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Gossip Friday: Easy to Handle
From January 1936: Clark Gable is easy to handle, Lionel Barrymore is difficult and Norma Shearer is “sweet and stoical about pain.” That is how Peggy Coleman, who sees the stars when they are suffering, sizes up stellar response to the first-aid treatment she administers in her capacity as studio nurse. For 11 years Peggy Coleman has ministered to common colds, minor ailments, injuries and sometimes serious accident cases that befall the workers on her lot. If an actor has a headache on the set, they send for Peggy. If an actress fears her cold will show in her eyes, Peggy hastens over to give treatment. She may be dressing…
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Gossip Friday: #1 Leading Lady
From March 1936: The one woman in Hollywood who really is in Clark Gable’s confidence is—guess—May Robson. They have been like mother and son off the screen for several years. Now they are to be a screen family in “Wife vs. Secretary,” and it seems perfectly natural to them.
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March Movie of the Month: Strange Interlude (1932)
“In order for us to fully understand his characters, Eugene O’Neill allows them to express their thoughts aloud. As in life, these thoughts are quite different from the words that pass their lips.” Such is the–I’ll call it a warning–at the beginning of Strange Interlude, a pre-code film that is indeed…strange. As a classic film lover, particularly of the 1930’s, I cringe when people refer to some classic films as “creaky.” But unfortunately that is the word I feel I must use to describe Strange Interlude–a film that has not aged well, a film that I would definitely not recommend to those new to classic film and wary of its…
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Movie of the Month: Wife vs. Secretary
This month, fittingly our one year anniversary, I am starting a new blog feature. I am going to be featuring one of Clark’s films every month, as the “Movie of the Month”. In no particular order really. Hopefully it will showcase some movies that Clark fans have yet to see and will pique their interest. So, for the inaugural month, I am selecting one of my very favorites: Wife vs. Secretary, from 1936. This film is pretty much everything you would want from a fluffy 1930’s comedy/drama. The cast is stellar: Clark, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, May Robson and a young Jimmy Stewart in a supporting role. 1936 begins what I…
