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Gone with the Wednesday: Is This Scarlett?
Last month, we posted Photoplay magazine’s sketch of Clark Gable as Rhett, from 1937. The following month, Photoplay upped the ante by publishing a sketch of Clark as Rhett with a woman that represented what they thought Scarlett should look like. Think Vivien Leigh fit the bill? Is This Scarlett? Again Vincentini scores–with this picture of Scarlett, as Photoplay conceived her. The prime requisite was, we told him, that Scarlett must be in Gable’s arms, for you see we still insist on Clark as Rhett. For the rest, she must have the fire of Paulette Goddard; the acting ability of Shearer; the voice of Alicia Rhett, Southern girl candidate, whose name…
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Nutshell Reviews: Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and San Francisco (1936)
In a Nutshell: Wife vs. Secretary (1936) Directed by: Clarence Brown Co-stars: Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, James Stewart Synopsis: Gable is Van, “Jake”, or “V.S.” Stanhope, a publishing executive happily married to the elegant Linda (Loy). Tongues start wagging about Van and his beautiful secretary, Helen “Whitey” Wilson (Harlow), whom he considers a close friend and confidante, but nothing more. While trying to secretly buy rights to a magazine from a rival publisher, he sneaks around town with Whitey, finalizing the deal. As his stories become inconsistent, Linda begins to suspect him and Whitey are having an affair. So does Whitey’s patient fiancé, Dave (a youthful Stewart). Dave grows irritated…
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Nutshell Reviews: China Seas (1935) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
In a Nutshell: China Seas (1935) Directed by: Tay Garnett Co-stars: Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone Synopsis: Gable is Alan Gaskell, a roguish captain of a ship that sails between Hong Kong and Shanghai. It’s established pretty early on that he’s been having some adult fun ashore with a Shanghai harlot, Dolly, who goes by the name China Doll (Harlow). So imagine his surprise when setting his ship off to sea that she is on board as a passenger! She confesses she is madly in love with him; he is weary of her and rejects her advances. She is green with jealousy upon the arrival onboard of…
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Nutshell Reviews: After Office Hours (1935) and Call of the Wild (1935)
In a Nutshell: After Office Hours (1935) Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard Co-stars: Constance Bennett, Billie Burke, Harvey Stephens Synopsis: Gable is fast-talking, take-no-prisoners-newspaper editor Jim Branch, who is determined to dig up a juicy story on a corrupt millionaire. He starts sucking up to the newspaper’s music reviewer, wealthy socialite Sharon Norwood (Bennett), when he discovers she is close to the impending story. After the millionaire’s wife turns up dead, Sharon and Jim disagree on the culprit. Jim becomes determined to crack the case and reunite with Sharon, whom he has now fallen in love with. Best Gable Quote: “You mean I’ve got to get out and walk home–like…
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Nutshell Reviews: Chained (1934) and Forsaking All Others (1934)
In a Nutshell: Chained (1934) Directed by: Clarence Brown Co-stars: Joan Crawford, Otto Kruger Synopsis: Gable is Mike Bradley, a South American rancher who falls for the glamorous Diana (Crawford) on a cruise ship. Diana falls for Mike too, despite the fact that she is romantically involved with a married Manhattan businessman, Richard (Kruger). She decides to leave Richard for Mike but, upon her return home, Richard tells her he has finally left his wife for her. Diana feels obligated to marry Richard and Mike is heartbroken. Best Gable Quote: “I admit I was on the prowl until you dropped down from the sky.” Fun Fact: The Crawford-Gable affair had…
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Gossip Friday: How Do You Find Miss Garbo?
From September 1931: Clark Gable is playing opposite Greta Garbo in her new picture. One day at lunch he was approached by an ambitious reporter. “How do you find Miss Garbo?” he was asked. “I don’t,” said Clark. “She is always on the set ahead of me.” And what’s more–they say Clark isn’t a bit “scared” of Greta like most of the other leading men who have played opposite her.
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Nutshell Reviews: Men in White (1934) and Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
In a Nutshell: Men in White (1934) Directed by: Richard Boleslawski Co-stars: Myrna Loy, Elizabeth Allan, Otto Kruger Synopsis: Gable is George Ferguson, a young doctor working hard to prove himself at a New York hospital. He puts medicine and his patients before all else, much to the chagrin of his heiress fiancé, Laura (Loy). He soon learns that all work and no play lead him open to temptation and he falls for Barbara (Allan), a nurse, with devastating consequences. Best Gable Quote: “What good’s a profession that can’t give you bread and butter after you’ve wasted ten years of your life at it?” Fun Fact: On the set of…
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Gone with the Wednesday: “Here’s Rhett–You Asked For Him!”
Here is another article featured in the archive about Gone with the Wind: Here’s Rhett–You Asked For Him! from Modern Screen magazine, March 1940. It has some interesting quotes from Clark Gable about playing Rhett Butler: “One critic’s going to cause me trouble. I feel it in my bones. He said I ought to retire because I could never top my performance as Rhett. I like to be patted on the back as well as the next guy, but, boy, that pat has the makings of a knockout blow. I don’t want people getting the idea that, from here on, I’ll be slipping. God forbid. And I don’t want people…
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Nutshell Review: It Happened One Night (1934)
In a Nutshell: It Happened One Night (1934) Directed by: Frank Capra Co-stars: Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly Synopsis: Gable is Peter Warne, a cocky newspaperman who has just been fired. On a bus to New York, he meets Ellie Andrews (Colbert), a runaway heiress, on her way to be reunited with her new husband whom her father detests. Peter soon realizes her identity and befriends her so he can get the exclusive story. Along the way, after masquerading as man and wife at an auto camp, sleeping in a field, hitch hiking and stealing a car, they fall in love. When Peter leaves Ellie at a motel in the middle…
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Nutshell Reviews: Dancing Lady (1933)
In a Nutshell: Dancing Lady (1933) Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard Co-stars: Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Fred Astaire Synopsis: Gable is Patch Gallagher, a short-fused Broadway producer who hires down-on-her-luck ex-burlesque dancer Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford) for the chorus line of his latest show. Janie is constantly pursued by a rich playboy admirer, Tod Newton (Franchot Tone). Patch begins to have feelings for plucky Janie, but grows bitter as it becomes obvious she is wrapped up with Tod. When he promotes her to the lead in the production, Tod becomes impatient (Janie said she’d marry him if the play fell through) and pays off the Broadway powers-that-be to shut the…