Articles
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1932: The Fans Speak Out About New Star Clark Gable
Clark Gable didn’t tiptoe into pop culture, he exploded. In 1931, he went from a virtual nobody to a superstar practically overnight. By the time 1932 arrived, he was declared either the next big thing or the next flash in the pan. Fan magazines of the time are of course full of fluff and are driven by studio publicity hounds–but what did the fans think? The following letters were all written to Picture Play magazine in 1932. From January 1932: After seeing Clark Gable in “Dance, Fools, Dance,” “The Finger Points,” and “A Free Soul,” I believe him to be the greatest find the screen has ever known. He has…
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{New Article} 1931: Why Women Go Crazy About Clark Gable
This article was published in Photoplay magazine the month after this one I posted this weekend. The second feature article on Clark Gable, this one is a bit dull as it is just speculation on why women suddenly are nuts about him. Clark Gable is the male sensation of the screen today because in every role he has played the part of a man who fears neither Jack Dempsey nor Peggy Joyce. He is a caveman with a club in one hand and a book of poetry in the other. Here is no tender lover, strumming sweet love songs; no smitten cavalier throwing his mantle over a puddle to save the…
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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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In 1931, Clark Gable was “On the Up and Up”
This week I have been digging through Photoplay magazines from 1931–the earliest year of fan magazines my Gable-hunting self would dig through, because before 1931 Clark Gable didn’t exist in Hollywood. He was a nobody and not worth mentioning. In fact, that is the case for most of 1931. He is not even mentioned at all in film reviews for films like Night Nurse and The Easiest Way. It is not until A Free Soul comes along in the summer that his name starts popping up. In September, the Questions & Answer section of Photoplay, where readers write in and ask random questions about their favorite stars, noted this: Hundreds…
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{New Article} 1940: I Was Afraid of Rhett Butler
It’s no secret that Clark didn’t want the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. Nowadays, if people do know his name, it is for that role alone–unless they are TCM fans. This article is one of many that appeared around the time GWTW was released, in which Clark tells why he didn’t want the role–too much pressure–and tries to dispel the rumor that Margaret Mitchell wrote the character of Rhett specifically with him in mind. This one’s short, so here it is in its entirety: I Was Afraid of Rhett Butler By Clark Gable Liberty magazine, February 1940 Rhett Butler really put me on a spot, a…
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{New Article} 1955: Live Alone and Like It?
This article from 1955 is of a common theme, one that was often repeated after Carole Lombard’s death and especially since Clark divorced Sylvia Ashley: Who will be the next Mrs. Gable? Could Clark possibly be happy all alone? Clark Gable is fifty-four years old. He has been married four times. Before each of these marriages, he ardently courted the woman who was to become his wife. During this period, he steadfastly denied any matrimonial intention. Gable is currently squiring Kay Williams Spreckels, “an old friend” he has known for years. Kay recently had her former husband, Adolph Spreckels, thrown in prison for beating her up. “I’ve had enough of…
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{New Article} 1934: Let’s Go Home with Clark Gable
I was excited about this article as it is the first I know of to provide a detailed description of the Brentwood home Clark Gable shared with second wife Ria in the early 1930’s. They moved here soon after Clark struck stardom gold in 1931. Clark moved out in 1935 and into the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. In 1939, he moved into Carole Lombard’s St. Cloud home and soon after, his Encino ranch, which would be his last home. I believe Ria stayed here until she left Hollywood for good in the 1940’s. Usually I only post a few paragraphs of an article in a blog post, but this one is…
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{New Article} 1938: Gentle Gable
This article is the publicity team at Metro Goldwyn Mayer doing their job–depicting roughneck Gable as a simple, nice soul. And while it is sugary sweet, there are probably some seeds of truth here and there. Nor would anyone expect him, to take time out, away from his own problems, to sit down for hours at a time, every few months, and talk about a little shaver whom he has never seen, a little fellow named Bobby. Yet his understanding of children and their interests is so real to him that it stretches farther than the mere lessons in whittling that he can give to extra children on the set.…
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Monogamy: Hollywood’s Problem
This is a pictorial layout that appeared in the August 9, 1938 issue of “PIC” magazine, which featured a divine shot of Carole Lombard on the cover: Why are there so many divorces in Hollywood? The world’s greatest lovers have the world’s worst divorce record. Lasting marriages among stars are the exception. Divorce is the rule. Boy meets girl, boy wins girl, boy divorces girl is the headline career of most movie stars. And “Pardon me, but haven’t we married before” is no joke in Hollywood. Are stars different from other people” Do they need more than one wife or husband? Is Hollywood to blame for their marital failures? On the…
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{New Article} 1940: A Woman’s Lowdown on Clark Gable!
This article is from the Gone with the Wind-publicity period and is supposedly unique because it tells a woman’s perspective on Clark. I don’t know how unique this article is but it is rather gushy. This fellow is unimpressed by all he has acquired; with his importance as a star. Luck, he insists, was with him: “Anyone who has ears and can speak and understand words of one syllable can do it,” he shrugs. “It might have been any other guy; it just happened to me.” Even his bosses are set back on their heels at unexpected moments by his passion for facing facts. In Atlanta, at the super-swank premiere…