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Hollywood Loses its King
“No one, not even Brando, has ever approached Gable. He’s the king–and he always will be.” ~Joan Crawford Clark Gable died of a heart attack 51 years ago today, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. Clark Gable, All-Time King of Movie Stars, Dies of Heart Attack by James Bacon HOLLYWOOD–Clark Gable, the greatest movie star of them all, dropped his head back on a pillow late Wednesday and died of a heart attack. The end came so fast that his doctor said there was no pain–just a few gasps. A few seconds before he had been asleep. A nurse in his room heard the gasps and shouted across the hall to Mrs.…
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{Hollywood} Forest Lawn Glendale: The Lawn and Freedom Mausoleum
Forest Lawn Glendale is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous! I have heard this before, of course, but this is one of those times where words don’t do it justice. Founded in 1906, the memorial park is famous for its vast collection of sculpture and art, as well as for being one of the first cemeteries to not allow upright headstones, giving the park a smoother look and appeal. There truly is no other cemetery like it, not that I have ever seen in my life. Of the five we visited, this was the first one (for obvious reasons) and we said later on that we shouldn’t have visited it first since it…
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Gossip Friday: Happy Centennial, Mr. Taylor
Today marks the 100th birthday of one of Clark’s close friends, Robert Taylor. Taylor started gaining fame on the MGM lot in 1936, after appearing in the classic romance Camille with queen of the crop Greta Garbo. His romance with and subsequent marriage to Barbara Stanwyck paralleled Clark and Carole in hype. After adopting a mustache in 1940, he was dubbed “The new King of Hollywood” and “The Next Clark Gable” by the press. There was no rivalry between the two men, despite what fan magazines said. Their ranches were near each other in Encino and they shared the same desire of a simple life. Clark and Carole and Bob and Barbara were fast…
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Gossip Friday: I’m with the Band
From January 1941: Leave it to Hollywood to think up ways and means of having fun at parties. The newest is the musical instrument gag that develops into an amateur orchestra with big name guests furnishing the music, if such it can be called. Going on the assumption that everyone thinks he can play some instrument whether he can or not, the Jack Bennys, at a recent shindig, rented an assortment of musical noisemaners and bade the guests go to it. Clark Gable and Bob Taylor each grabbed a saxophone, Gracie Allen a flute, Barbara Stanwyck a trombone, Jack Benny a bass violin, while Mary Livingston snitched the drums. After…
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Gossip Friday: Miss Harlow and Mr. Taylor
In salute of Jean Harlow, here’s some scoop about her from the set of one of her last films, “Personal Property”: The reported “romance” between Jean Harlow and Bob Taylor was a custom-built item direct from their studio. It was a perfect set-up, what with Jean and Bob typifying all that’s tremendous and colassal in sex appeal, adn what with the two fo them co-starring in “Personal Property.” We snooped around the set for several days just to make sure and we regret to report that all of the necking was right there in the script. When “Personal Property” finished shooting, Jean Harlow dragged out the festive board and tossed…
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Where were Clark and Carole 70 years ago today?
All dolled up and out on the town for a worthy cause! There’s Clark and Carole looking quite dashing, posing in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The occaison? An all-star radio broadcast for Greek War Relief that was held seventy years ago today–January 8, 1941. I love all-star events like this because the pictures answer the questions of “Did so- and-so ever meet so-and-so?” For instance, the event was only one of two instances that I know of that Carole is pictured with Myrna Loy (and that’s Melvyn Douglas and Tyrone Power with them too): Carole, Myrna and Tyrone share a secret:The dashing duo with Dick Powell, Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford and Shirley…
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Scandalously Unmarried!
If you’ve read any biography of Clark or Carole, you’ll come across a mention of a certain Photoplay Magazine article titled “Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands and Wives”. This seemingly innocent article caused quite an earthquake among the studios. It lists Hollywood couples who conduct themselves as if they are married—but they aren’t! The article scolds: And that, it seems, would point a lesson to the unique coterie of Hollywood’s unwed couples—Bob Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, who could get married if they really wanted to; George Raft and Virginia Pine, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable and the other steady company couples who might swing it if they tried a little harder. You…
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Gossip Friday: Ann’s Ideal Man
A short article from June 1940 in which actress Ann Sheridan describes her ideal man: Right here I’d like to mention that I don’t go around describing, unsolicited, my masculine ideal to everyone I meet. What I mean is, I was asked by Movie Mirror to do this…so in describing the sort of man I would choose if I were to marry I’m contriving a sort of composite of several men I know and like and admire… He’d dance like Cesar Romero. The Romero dancing is in a class by itself. He’d have Joel McCrea’s physique–tall, square-shouldered, rangy and not an ounce of spare fat on him! I hate bay windows,…
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Gossip Friday: Where’s the fire?
From January 1940: And now we have firemen Gable and Taylor, proud proprietors of their own fire-fighting apparactus, by cracky! While posing for publicity recently with the swanky MGM fire truck, Gable and Taylor were struck with the idea–and inrtigues, too, so to speak–that a fire company of their own to protect their property in the Valley wouldn’t be such a bad notion. So, upon recommendation of the fire chief, they purchased a neat secondhand job in the way of a chemical truck and are now offering their services to all their friends and neighbors. And to make the thing official Greer Garson, who is now appearing with Robert…