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Goodbye, Mr. Gable
Clark Gable died 54 years ago today, on November 16, 1960. He was 59 years old. Here is the description of his final ten days on earth, detailed by his widow, Kay. The last day Clark spent in the house he loved began much as any other day on the ranch, except that it was raining. It was Saturday, Nov. 5, 1960. The night before, Pa had finally finished all work on The Misfits and he came home looking so worn out my heart ached for him. He talked of flying up to the duck club near Stockton for the weekend, but changed his mind. Saturday morning he looked…
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Gossip Friday: Night Owl
From December 1953: On his last visit to [New York City], Clark Gable gave most of the major night clubs a big play, and he was spotted in as many as five and six different cafes nightly but never with a party of friends numbering less than eight. Toughest assignment to get, according to newsmen, was a daytime interview with the star—he was never available until after sundown and never after sunrise.
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Gone with the Wednesday: It Pays to Advertise
Here’s just a small representation of the many kinds of posters used to promote Gone with the Wind upon it’s release and re-release:
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Happy Veterans Day
There are a lot of misconceptions about Clark Gable, but one of them that I really can’t tolerate is anyone who says his Army service wasn’t the selfless and heroic act that it was. Today is Veterans Day and therefore the perfect opportunity to revisit this 2008 article that was published in World War II magazine: Captain Hollywood Miami Beach can be miserably hot during the off-season, and in the summer of 1942—long before air conditioning became commonplace—it was an inferno. It was definitely no seaside paradise for the men of the US Army Officer Candidate School who lived there. Barracked in waterfront hotels that the federal government had stripped…
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November Movie of the Month: It Started in Naples (1960)
This month, it’s Clark Gable and Sophia Loren romping around the beautiful Capri scenery in It Started in Naples. Clark is Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer who travels to Rome to settle the estate of his estranged brother who drowned. He is shocked to learn that he has a nephew–an impressionable, unruly eight-year-old boy named Nando (Marietto), who is being cared for by his mother’s sister, Lucia (Loren). At first Mike tries to give Lucia some money and head back to America, but as he gets to know Lucia and Nando, he decides to stick around. Lucia works as a maid and cook during the day and as a nightclub…
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Gossip Friday: Drama with Dietrich
From September 1936: The debut of the Music Box Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, as a broadcasting station, was quite an auspicious occasion. Hundreds of people came to witness Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable give a stirring performance. However, there was just as much drama before the broadcast, as there was while the players were reading their lines. Marlene had to have her microphone adjusted so she could face her audience. It seems she is quite self-conscious about her profile. On the other hand, Clark prefers giving his audience a profile view, instead of meeting them full-face. After these little matters were adjusted, the play got off to a flying start.…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Via Col Vento Signed by Clark Gable
Clark Gable was famous for thirty years and in that time signed a lot of things–pictures, movie posters, books, handkerchiefs, napkins, hairbows, baseballs, hats…I’ve seen it all. This one, however, is new to me. Here Clark has signed–and inscribed–a copy of Gone with the Wind in Italian! Clark Gable writing in Italian! I would believe that this was inscribed while he was in Europe, either during his tax hiatus in 1952-1954 or while he was in Italy filming It Started in Naples in 1959. I am no expert on the various editions of GWTW so maybe someone can help me out with the year. I also know very little Italian, but this…
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It Happened One Night, 80 Years Ago
2014 has brought about the 75th anniversary of Gone with the Wind, which has been met with much deserving fanfare. No doubt, Rhett Butler is who draws the majority of people into Clark Gable fandom these days. But this year brings about another important film milestone: the 80th anniversary of It Happened One Night, the little-film-that-could, one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made and the first to win the Academy Award “grand slam”: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. It is safe to say that if Clark had never played Rhett Butler, he would be remembered best for Peter Warne. Director Frank Capra, one…
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Gossip Friday: A Perfect Disguise
Happy Halloween! This “gossip” comes straight from fifth wife Kay Williams Gable: One year Bunker (his stepson) asked Clark to take him to the Halloween festivities at a nearby public park. Pa hesitated, remembering what had happened the year before when he had accompanied the children. he was quickly recognized and surrounded by autograph seekers the rest of the evening. Not only did he personally shy from such attention, Clark also felt all the commotion was unfair to the children. This time Bunker had it all figured out. He had been to the dime store where they were selling rubber masks fashioned in the likenesses of various movie stars. “Here,…
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{New Article} 1939: The Clark Gables at Home
What we have here is a largely fictional article written to prove that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard had a simple home life–just like you do, the American public! When Clark and Carole bought that ranch and set up their home miles from Hollywood, spending time feeding chickens and mowing grass rather than attending premieres, the studio publicity depts and fan magazines decided to just play that up. So what you find are endless amounts of articles about their rustic domestic tranquility. This one is written by “Liza,” one of those first-name-only fan magazine writers that is probably not a real person. Nonetheless, it’s a cute little article: I drove…