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Gossip Friday: Jiminy Cripes
From September 1941: Rumors spring out of nowhere in Hollywood and traverse the town’s grapevine routes like wildfire. A report that Gable and Carole Lombard were splitting up had the town on its ears one day last week. Gable, it was said, had quit home and gone to live with George Raft. After MGM’s phones buzzed for hours with queries, the matter was put squarely up to Gable. “Jiminy Cripes,” he said, using much stronger language than that, “what have I done to get this? I don’t even know George Raft.”
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Gossip Friday: Santa Checks Up on Good Boys and Girls
In the January 1935 issue of Hollywood magazine, they printed “Santa’s book” of good and bad points for film stars. So who’s getting what they wanted for Christmas and who is getting coal? CLARK GABLE Good Points: For giving is It Happened One Night. Being always thoughtful of others. When a friend had no place to keep her dog, he gave it a home on his ranch. Bad Points: Balks at picture assignments with women stars. Drives studio frantic by disappearing between pictures, when he is wanted for story conferences. Gifts: More dogs to take care of CAROLE LOMBARD Good Points: Proved she could act in Twentieth Century. Came…
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Gossip Friday: Bets on Clark and Carole
Since Clark and Carole were married 74 years ago this month, here’s one from November 1936: London, of all places, has the cutest new betting game. They’re betting, over there, on whether or not certain film couples will marry! ! ! They’ve even got a set of standard odds, like this: even bet that Bob Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck will wed; 90 to 1 against George Brent taking the leap with Garbo; 5 to 1 that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard will; 10 to 1 that Bill Powell and Jean Harlow won’t; 5 to 3 that Ann Sothern becomes Mrs. Roger Pryor; 7 to 4 against the Jackie Coogan-Betty Grable…
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{Hollywood} Forest Lawn: Hollywood Hills
Our trip to Forest Lawn: Hollywood Hills was a quick one. Founded in 1906, it is younger and smaller than its big Glendale cousin (blog on Glendale this week!) but is still gorgeous in its own right. The best part of the cemetery is the view; you could see for miles from the top of the hill. Our main objective here was the legendary Bette Davis, who was not at all hard to find. I left her a bouquet (dedicated from some dear friends of mine); she had already been given several flowers and also a big lipstick print. She’s entombed with her mother Ruth and sister Barbara. Right around the…
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Gone with the Wind hits Los Angeles
The Los Angeles premiere of Gone with the Wind was 71 years ago this very evening. Jean Garceau, Clark and Carole’s faithful secretary, attended the event with them. Here is how she described it: The theater was decorated inside and out in keeping with the background and theme of the film. Huge searchlights probed the sky, bands played, streets were roped off and uniformed attendants held back the crowds as the police permitted only those cars with passes to draw up in front of the theater. A long flower-decked canopy extended to the sidewalk and a master of ceremonies stood there to welcome the stars, announce their names over a…
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Scandalously Unmarried!
If you’ve read any biography of Clark or Carole, you’ll come across a mention of a certain Photoplay Magazine article titled “Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands and Wives”. This seemingly innocent article caused quite an earthquake among the studios. It lists Hollywood couples who conduct themselves as if they are married—but they aren’t! The article scolds: And that, it seems, would point a lesson to the unique coterie of Hollywood’s unwed couples—Bob Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, who could get married if they really wanted to; George Raft and Virginia Pine, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable and the other steady company couples who might swing it if they tried a little harder. You…
