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Gossip Friday: Acrobat Over Queen
From February 1939: Norma Shearer has found an acrobat is more popular than a queen, taking the grosses of “Marie Antoinette” and “Idiot’s Delight” into consideration. Of course, in the latter, the ladies in the audience do nip-ups, too, because Clark Gable is in the cast. ___ I am not sure what “nip-up” is supposed to mean…
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Gossip Friday: First Shot in the Can
From January 1935: Twentieth Century’s “Call of the Wild” went into production at the United Artists studios yesterday with Director William Wellman making something of a record by putting away his first shot at 9:45am. More than 300 but and extra players shared the scene with Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Jack Oakie and Katharine de Mille. The call was 9:00am on the set. After two more days in the set, which reproduces Tex Rickard’s Skagway saloon during the Alaskan gold rush, the unit goes north January 3 in a Southern Pacific special of eleven cars, producer Darryl F. Zanuck stated. Ed Ebele, production manager, has has a staff of fifty…
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Happy 100th Birthday, Olivia de Havilland!
A very, very Happy 100th Birthday to Olivia de Havilland! Usually when I am writing birthday posts about Clark Gable’s co-stars they are actually no longer with us. But Olivia is alive and well in Paris, and I hope having quite a celebration! She may be most commonly known as “mealy mouthed ninny” (as Scarlett called her) Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, but Olivia had a illustrious career beyond Melanie. Olivia is a two time Academy Award winner (The Heiress and To Each Their Own) and was nominated three more times. She starred in such classics as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Adventures…
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Gossip Friday: Hitting the Road
From January 1935: Oddly enough, Hollywood, the film capital which is not a city, cannot be reached via railroad–except by freight train! Clark Gable and Jim Tully–one a screen idol, the other a noted scenarist and author–selected this unusual path to fame several years ago when they “hit the road” to study geography first hand. The paths of these two men crossed one day, and they “threw in” with each other, traveling together across the western states, taking odd jobs and gaining an understanding of human nature that was to stand them both in good stead. Tully has give the world many delightful and colorful stories based on his own…
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{New Article} 1935: What I Think About Clark Gable by Jean Harlow
Here is the continuation of yesterday’s article, where Clark Gable wrote what he thought of Jean Harlow. Now it’s Jean’s turn to gush about Clark–and gush she does indeed! I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have for a friend than Clark Gable. He embodies all qualities which are necessary for true friendship. Not more than half a dozen people in Hollywood, I believe, know Clark as he really is. He is so much deeper than people think. He won’t talk about himself—he doesn’t even seem to think much about himself. It’s not that he’s a Garbo. But he is always so interested in finding out about you that he never…
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{New Article} 1935: What I Think About Jean Harlow by Clark Gable
This is article appeared in Hollywood magazine in 1935, as publicity for the upcoming China Seas. Clark Gable and Jean Harlow were buddies, and the publicity team at MGM liked to circle that around. Here on the site we’ve got this article about them on the set of Wife vs. Secretary. And This one behind the scenes of Hold Your Man is fun too. The endearing way he talks about Jean is so sweet. So difficult to wrap your head around the fact that she would be dead in two years, at the age of 26. Here is what Clark had to say about his buddy Jean in 1935 (Jean’s part about…
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Gossip Friday: Dad Gable
From 1948: Very little has been written about Clark Gable’s devotion to his father. Seldom, if ever, did they pose for pictures together. And all for good reason. Clark’s dad was proud of his son, but wanted no part of the spotlight. He lived close to the Gable ranch with Clark’s adored stepmother. She died recently and while Clark was in Europe, his father followed her. Clark hurried home for the funeral. There were no crowds, no clicking cameras. That was the way Dad Gable would have wanted it. During all his years in Hollywood, unless he was out of town, Clark never missed Sunday night dinner with his family.…
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Gossip Friday: No Room for Takeoff
From April 1935: Clark Gable had his troubles when he boarded a plane at Dallas, Texas, en route for Hollywood, for a mob of his admirers, mostly women, burst through the police lines and surrounded the machine. Finally the pilot was able to get sufficient space to take off. The women certainly were frantic to see Gable.
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Gossip Friday: Setting Sail
From October 1936: Clark Gable is in the market for a yacht, with a globe-circling cruise in mind. Hollywood rumor has it that he will purchase John Barrymore’s “Infanta”, said to be up for sale. From a reliable source, I hear that Gable’s proposed trip will be for business, as well as pleasure, and that he will be accompanied by W.S. Van Dyke, adventuring director who filed “Trader Horn” and other notable films.
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Clark Gable’s Speech at Officer Candidate School Graduation
Clark Gable headed off to Miami to attend Officers Candidate School right after being sworn into the Army in August 1942. He finished 700th in a class of 2,500. At the graduation in October, he was persuaded (probably not willingly) to give the graduation address. Up until now, I only had a clipping of his speech, which was blurry and incomplete. Thanks to a dear fan (who has a signed original!), here is Clark’s speech in its entirety: Fellow Classmen: What’s happened to you, gentlemen? Why have you changed so much in twelve weeks? Look around you. Look at each other. What you see if a picture of discipline that did…