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Gossip Friday: Life Doesn’t End at Forty, Clark
From May 1937, this is a reader letter in response to this article where Clark claims that life ends at forty: If Clark Gable really believes that “Life Ends at Forty”, let me remind him of a few gents who are over forty and doing very nicely, thank you. Lewis Stone is a fine example of what a man can do after he is forty; Wallace Beery isn’t slipping; Lionel Barrymore is not exactly on the shelf; although Warner Baxter may have a few gray hairs , we don’t stop to count them when we go see one of his pictures. Wake up, Clark! You sound like an old maid…
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April Movie of the Month: Laughing Sinners (1931)
Clark Gable is third billed in this syrupy drama behind Joan Crawford, naturally, and Neil Hamilton (who?) Unlike most of this roles of 1931–A Free Soul, Dance Fools Dance, Night Nurse–Clark is far from a thug; he plays the ultimate good boy out to save Joan Crawford’s soul. Clark is Carl, a saintly Salvation Army officer who rescues Ivy (Crawford), distraught over being dumped by her boyfriend (Hamilton), from jumping off a bridge. Under Carl’s influence, Ivy gives up her hard-drinking, hard-partying nightclub lifestyle and joins the Salvation Army. Temptation proves to be too great though, when her ex-lover returns and she falls back into old habits. If you are…
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{New Article} 1955: Clark Gable: His Life Story
I don’t usually like articles that are titled “Clark Gable’s Life Story.” Typically, depending on the time period, they are either short and fluffy versions of the truth or they are long, bloated and completely boring to Gable fans who already know he came from humble roots in Cadiz, Ohio and worked as an oil driller and telephone lineman. I have one magazine from the 1960’s that has such a story and the article is 25 pages long. I doubt you will ever be seeing that one typed by me and appearing in the archive! So I wasn’t too optimistic about this article, particularly since it’s from 1955 and Clark still…
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Gossip Friday: Lost in Mexico
From May 1940: Getting “lost” in Mexico has been a favorite pastime among Hollywoodites recently. Oh well–it’s good for a headline–and sometimes for a laugh. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, vacationing south of the border in a station wagon, were mildly surprised to learn that their studios had been worrying about them–all over the country’s newspapers. Eddie Albert, whose publicity department lost track of him while he was sailing off Mexico in his boat, returned to Hollywood with a tale that ties the two Mexican mysteries together neatly. A Mexican deckhand on his boat, Eddie claims, asked him for a big favor. “Please,” begged the Mexican, “when you get back…
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{New Article} 1936: A Heart to Heart Letter to Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
This article was printed early in Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s relationship, before anyone was really sure if this union was a passing fling or a sweeping romance. I’ve discovered that the fan magazines did this often–“An Open Letter To”…like the stars are really sitting down and reading some journalist’s advice. Oh well. Above is an artist’s rendering of Clark and Carole that accompanied the article. What do you think? Looks more like Ginger Rogers than Carole to me. I’ve seen worse Clark drawings but I’ve also seen much better! Dear Carole and Clark, Lately I’ve been thinking about the two of you and even envying you in an impersonal…
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Gossip Friday: Clark and Carole–Oil Magnates?
From January 1940: Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and other screen celebrities, who are members of Encino’s “Hard Rock Club,” are within weeks of becoming oil magnates. A short time ago, oil was discovered two miles went of the property and hundreds of barrels were produced. Now oil has been discovered on the Club’s land, and before long the club members will be rolling out the barrels. The club started when a group of stars, Valley residents, wanted a weekend lodge for skeet shooting and riding, and purchased 160 acres in the nearby hills for the resort. P.S. The club’s name is derived from the stony nature of the soil.
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Carole Lombard Became Mrs. Clark Gable…
…73 years ago today. Would they have stayed together if Carole had lived? We can only speculate. No marriage is perfect. But I must say, you don’t often come across a couple that looks this in love and this deliriously happy! Here is how their wedding day went, straight from Clark Gable himself: It has been written since then that Carole and I had that wedding day planned out for months in advance, but that’s not true. It happened this way. On the afternoon of March 28, I was finished with my scenes [in “Gone with the Wind”] about three in the afternoon. While I was taking off my make-up, the…
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Gossip Friday: Clark, Spencer and Al Volunteer
From December 1939: Those who scoffed at the idea of screen stars accepting political offices as mayors of small valley towns are taking it back in large doses these days. And all because Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Al Jolson are men who mean business. After a small school girl had been killed on Ventura Boulevard by a speeding motorist, a meeting of citizens was called and right there in the front row sat Clark, Tracy and Jolson. “We’ll need a committee to help curb this speeding,” the chairman announced, and instantly these three men rose to their feet and volunteered. “We have time between pictures while your men are…
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{New Article} 1949: My Plans for Gable
This article from 1949 is a bit different, in that it is written by Clark himself! I am a bit skeptical that he sat at a typewritter and wrote this out, but I do see that it definitely is his perspective; his voice shines through. … that would be the perfect life for me when I am not working; to be able to go among the people, mix closely with them and be accepted just for myself. Actually I can’t, of course. Now, people don’t mob me or tear off my sleeves for souvenirs or anything like that. They always seem nice and friendly—sort of treat me as an acquaintance.…
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Updates
New around here: Review on Love on the Run Behind the Scenes info on Hold Your Man A one page article about Clark joining the Army A dozen or so new pictures in the gallery, including several of Kay: See more in the gallery.