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Gossip Friday: Snooty Star
From May 1937: Carole Lombard is called a Snooty Star because she won’t give interviews about her romance with Clark Gable. But after all, Mr. Gable, though separated from his former wife for a long time, is not divorced., so it would be very bad taste indeed for Carole to shoot off her mouth. She won’t do it, and rightly so.
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Gossip Friday: Have a Seat
From October 1937: As soon as he can get away from work every afternoon Clark Gable drives over from Metro and seats himself on the floor in Carole’s dressing room with a cheese sandwich in one hand and a can of beer in the other.
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Happy Birthday, Dear Mr. Gable
William Clark Gable was born 122 years ago today, on February 1, 1901, in Cadiz, Ohio. The only child of William and Adeline Gable, he was born at 5:30am during an intense snowstorm. Clark’s father was quite proud of his newborn son, as he recalled later, “The kid, I always call him that, was a real he-man from the start. He was a regular blacksmith from the time he was born.” The future King of Hollywood had humble beginnings. As detailed in “The King” by Charles Samuels: By one of those oddities of history that delight both scholars and simpletons Clark Gable was born just as Queen Victoria’s funeral was…
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Gossip Friday: Stolen Gloves
From November 1939: Clark Gable and Myrna Loy regularly have their driving gloves purloined by souvenir seekers. Both of these stars favor open motor cars and they seem unable to break themselves of the habit of leaving their gloves on the seats of their cars. The gloves seldom are there when they come back.
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Gossip Friday: Return to the Commissary
From March 1943: From the day Carole Lombard died, over a year ago, Clark Gable never entered the MGM commissary to take his accustomed seat at the director’s table. But on his recent jaunty to Hollywood on Government business, when Lt. Gable entered the commissary with producer Eddie Mannix for lunch, everyone in the commissary rose to his feet in a single united urge to pay tribute to the man they love and respect. And Lieutenant Gable sidled quietly to his chair.
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Gossip Friday: Sudden Lapse
From November 1947: Clark Gable and his favorite girl friend, Iris Bynum, had a sudden lapse of romance when their friends began taking the courtship too seriously; always a signal to retreat for the actor. Meantime Mrs. Dolly O’Brien, the Palm Beach matron who interrupted her romance with Clark to marry Jose Dorelis whom she is now divorcing, is back in Hollywood at the moment. At a Santa Barbara party together, Mr. Gable was dancing constant attendance on the fair Dolly. Handsome director Freddy de Cordova, however, finds Iris the dream girl of the moment and seems to be rapidly extinguishing any torch the personable Bynum may be toting.
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Gossip Friday: In Store for 1950
From December 1949: Predictions for 1950. Clark Gable has been a subjective much Hollywood speculation during the past year. Will he marry again? Can he really fall in love again? Well 1950 will be the best year Clark has known since 1938. (which forecast good notices for his new MGM film the Key to the City. ) I love affair which was interesting in 1949 may not be of much potency now, that might mean Paulette Goddard. He’s going to see an old friend in 1950, and that meeting may kindle the fires of the past. I wouldn’t advise marriage, however, before 1951. There’s some confusion in Clarks mind, a…
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Gossip Friday: Typewriter Doctor
From October 1934: Milo Whitlatch doesn’t have to be told that Clark Gable has been to the mountains or beach for a vacation. Whitlatch, typewriter doctor at Gable’s studio, had only to inspect the star’s “portable” when it’s brought in repairs. If Gable has been to the beach, there’s sand in the mechanism. If he has chosen the mountains, there’ll be a pine needle or two stuck away under the keys. If the art of conversation has died, the business of writing letters in longhand has all but perished too among Hollywood’s letter answering stars. Whitlatch attends to 355 typewriters, 200 of them belonging to writers, directors and stars, the…
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Gossip Friday: Quite a Turkey
From January 1940: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard raised their own 25-pound Christmas turkey.
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Gossip Friday: On the Sick List
From January 1940: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are on the sick list–but in a minor way. Carole is merely overtired from the Atlanta junket, and Clark has lost his voice from the same cause. As a matter of record, Clark found the jaunt much less dangerous than he had anticipated. “I had expected to be torn apart,” he said on his arrival back here. “But the people in the South are ladies and gentlemen–they leave you with your pants.”
