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Movie of the Week: San Francisco (1936)
This week, ruthless nightclub owner Clark Gable chases after virtuous opera singer Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco. Clark is Blackie Norton, a ruthless saloon-keeper in 1906 San Francisco. Despite their differences, he falls in love with Mary Blake (MacDonald), a small town minister’s daughter and aspiring opera singer whom he hires to sing in his revue. His childhood pal, priest Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), objects to him putting Mary on display and stopping her from her opera aspirations. Realizing that Tim is right and that she should pursue her dreams instead of letting Blackie hold her back, Mary leaves him and becomes a successful opera star. It isn’t until the…
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Gossip Friday: For Clark From Carole
From December 1938: How would you like to know what Carole Lombard gave Clark Gable [for Christmas?], what Claudette Colbert bought for her husband, Barbara Stanwyck’s gift to Bob Taylor, and vice versa? Well, here goes. Claudette today gave her doctor husband a magnificent new desk set and cuff links. Carole added to the handsome Cabonshon ruby we told you about with a new camera and an outboard motor for Clark. ___ Okay, it says it would tell you what Barbara Stanwyck bought Robert Taylor, and then it doesn’t say. Huh.
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Movie of the Week: Homecoming (1948)
This week, Clark Gable is an accomplished surgeon returning home from World War II, Lana Turner is his nurse love interest and Anne Baxter is his fretful wife in Homecoming (1948). Gable is Dr. Ulysses “Lee” Johnson, a successful surgeon with a loving and caring wife, Penny (Baxter). When he volunteers for the Army and heads overseas to fight in World War II, he meets a snappy nurse, Jane “Snapshot” McCall (Turner). At first his stuffy, conservative ways and her free-thinking style clash, but soon they are working well together in crisis and become friends. Penny becomes suspicious of their relationship when Lee mentions her frequently in his letters home.…
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Gossip Friday: A Quiet Holiday
From December 1941: The quietest Christmas celebration in its history was observed in a Hollywood accustomed in the past to tossing around presents of diamonds and minks and sables like confetti. There were some valuable presents to be sure–but most of these were United States defense bonds. Few parties were given, with most of the stars and lesser lights celebrating only with their families and intimates. Only the families with children made the usual fuss. On this score the two busiest homes were those of Mr. and Mrs. Bing Crosby and Mr. and Mrs. Don Ameche. They each have four sons. Almost as busy were Margaret Sullavan and her husband,…
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Movie of the Week: Test Pilot (1938)
This week, it’s Clark Gable as a fearless test pilot, Myrna Loy as the woman he loves and Spencer Tracy as his best buddy in Test Pilot (1938). Clark is Jim Lane, a boozing, womanizing army test pilot who walks to the beat of his own drummer. On one trip, his plane starts leaking gas and he lands on the field of a Kansas farm, where Ann Barton (Loy) lives with her parents. Their sparring turns to mutual attraction soon after and by the time Jim’s best friend and mechanic, Gunner Morris (Tracy) arrives to help fix the plane, they are in love. When Jim brings the plane home to…
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Gossip Friday: Teacher’s Pets
From December 1939: You can bet your bottom dollar that the dramatic students at Christian College, Columbia, Mo., are going to do a lot of hanging around after class to ask questions of their new coach. Because the new coach is Josephine Dillon Gable–first wife of Clark Gable. And Mrs. Gable isn’t going to answer any questions about him in class. But afterwards she’ll be glad to. And she thinks she knows just about what they will ask. “People always ask the same things about Clark,” she told me… “Are his teeth false?” “Yes.” “Are his ears pinned back?” “Yes.” “What does he like best to eat?” “Cheese and crackers…
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Movie of the Week: Strange Interlude (1932)
This week, everyone, including Clark Gable, is in love with Norma Shearer and sharing their thoughts about it in Strange Interlude (1932). Clark Gable is Dr. Ned Darrell, who has fallen in love with Nina Leeds (Shearer), a free-spirited young woman who is mourning the loss of her love in World War I. Also in love with her are family friend Charlie (Ralph Morgan) and Sam (Alexander Kirkland), a friend of her deceased boyfriend. Sam proposes to Nina and even though she is still heartbroken, she accepts and decides to move on with her life. Right after their marriage, Sam’s mother (May Robson) tells Nina that she and Sam must…
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Gossip Friday: Runaway Race for Rhett?
From February 1937: ...I note that Joan Crawford is gaining strong support for the role of Scarlett O’Hara, that Melvyn Douglas and Franchot Tone are threatening Leslie Howard’s lead in the race for Ashley’s role and that Clark Gable’s runaway race for the part of Rhett Butler is stirring up determined opposition. Those who want Clark can see nobody else in the role–those who don’t wax pretty savage in their counterblasts. As, for instance: “All I can say is ‘Heaven forbid Gable in the role of Rhett!’ and you can tell the horde who had the stupidity to choose him that they had better read the book over again. Such…
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Movie of the Week: Any Number Can Play (1949)
This week, Clark is a gambling house owner and Alexis Smith is his loving wife in Any Number Can Play (1949). Clark is Charley King, the owner of a gambling house in New York. After being diagnosed with a heart problem, he begins to re-evaluate his life: his relationship with his wife (Smith) and teenage son (Darryl Hickman), his business and his associates. Clark learns in the first few minutes of the film (from his doctor who smokes a cigarette and drinks liquor while he tells him) that he has angina pectoris, a heart condition brought on by stress (so the doctor says). Ironically, Clark’s fifth wife, whom he would…
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Gossip Friday: Scarlett O’Hepburn
From November 1938: “Idiot’s Delight” with Norma Shearer and Clark Gable, is pushing toward the finish line and Gable expects to rest over the Christmas holidays in preparation for a prospective start on “Gone with the Wind,” shortly after the first of the year. Gable and others predict that Katharine Hepburn will be announced shortly for the Scarlett O’Hara role. ___ I like Hepburn and all, but it’s hard to imagine that she was seriously considered for the part.