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Gossip Friday: Best Dressed
From May 1933: Clark Gable says that the well-dressed man is the man who is never conscious of his clothes. He should be unconcerned and at his ease. Clark, who originated the turtleneck sweater, spent days selecting an aviator’s uniform for a picture he is now making. His choice for the best-dressed men in the world includes the King of Spain, Howard Hawks, Leslie Howard, Michael Farmer, Douglas Fairbanks and Bert Taylor.
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Gossip Friday: We All Make Mistakes
2020 From October 1931: Mark Hellinger tells a good one. It seems that a little over a year ago Leslie Howard was authoring and directing a play on Broadway and was muchly in need of a young man to play the love interest. A young man called at the theatre and asked for a job and the producer sent him to talk to Howard. Howard gave him a try-out and then reported to the producer that the young man he had picked up was utterly impossible in the role of the hero whom women adored. he just wasn’t the type. So, said young man was fired. Now it’s so happened…
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Movie of the Week: A Free Soul (1931)
This week is Clark Gable’s breakout role as a ruthless mongrel in A Free Soul. Clark Gable is Ace Wilfong (perfect bad boy name, I’d say), a gangster on trial for murder who is represented by upper class defense attorney Stephan Ashe (Lionel Barrymore). Stephan, while successful as an attorney, is an alcoholic who is frequently an embarrassment to his family, including his high spirited daughter, Jan (Norma Shearer), who catches Ace’s eye at their first meeting. Stephan gets Ace cleared of the charges and Ace starts pursuing Jan once he is free, much to the chagrin of Jan’s stuffy fiancé, Dwight (Leslie Howard). Jan is quickly swept up…
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Gone with the Wednesday: On the Set
Photos from the set of Gone with the Wind:
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Gone with the Wednesday: I’ve Seen You Before
Gone with the Wind had an absolutely stellar cast, and as I have discussed with many a fellow film fan, it is a great launching pad for anyone to delve into classic films. You can start with any of the four leads–Leigh, Gable, de Havilland, Howard–and start diving into their films and you are awash with classic film fabulousness. And for many of these players, it wasn’t their first time sharing the screen. Let’s see who Clark Gable met up with elsewhere: Clark and Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pittypat) also co-starred in Idiot’s Delight (1939), which they made just prior to GWTW. Clark also previously shared the screen with Hattie…
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Gone with the Wednesday: The Stars Before “the Wind”
Let’s take a look at the stars of Gone with the Wind before they starred in their iconic roles 75 years ago… Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara) Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Wilkes) Ann Rutherford (Carreen O’Hara) Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara) Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes) Barbara O’Neill (Ellen O’Hara) Thomas Mitchell (Gerald O’Hara) and…a young Clark Gable (Rhett Butler)
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Nutshell Reviews: A Free Soul (1931)
In a Nutshell: A Free Soul (1931) Directed by: Clarence Brown Co-stars: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore Synopsis: Gable is Ace Wilfong, a gangster on trial for murder being represented by upper class defense attorney Stephan Ashe (Barrymore). Stephan, while successful as an attorney, is an alcoholic who is frequently an embarrassment to his family, including his high spirited daughter, Jan (Shearer), who catches Ace’s eye at their first meeting. Stephan gets Ace cleared of the charges and Ace starts pursuing Jan once he is free, much to the chagrin of Jan’s stuffy fiancé, Dwight (Leslie Howard). Jan is quickly swept up into a passionate affair with Ace, excited…
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Gone with the Wednesday: Leslie Howard Speaks Scarlett
In my years of vintage magazine collecting, I haven’t come across many interviews with Leslie Howard, but here’s one! In the July 1939 issue of Hollywood magazine, Leslie discusses Scarlett and Gone with the Wind, in an interview conducted at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, while on location filming the Twelve Oaks barbecue scene. Here’s Howard’s take on Scarlett: “…what people seem to overlook is that Scarlett was so modern! Scarlett O’Hara was a new-fashioned girl in an old-fashioned setting She was a 1939 sub-deb…in hoopskirts.” “Possibly my idea of Scarlett differs from that of some people. But I’ve studied her carefully. I think I’m right. She was fascinating, even more for…
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July Movie of the Month: A Free Soul (1931)
I began writing “Movie of the Month” posts in July two years ago, to start something new to celebrate the first anniversary of the site. For the first one, I selected Wife vs. Secretary because it’s one of my personal favorites and the following July I selected It Happened One Night because of its importance. I’m continuing the tradition of selecting an “important” Gable film in July with A Free Soul, the film that made Clark Gable a star. Gable is Ace Wilfong, a gangster on trial for murder being represented by upper class defense attorney Stephan Ashe (Lionel Barrymore). Stephan, while successful as an attorney, is an alcoholic who is…
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{New Article} 1932: Will Clark Gable Last?
It’s interesting to read what public opinion was when Clark Gable was just a newcomer. This article from raises the question if Clark has staying power as a star or not, based only on his weak resume at the time. Clark, like Garbo, introduced a new vogue in screen personality. He became the pattern from which screen idols who followed him were moulded. He is the epitome of the ruthless, handsome, knock-‘em-down, treat-‘em-rough he-man, the strong, virile, modern cave man. And not only women in Keokuk and Medicine Hat went crazy about Clark, but the actresses of Hollywood as well. Once he had become a sensation, Hollywood backed up the…
