-
Gossip Friday: Just like Mickey
Since Mickey Rooney is TCM’s Star of the Month this month… From December 1938: Mickey Rooney’s one proud guy. He’s going around telling everyone that Clark Gable’s bought a car just like his, after a ride with Mickey. It’s true the cars are just alike–a low-priced coupe. Clark liked Mickey’s a lot, and that was a factor, he admits. But the principal reason he doesn’t use his $3,500 roadster is because he and Carole are always recognized. It’s got to the point where they even want privacy en route. _________ New this week: Pictures in the gallery I’ve got a TON of new updates for the site that I am…
-
Gossip Friday: One Swell Guy
From November 1937, letter to the editor: A week ago, I was bewailing my fate because I have to live in a town where nothing ever happens and now imagine—I’ve been talking to Clark Gable! He had been fishing in Montana and, on his way back to Hollywood stopped in Twin Falls for supper and a night’s rest before continuing his trip. He is certainly one swell guy! There aren’t many stars who, after driving a car right hundred miles, and being dead tired, mosquito-bitten and hungry, would have time to share with the wide-eyed people of a little Idaho town. Mr. Gable, however, surrounded by autograph hunters, said, with…
-
Gossip Friday: Protect Yourself
From March 1940: Snicker of the Month came the day Joan Crawford, heading back for an afternoon’s work after lunch on Strange Cargo, knocked at Clark Gable’s dressing room, with a bunch of green onions in her hand. As Clark poked his head out,s he handed him the onions with: “You’d better eat these, Clark, before that love scene we’re going to play. Because I ate some for lunch, and you may as well protect yourself.” Without an eyelash batting, Clark came back with: “Thanks, Joan, but never mind. I just had some garlic for lunch myself!” ___ New this week: Film page for It Started in Naples–64 down, 2…
-
Movie of the Month: The Secret Six (1931)
The centennial of Jean Harlow’s birth is coming up in March 2011. To celebrate, the next five movies featured will be all of Clark’s movies with the legendary Miss Harlow. (But wait! You are saying–they starred in six movies together! True, but we’ve already featured Wife vs. Secretary as Movie of the Month in July) So to start with, here’s the very first of their pairings… The Secret Six, from 1931 Clark, not yet a star, was still playing second fiddle. Billed seventh, he is lagging behind Wallace Beery, Johnny Mack Brown and Lewis Stone for screen time. Not for long, as just a few months after the release of The…
-
Gossip Friday: Whatever Suits Him
From May 1937: Did you know that Clark Gable likes to have his suits made a couple of sizes too large? He thinks they’re much more comfortable that way. And now it looks as though he’s talked Carole Lombard into the idea. She was recently seen swinging down the boulevard in a tailored suit that might have been built for Fieldsie. Or maybe it was just Garbo, impersonating Lombard. ____ New this week: Article: Do Hollywood Women (i.e. Lombard) Spoil Their Men (i.e. Gable)? Pictures in the gallery
-
In tribute
Clark died fifty years ago today, at the age of 59, leaving behind him 66 films, legions of fans, hundreds of shocked friends and a devastated pregnant fifth wife. Here is a piece by famed Hollywood gossip columnist (and longtime friend of Clark’s) Louella Parsons: Goodbye to My Dear Friend I still can’t believe he is gone, although reams and reams of copy have been written about his death, more than has appeared about many heads of State. Since that heartbreaking moment, a few minutes after he died on the night of [November 16] at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, when I was awakened by the shocking message, “Clark is dead”–there has…
-
Gossip Friday: Wandering into Grand Hotel
Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford filming Grand Hotel From April 1932: In “Strange Interlude” Clark Gable will play a variety of roles that will carry him from youth to old age, and as a consequence he is devoting all of his time to praticing makeups at the Metro studio. He walked on the set of “Grand Hotel” (where he didn’t belong) the other day and “accidentally on purpose” got in everybody’s way without being recognized. Finally the assistant director ordered him out of the studio. Crestfallen Clark started away just as Jean Hersholt, a member of the “Grand Hotel” cast, happened along. “What’s the matter, old man?” Hersholt asked kindly.…
-
Happy Veterans Day
Happy Veterans Day! Clark said of his time in the Army Air Corps: “You know, that was the thing I am most proud of. Not only because I helped in a small way, and believe me, it was a small way–but because it was the first thing I felt that I did completely unselfishly and not caring about my own hide. And I know Ma would have been proud. Makes me feel a bit better.” Read about Clark’s time in the army here. Recently updated with his registration card and service certificate.
-
Gossip Friday: On the set of Gone with the Wind
From May 1939: We said we didn’t believe it. “Tell us,” we said, “that Greta Garbo is hunting autographs; that Shirley Temple has been sent to reform school; that Jimmy Cagney is baking a cake. Tell us anything. But don’t tell us ‘Gone with the Wind’ is actually shooting!” “Come over and see for yourself,” said the Selznick-International man. How could we resist making “The Wind”, as Hollywood knows it, our first stop on the monthly set circuit? After these months of waiting and waiting–false hopes, phony Scarletts, reluctant Rhetts and so forth–a mere peep at the champion never-never movie in actual production is like a preview of the millennium.…
-
Meet Me in St. Louis…
Well, Friday I am boarding a plane and heading to St. Louis for the Gone with the Wind “Gateway to the Wind” event! The itinerary is as follows: Friday, November 5 2:30 p.m. “Antebellum Plantation Life; Perception vs. Reality”- White Haven Ulysses S. Grant National Historical Site 7400 Grant Rd. St. Louis, MO – Learn all about GWTW author Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War relatives and how their lives inspired her to write “Gone With The Wind” 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception At Drury Inn For Those Staying At The Drury 7 p.m. “Blog With The Wind”- Drury Inn Forest Park. Find out about the social media out there. 8 p.m. “Fiddle-Dee-Dee Follies” –…