Articles
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{New Article} 1934: An Open Letter to Clark Gable
This article is one of these “Open Letters” that often appeared in fan magazines of the period; they would be written by fan magazine writer “friends” of the star and then the following month the star would “respond.” When Laurette Taylor became a big star in Peg O’ My Heart, she noticed that the audiences were not as friendly to her as they had been at the beginning of the play. She complained to her husband, Hartley Manners, author of the play, and asked him why. “Because,” said Manners, “when you were on the way up you asked your audience to love you. Now that you are on top, you…
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{New Article} 1934: Gable-Crazy!
This article from June 1934 details some of the outlandish experiences Clark Gable had with crazy fans on his public appearance tour to the east coast. It’s not easy being a film star, folks: A toll of Gable’s losses on his short trip includes the following articles: 27 silk handkerchiefs 33 buttons torn from his clothes 1 complete sleeve of a dress shirt 1 lapel from the coat of a business suit 1 pair of bedroom slippers 1 top half of a pair of silk pajamas 1 wrist watch Anybody find that their grandmother or great-grandmother had one of Clark Gable’s buttons or shirt sleeves? Many and strange were the…
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{New Article} 1934: Why I Like To Be Alone
Here is another article from 1934. This one is a typical “Clark Gable isn’t into the glamour and glitz of Hollywood! He is an outdoorsy, simple man just like you!” piece. “Hollywood is over-civilized! A man could go soft in this place in a month. I had to fight like the devil during the first year or so to keep my perspective. Too much chatter. Too many parties. Too much bunk! That’s why I took to going off the backwoods by myself. I had to do that or go crazy…” This was Clark Gable—the last of Hollywood’s Great Untamed—speaking. “The Last of Hollywood’s Great Untamed”—oh brother. He looks you…
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{New Article} 1934: Clark Gable’s Real Family Life!
Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing new-to-the-site articles from the year 1934. We’ll start out with this one, which proclaims with an exclamation point that it’s about Clark Gable’s Real Family Life! A rather deceptive title. Clark at this time was a superstar; 1934 saw him win national acclaim for his performance in It Happened One Night, and his films with Joan Crawford that year had been hits. His studio, MGM, was not too pleased that their manly man star that had women falling at his feet came with a much older, matronly wife with two kids in tow. But that’s what they had to work with, so…
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{New Article} Hollywood Personalities and Their Ideas About Food: Carole Lombard
Here is a little article that ran syndicated in newspapers throughout the country in January 1936. It’s supposed to be about food but the majority of the article prattles on about Carole’s early days in Hollywood and then she gives us a “recipe,” if you can call it that. Hollywood Personalities and Their Ideas About Food: Carole Lombard As Told by Valentine Lyon Syndicated Press January 23, 1936 When just seven years of age, Carole Lombard came to Hollywood with her mother and two brothers. They came only to stay six months, but none of them ever returned to their home in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Carole was familiar with…
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{New Article} 1942: Clark Gable’s Page
This article was in the premiere issue of the fan magazine “Stardom,” February 1942. Now, before you go thinking this will be a sad piece as it was published right after Carole Lombard’s death in January 1942, publication was a lot slower back then and when this hit shelves in January, Carole Lombard’s death was imminent or had just occurred. Magazine articles about her death didn’t occur until April of that year. No, there’s not much to this article, but here it is nonetheless. In each issue, Stardom will offer one page to a star to do with as he will. This is to be the stars’ opportunity to tell…
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{New Article} 1942: Gable’s “Hermit Wife”
Here is a short little article that appeared in the February 1942 edition of Screen Guide magazine. Sadly, by the time this issue hit newsstands, the spirited subject of the article would be dead. “Hermit” is a word that conjured up pictures of wizened characters with long white beards, living solitary lives in caves or tree-tops. Carole Lombard is blonde and beautiful; her “cave” is a 22-acre ranch in San Fernando Valley; and far from being alone, Carole is married to Clark Gable. But when you consider the sort of person Carole used to be, her present life does seem like complete seclusion. She used to make headlines on…
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{New Article} Carole Lombard by Frederick Othman Part 3
Here is the final portion of Frederick Othman’s series on Carole Lombard, published on January 21, 1942. In this segment we learn she buried shrunken skulls in her yard! Carole Lombard and Gable Gave Up ‘Flossy’ Dwelling Happy Film Couple Lived in Simple Home Without Swimming Pool or Guest Rooms When Carole Lombard married Clark Gable in 1939, there was no whoop-de-do. They drove to Kingman, Ariz., in the coupe of their good friend and press agent, Otto Winkler, said their vows, and came home again. Then they held a reception at Carole’s house. The only guests were their old friends, the newspaper reporters. Everybody had a big time, host…
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{New Article} Carole Lombard by Frederick Othman Part 2
Continuing from yesterday’s post, here is part two of United Press Hollywood Correspondent Frederick Othman’s series on Carole Lombard, published January 20, 1942. Miss Lombard: Actress Liked to Pay Taxes Insisted on Huge Salary Because U.S. Took 75 Per Cent It will be a long time before Hollywood stops recalling and chuckling over the escapades of Carole Lombard, the girl who admitted she was crazy as a fox. She was scatter-brained–on purpose. She developed a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush–and for good reason. She was Hollywood’s leading screwball–and it made her $400,000 a year. Miss Lombard had been the lush and curvesome heroine of many a torrid drama…
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{New Article} Carole Lombard by Frederick Othman Part 1
Over the next three days, I’ll be sharing the three-part series United Press Hollywood correspondent Frederick Othman wrote after Carole Lombard’s death in January 1942. This first piece was syndicated in newspapers across the country on January 19, 1942. Carole’s Off-Screen Fun Equaled Screwball Roles Writer Friend Describes Pranks, Career of Actress; Carole Also Had Serious Side Of the press corps in the movie capital, none knew Carole Lombard better than Frederick C. Othman, United Press Hollywood correspondent. He reported her professional career, and, in addition, was a close friend. Therefore, he is particularly qualified to write of her life and her personality. The first of his three dispatches on…
