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Remembering Clark Gable
Clark Gable died 63 years ago today. He was 59 years old. The Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, Thursday, November 17, 1960: Marilyn Monroe Weeps for Gable by Bus Engleman It was my sad task to break the news of Clark Gable’s death to Marilyn Monroe, who co-starred with “The King of Hollywood” in the last picture he’ll ever make. “Oh, God, what a tragedy,” Marilyn sobbed, almost unable to believe it. I had gone to her apartment at 44 E, 57th St. at 4am and called her on the house phone. Her maid awakened her and she came to the phone sleepy voiced. The news that the man she…
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Gossip Friday: Resentful Ex-Mrs. Gable
From June 1939: Josephine Dillon Resents Title of Ex-Mrs. Gable “It has been exactly one week since anyone referred to me as the former Mrs. Clark Gable,” said Josephine Dillon to your reporter a few days ago. She added, “You don’t know what a struggle it has been for me to become a personality in my own name. They never say, ‘Josephine Dillon, period.’–always ‘Josephine Dillon, ex-wife of Clark Gable.’ Why don’t you write a story,” concluded the dramatic coach, “of us poor unfortunates whose apparently sole claim to present attention or fame is a label in the past tense.” As a matter of record, I do not think it…
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Gossip Friday: Not Taking Credit
From January 1940: Miss Josephine Dillon, first wife of Clark Gable, is newly appointed dramatics instructor at Christian College, Columbia, Mo. [She says] Clark had a number of faults when she began coaching him. For two things, there were his ears, as someone suggested to her. His voice was too high. “All athletic men, Dempsey, Weismueller and others, have high voices,” she observed. “Then, too, the greatest fault was Clark had a big body and he didn’t know how to handle it. He also had the accent of that part of Ohio from which he came.” Miss Dillon fixed up everything except the ears, but she refused to take credit…
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Gossip Friday: Just Give Up
From June 1951 (Sheilah Graham): No one, not even the columnists who were constantly linking Clark Gable with this girl and that grandmother, really expected him to try marriage again. I knew wife number one, Josephine Dillon, when I first came to Hollywood. It was Jo who nurtured the acting ambitions of young Clark. When talking to me about him, she was kind of detached, like an aunt discussing a favorite but far-away nephew. I was in New York when Clark’s second wife Rhea announced the separation. So was Clark, who sprinted all over Manhattan dodging reporters. The tragic death of wife number three, Carole Lombard, seemed to write “End”…
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Gossip Friday: Teacher’s Pets
From December 1939: You can bet your bottom dollar that the dramatic students at Christian College, Columbia, Mo., are going to do a lot of hanging around after class to ask questions of their new coach. Because the new coach is Josephine Dillon Gable–first wife of Clark Gable. And Mrs. Gable isn’t going to answer any questions about him in class. But afterwards she’ll be glad to. And she thinks she knows just about what they will ask. “People always ask the same things about Clark,” she told me… “Are his teeth false?” “Yes.” “Are his ears pinned back?” “Yes.” “What does he like best to eat?” “Cheese and crackers…
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{New Article} 1931: How Many Marriages for Clark Gable?
This short little article from 1931 is extremely tabloid-y but that is what makes it interesting! Published in the fall of 1931 when Clark was the newest heart throb, articles like this were the result of editors screaming at their writing staff, “I need pieces on Clark Gable NOW!” So, they grasp at whatever straws they have, which, back in the days before internet and uh, actual fact checking, were largely rumors. “No,” Clark Gable’s friends quote him as saying last summer. “I’m not married now. My wife just got a divorce in April.” “Yes,” Clark Gable admitted six months later to inquiring interviewers. “I’m married. But I’d rather not…
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{New Article} 1931: What a Man–Clark Gable
As I mentioned earlier this week, this article is the first one on Clark Gable to appear in Photoplay magazine. Clark’s ascend to fame wasn’t very gradual–one month he was completely off the radar and the next the fan magazines were frantically scrambling to find out his backstory so they could put together an article. Well, every time a group of Hollywood’s prettiest get together these days, they say it’s a Gable Club. They’re all gabbling about Gable. It seems the lad has captured the fancy, not alone the screen fannettes, but also of the loveliest of the screen stars themselves. It is a remarkable thing, but typical of Hollywood,…
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{New Article} 1955: Clark Gable: His Life Story
I don’t usually like articles that are titled “Clark Gable’s Life Story.” Typically, depending on the time period, they are either short and fluffy versions of the truth or they are long, bloated and completely boring to Gable fans who already know he came from humble roots in Cadiz, Ohio and worked as an oil driller and telephone lineman. I have one magazine from the 1960’s that has such a story and the article is 25 pages long. I doubt you will ever be seeing that one typed by me and appearing in the archive! So I wasn’t too optimistic about this article, particularly since it’s from 1955 and Clark still…
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{Hollywood} The Former Homes of…
Instead of hopping on a tour bus to be driven around, snapping photos and hoping to catch today’s stars in their bathrobes watering their front lawns, we were on a mission to find the homes of the past. Let’s start with two of Clark’s wives… Here is the house on Landale that Clark’s first wife Josephine Dillon lived in from her arrival in Hollywood until her death. Clark owned this property, paid the property taxes and let Josephine live there rent-free. He left her the house in his will. After Clark’s widow Kay Williams sold the Encino ranch to developers in 1970’s, she moved into posh Beverly Hills to this house on…
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{Hollywood} Calvary Cemetery
Calvary is a beautiful Roman Catholic cemetery located in East Los Angeles. It dates back to the late 1800’s and that is evident. Unlike most of the cemeteries which were usually all flat headstones with the occaisonal elaborate memorial, this cemetery was filled with gorgeous tall monuments. My main reason for venturing here was to find Clark’s first wife, drama coach Josephine Dillon. When we arrived, we located the name of the lawn she was buried in and the area was huge. We set ourselves for another long search, but it turned out to only take about two minutes; we had no trouble finding it because the headstone is HUGE. I am…
