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Gossip Friday: Joining the Talkie Brigade
From August 1931: Hundreds of letters received this month asked for information about Clark Gable. The present screen idols are going to have to defend their laurels, with Clark gaining a stronger foothold in every picture. Fans seem to have gone hook, line and sinker for him. History reveals that Clark was born in in Cadiz, Ohio February 1, 1901. He reaches 6 foot, 1 inch, weighs 190 and has brown hair and grey eyes. Like many another youth he attended grammar school, high school and then took a business course, only to throw it over for a theatrical career. It was a lucky break for Clark. After a very…
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Gossip Friday: Barred for Life
From 1935, fan letter to magazine: I’ve just returned from the Coast where it was my pleasure to visit a major movie studio set. Here are some of the rules a visitor must observe: Don’t look at the actors, they hate being stared at. Don’t attempt to get autographs, stars resent being asked. Don’t snoop onto sets, somebody might get suspicious of you. Don’t make any noises, a sneeze at the wrong moment may cost the studio thousands. Don’t open your mouth, someone may think you’re about to speak and get nervous prostration. Don’t lean against a building, t may be made of cardboard and topple over. Don’t stay in…
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Gossip Friday: The Gift of Calico
From July 1941: The town is still in hysterics over Gable’s gift to wife Carole Lombard on their second wedding anniversary. When Carole, all atwitter with excitement, opened the gorgeously wrapped box, there lay the darndest set of calico panties, brassiere and petticoat you’ve ever laid your eyes on. Clark took that “calico for the second year” edict literally and had a studio dressmaker whip up the ruffled numbers. Carole is now trying to think up a comeback gag.
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Gossip Friday: Valentino the Second
From 1933: Clark Gable is another star whose fan mail comes addressed in every way except in his own name. Letters marked “Valentino the Second” and “The Great Lover” eventually find their way into his dressing room.
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Gossip Friday: Reunited?
From 1953: If the King leaves MGM as rumored, Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, who were one of the greatest box-office teams, may reunite in an independent Western. ___ Clark did leave MGM for good the following year, but he and Crawford were never re-teamed.
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Gossip Friday: You Just Can’t Beat That Guy
From March 1942 (fan magazines ran about three months behind): Clark Gable is rapidly taking over the role of best businessman in Hollywood. On their recent trip back east, Clark and Carole bought an $1100 car in a Middle Western town and drove it home. In Hollywood they sold the car at only $100 loss. The expenses home amounted to exactly $87. Carole and Clark stopped in small towns and hotels, ate in small restaurants and had a bigger time than Santa Claus. When people have more fun than Gable and get a bigger kick out of doing it the American way–that of the average man–then we give up. You…
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Gossip Friday: In Pursuit
From April 1949: Come spring, summer, autumn or winter, Clark Gable is the most energetic in his pursuit of the female of the species. But it is so hard to pin him down to the point where he will admit he is cornered and propose! For a few minutes it looked like Annie Sothern had the new inside edge. She and Clark were a close twosome at Zachary Scott’s party for his mother and father. But when I queried Ann, “Is it a romance?” she laughed and said, “Clark and I are old friends.”
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Gossip Friday: Iris, Betty, Virginia or Dolly?
From April 1949: Iris Bynum, the beautiful brunette from Dallas, Texas, was sure she had Clark Gable hooked for all of three weeks, last winter. But when Arizona socialite Mrs. Betty Chisholm came to town, Clark parked his fancy British car on her doorstep at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When Betty returned home, Clark had another date with iris at Ocean House, where she toils as hostess. But when Keenan Wynn asked Iris for a dance, Clark walked out in a huff and followed Mrs. Chisholm to Arizona. (I hope you are still following me!) Clark wants to marry–that I am told by the beautiful blonde he usually returns to,…
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Gossip Friday: Inseparable
From July 1936: Now, what’s all this between Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, anyway? It’s getting so you can’t hear or read about one without hearing about the other at the same time, too. They guffaw loudly at romance-whisperers, and they deny there’s anything to it–and yet they’re about as inseparable as a couple of newlyweds! (And, incidentally, wouldn’t they make a swell pair of brand-new-mr-and-mrs?) Latest double appearance was at the circus, when it played Hollywood–and Clark and Carole were as much eyed, if not more, than the rest of the show, the night they hand-in-handed it in the big top! Marry?–heck, I wouldn’t bet a tin dime on…
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Gossip Friday: Just Lucky
From January 1947: Clark Gable is still the same old Gable. A Broadway producer figured maybe he was bored with Hollywood and invited him to do a New York play. Said Clark: “Look, brother, I’m a motion picture actor. My artistic sensibilities–if any–are not stifled in Hollywood, and I have no message to give the world. I’m not a great actor and I never will be. I’m just lucky, or I’d still be drilling oil wells back in Oklahoma.”
