife. Don’t tell Clark he is a great actor. He’ll think you’re kidding him. Do suggest seeing his newest car. He’s like a little boy about automobiles and…
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Gossip Friday: Glare from the Audience
From January 1938: My eyes are still weak from the glare of the diamond bracelet Clark Gable gave Carole Lombard and which she wore when her hero appeared on a recent Chase and Sanborn broadcast. Carole sat in the control-room for a while watching Gable rehearse. She got so nervous she couldn’t stand it and so spent the rest of the afternoon in the Jack Benny rehearsal studio. As for the comedy spot Gable did with Charlie McCarthy (and which was a dilly, if ever there was one); the star’s managers frowned on the sketch on the grounds that it was undignified but Gable overrode the negative nods and went…
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Happy Anniversary, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard finally tied the knot 77 (can you believe it) years ago today! Associated Press, March 30, 1939: Happy Ending Written to Courtship of Hollywood Stars Fun-loving Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who wrote the long anticipated happy ending to the story of their courtship in a little Arizona town late yesterday, returned early today to the bride’s Bel-Air home. Exhausted by their 750-mile trip, they retired, to wait until later to move into the home on his One-Mule San Fernando Valley ranch which Gable redecorated in preparation for the wedding. Friends were not surprised when news of the ceremony reached here last night, although their…
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Gossip Friday: Clark and Carole, Together Again?
From January 1934: Clark Gable and Carole are to be teamed again in “Shoe the Wild Mare.” ___ Of course that didn’t happen and that film doesn’t exist, but interesting that it was contemplated. Their chemistry didn’t go unnoticed. Too bad Clark and Carole themselves didn’t notice for another two years…
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Gossip Friday: Awkward Neighbors
From December 1937: There was an awkward moment at the tennis matches the other day when Clark Gable and Carole Lombard found themselves in the next box to Mrs. Rhea Gable.
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Remembering Carole Lombard
Today marks 74 years since Carole Lombard died suddenly at age 33. She was the victim, along with her mother and one of Clark’s closest friends, of a fiery plane crash near Las Vegas. A difficult day for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard fans, as in a way it ended both of their lives. Carole’s life was over and with it went Clark’s entire way of life; he was never the same. Here is a bit of a collection of articles in her memory: From the article Goodbye, Carole: “I have seen flames around the plane and there seems to be nobody left alive.” Out of far West vastness eight…
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Gossip Friday: What’s Ahead for 1940
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! From January 1940, “Hollywood psychic” reveals what was in store for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard in that coming year: Both may expect a fine year. But there is someone in the background who is trying to make trouble for them. Clark faces a minor operation, and Carole must watch her health also. Toward the end of the year, a baby adoption is indicated. _____ Not so much….