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Gossip Friday: I’m with the Band
From January 1941: Leave it to Hollywood to think up ways and means of having fun at parties. The newest is the musical instrument gag that develops into an amateur orchestra with big name guests furnishing the music, if such it can be called. Going on the assumption that everyone thinks he can play some instrument whether he can or not, the Jack Bennys, at a recent shindig, rented an assortment of musical noisemaners and bade the guests go to it. Clark Gable and Bob Taylor each grabbed a saxophone, Gracie Allen a flute, Barbara Stanwyck a trombone, Jack Benny a bass violin, while Mary Livingston snitched the drums. After…
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April Movie of the Month: Band of Angels (1957)
Clark Gable plays a rich, witty, romantic, dashing Civil War-era rogue who sweeps a beautiful brunette off her feet with his charms. Gone with the Wind? Nope, not even close, it’s Band of Angels. Gone with the Wind was still quite popular and had recently been re-released, so producers were anxious to capitalize on it’s popularity. Clark had suffered quite a few flops in the 1950’s and was probably not too keen on accepting a Rhett Butler-type role, but saw their point that it could be a success. It wasn’t. Yvonne De Carlo is Amantha Starr, a Kentucky belle who has lived a life of privilege on her father’s plantation. While…
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Gossip Friday: Snooping in the Dressing Room
From Febraury 1939: It occured to us while we patiently waited in Clark Gable’s portable dressing room for Clark to finish a scene with Norma Shearer for “Idiot’s Delight”, that maybe you, too, would like to know something about that famous Gable dressing room which is wheeled from set to set. The walls, to begin with, are knotty pine. The dressing table, also knotty pine, is bare and simple , with a single mirror and two lights. There is no make-up kit anywhere in sight. Two ample-sized brass ashtrays are gastened to the walls–one by the red leather divan and one by the red leather easy chair, the only…
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{New Article} 1942: How Clark Gable is Conquering Loneliness
Here is a new article that will isn’t exactly the most uplifting, but it sheds some light on how Clark was struggling in the months following Carole Lombard’s death. This is the truth considering Clark Gable today; he is not going into active military service. He is not selling the ranch. He is going on with pictures. But the reasons that have determined these decisions reveal the changed Gable, this strong and complex man who after his exquisite wife’s death discovered through his tragic loneliness that he had loved her even more than he had ever realized. Well, by the time this issue hit newstands in August of 1942, Clark…
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Spotlight on: Virginia Grey
To me, the saddest in the line-up is Virginia Grey. Virginia was a pretty blonde starlet who never reached her full potential as an actress. Her father worked for Mack Sennett in the early days of filmdom and little Virginia made her screen debut at age nine. Her film resume lists over 140 credits, but most are not memorable. She was always the best friend or sister of the main actress, left to play second fiddle. One of her most memorable roles is that of Joan Crawford’s smart- alecky co-worker in one scene of 1939’s The Women (You can watch it here). She had a very small role in the beginning…
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Gossip Friday: Ain’t that so?
From January 1940: When Clark Gable and Charlie McCarthy were practicing for their radio program, Carole Lombard was right on deck for the rehearsal. The script called for a discussion on how feminine hearts are won and lost, and Edgar Bergen was shushed off immediately. “Quiet, Bergen,” commanded McCarthy. “You don’t belong in this conversation. You’re listening to experts.” Then he turned to Mrs. G., sitting in the front row. “Aint that so, Carole?” ____ For those not familiar, Edgar Bergen (father of Candice, by the way) was a very popular ventriliquist on radio and films. Charlie was his dummy. Candice recalled that when she was a small child she thought Charlie…
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{New Article} 1937: Why All Hollywood Adores Clark Gable
As if you wondered why anyone would adore Mr. Gable, this article provides some ammunition for adoration. I must say that Clark is one of the few Hollywood stars of that era that seemed to be liked by everyone, celebrities and fans alike. Case in point, I was speaking to a 95 year old World War II veteran yesterday. He loves talking about the war and going to the movies in the 1930’s, and I love sitting there and absorbing his stories like a sponge. While on leave in the early 1940’s, he went to the Hollywood Canteen one night, where he chatted with Joan Crawford while she served him…
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Gossip Friday: Quite a Pair
An early one, from April 1932: Joan Crawford and Mrs. Clark Gable often seen lunching together at the Embassy. Don’t overlook the Mrs.–it’s important and too bad. _______________ This one is rather funny, since Joan and Clark were in the midst of quite the heated affair during this time. One wonders if the powers-that-be at MGM released this tidbit to the press just to show that Joan and Ria were bestest pals and there was no way Joan would be cavorting with Ria’s husband. I am not quite sure what they mean by “Don’t overlook the Mrs.–it’s important and too bad”—too bad that there is a Mrs. Gable, I…
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{New Article} 1939: Will Clark Gable Ever Marry Carole Lombard?
We all know the answer to the question asked, but an interesting article nonetheless. Especially since they did wed a month after this was published. The speculation over whether or not they would actually marry isn’t ridiculous, really, because although it did seem the norm for most couples of the day to marry early on in their courtship, many of the big couples of this period–George Raft and Virginia Pine, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor–were unmarried. As a matter of fact, the real low-downers of Hollywood are convinced that there’ll never be a Ria-Clark divorce, they feel, although the principals never openly discuss the matter, that Clark and Carole both…
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{New Article} 1947: Clark’s Still the King
Here’s one from Silver Screen magazine in 1947. This article seems to be the result of the author’s editor saying, “We need a story on Gable!” and the author couldn’t, or didn’t have time to, have an interview with Clark so instead hashed together a bunch of random anecdotes to prove their point that Clark’s still the King of Hollywood. Well, it’s interesting anyway. …there was one character in England who wasn’t in the least awed by Captain Gable’s efficient tone and manner. This was a tom cat named Freddy. Freddy was about two cats long and three cats high, with the coat of a silver fox, and the courage…