Articles
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{New Article} 1936: Gable Changed?
In this 1936 article, a magazine writer who first met Clark Gable in 1931 goes back to interview him now that he’s had a string of hits and an Oscar. It is always hard for me to temper my enthusiasm in writing of Clark Gable. I happened to do the first interview with him and I may as well be frank and admit that it was done under protest. I had the average man’s prejudice against another man over whom women were raving. And I came away from that interview thoroughly sold on Clark. Women might go for him, but he was typically a man’s man. Several things about this ruggedly…
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{New Article} 1932: Gable Denies Divorce Rumors
This article from 1932 appeared in the same magazine and was by the same writer as last week’s article, appearing nearly a year later. Oh and what a difference a year makes! Just the year before, she was asking him what kind of woman he preferred. Not anymore! Now he is being painted as the perfect husband and family man. “The divorce rumors about Mrs. Gable and me are absurd!” says Clark Gable. “They are really funny. Hollywood can never break my marriage. I say that positively. It is impossible. I certainly have not changed, so far as my personal life is concerned. I still want the things that are…
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{New Article} 1931: Will Gable Take the Place of Valentino?
Here we have an article featuring new star Clark Gable, comparing him to belated silent star Rudolph Valentino, whose untimely death just a few years earlier was still fresh on everyone’s minds. Once in a lifetime—and maybe twice—there flashes across the screen a man with the power to make all women feel that they are in danger. Such danger as all women prefer to peaceful safety. Once—and perhaps twice—we see a man who, when he kisses the heroine on the screen, kisses you—and you—and me. A man with an earthy quality—call it romance, call it glamour, call it sex. No matter what you call it, there it is, compelling and…
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{New Article} 1935: What I Think About Clark Gable by Jean Harlow
Here is the continuation of yesterday’s article, where Clark Gable wrote what he thought of Jean Harlow. Now it’s Jean’s turn to gush about Clark–and gush she does indeed! I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have for a friend than Clark Gable. He embodies all qualities which are necessary for true friendship. Not more than half a dozen people in Hollywood, I believe, know Clark as he really is. He is so much deeper than people think. He won’t talk about himself—he doesn’t even seem to think much about himself. It’s not that he’s a Garbo. But he is always so interested in finding out about you that he never…
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{New Article} 1935: What I Think About Jean Harlow by Clark Gable
This is article appeared in Hollywood magazine in 1935, as publicity for the upcoming China Seas. Clark Gable and Jean Harlow were buddies, and the publicity team at MGM liked to circle that around. Here on the site we’ve got this article about them on the set of Wife vs. Secretary. And This one behind the scenes of Hold Your Man is fun too. The endearing way he talks about Jean is so sweet. So difficult to wrap your head around the fact that she would be dead in two years, at the age of 26. Here is what Clark had to say about his buddy Jean in 1935 (Jean’s part about…
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{New Article} 1937: A Real Day with Clark Gable
In this 1937 article, a reporter follows Clark Gable around for an entire day (on one of his days off from the studio) and fills you in on every exciting detail! Not very exciting, actually, but nonetheless… He sent me a wire saying, “The Irish are fighting without me tomorrow. I will give you a ring when I wake up. I am going to sleep as late as possible.” Signed Clark. (He addresses you by your given name and likes to be called by his.) It was 10 am when my telephone buzzed loudly. “Man, have I been sleeping! That’s my idea of fun when I don’t have to roll…
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{New Article} 1950: Love Walked In
Here is another article Modern Screen magazine ran just a few months after the article I posted yesterday. This one goes into more (fluffy fluffy fluffy) detail about Clark and Sylvia’s “great romance.” For the actor he is, Clark Gable put on a bad performance these past few years. Loneliness stood out on him like a neon sign. The evenings he spent at his Encino ranch home, he’d wander from room to room, pick up a book and drop it, pick up a phone and decide not to call, sink into a chair and stare at nothing. The nights he went out the newshounds followed him to parties and theaters…
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{New Article} 1950: Fit For a King
This article was published in March 1950, one in a sea of articles heralding Clark Gable’s fourth marriage to Sylvia Ashley. They sat opposite me at Amelio’s, one of those restaurants in San Francisco where the steaks are tender and titanic. I tried not to stare. Clark and Sylvia Gable had been married only 48 hours. In another two, they would head for pier 32, and board the S.S. Lurline for Honolulu and their honeymoon. As I say, I tried not to stare. But after all, I’m a woman with a woman’s curiosity, and I couldn’t help myself. There, sitting opposite me was Clark Gable, the King, the most celebrated…
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{New Article} 1955: Clark Gable: After 25 Years in Hollywood, He’s On His Own
This article about post-MGM Clark was syndicated in newspapers in 1955. After a quarter of a century in the movie business, William Clark Gable, the acknowledged king of the actors, has decided at the ripe age of 54 to go on his own. “From here on in,” Gable confided recently in Durango, Mexico, where he was on location for The Tall Men, “I’m through working for salary. I’ve been on salary since 1930, and I’ve got less to show for that kind of security than most people think. “The thing for an actor to do nowadays is to work for a share of the picture’s profits. You’ve gotta take a…
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{New Article} 1938: Getting Gay with Gable
Ok, ok, stop laughing about the title of this article. “Gay” meant something else entirely in 1938! This article is about attending a dinner party with Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Walter Lang and his wife Fieldsie and Claudette Colbert. So the next morning Clark, who is a good shot, brought back a bevy of wild duck and because he lives at a big hotel in Beverly Hills and has no cook, no valet, no chauffeur, no second maid, no China boy (“I’m not helpless,” says Mr. Gable when someone suggests that a movie star ought to have servants), he dumped them on Walter Lang’s ping pong table and said it…