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Gossip Friday: One of the Greats
From January 1949 (Adela Rogers St. Johns): It was a drizzly Sunday when Clark Gable invited me out to his Encino ranch for the day and a potluck dinner. With the logs from the fireplace sending out cheerful warmth over the brightly beautiful room, we found ourselves relaxing in the pleasant glow and the quiet, sure strength that emanates from this man. Whatever goes on in his heart and soul no one will know. But that he has achieved the thing Hollywoodites claim to want most, an inner peace that comes from a quiet mastery over circumstances, there can be no doubt. In brown riding breeches and brown turtleneck sweater, he’s quite…
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Gossip Friday: Without Any Help
From July 1944: Buddy De Sylva, in his Paramount office, has a printed sign which tells of a conversation between Clark Gable and an interviewer. The large cardboard quotes the interviewer asking Gable what he attributes he amazing record as a box-office champion for many years. Gable’s answer is: “Any success I may have achieved is due to MGM’s wisdom. The studio picks my stories, casts my pictures and selects my directors.” The interviewer then asks, “Without any help from you?” And the Gable answer is, “Without any help from me.” The sign is prominently displayed so that any actor or actress who enters De Sylva’s office to complain about…
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Gossip Friday: Enthusiastic Over Pheasants
From October 1941: Watertown, South Dakota–With a promise that they will return again to hunt in South Dakota, Clark Gable and his actress wife, Carole Lombard, were preparing this morning to leave for home. They planned to go by automobile this afternoon to Sioux Falls where they will take a plane for the west coast. Their original plans to leave from Watertown by plane were upset by weather. Both were enthusiastic over South Dakota pheasants and ducks after hunting every day during their five day visit here.
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Gossip Friday: No Escape
From October 1934: The other afternoon, Clark Gable motored out to Los Angeles’ Grand Central Airport to see some friends off for New York. Gaining admission to the terminal was easy, but when Clark turned to depart, that was something else again. He was all dolled up in a costly new white flannel suit consisting of double-breasted coat and English slacks. Before he reached his motor, however, women autograph hounds had most of his trousers!
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Happy 120th Birthday, Clark Gable
Clark Gable was born 120 years ago today, on February 1, 1901. The only child of William and Adeline Gable, he was born at home in their small duplex in Cadiz, Ohio, at 5:30am after 15 hours of labor. He weighed 10 and a half pounds! You can view our posts about Clark Gable’s birthday over the years here. These pictures of Clark celebrating with a large cake with a crown on it are widely circulated. Here’s the deal on that particular birthday party in 1938: They halted shooting on Stage 12 at MGM yesterday afternoon to celebrate Clark Gable’s birthday. Since the Chicago Tribune News Syndicate named him…
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Gossip Friday: Royal House Divided
From January 1936: The month’s laurels for tact go to the head waiter at the Trocadero, Hollywood’s super supper spot. Douglas Fairbanks sat with an after-theater party including Clark Gable, Richard Barthelmess, Kay Francis and other friends. In came Mary Pickford with another party, including the Johnny Mack Browns and the Charlie Farrells. The head waiter never batted an eye. With perfect calm and poise, he escorted Mary and her entourage to a booth at the other end of the room. And there sat the Royal House–divided, as far as the house would allow–until Doug broke the ice and went over for a friendly chat with Queen Mary. ____ What’s…
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Gossip Friday: No Place for Kids
From December 1949: Clark Gable got the raspberry from kids gathered around Ciro’s when he refused autographs. He’ll tell you so himself. Clark has the courage to say, and stand on it, that thirteen and fourteen year-old kids have no place around a night spot at one or two o’clock in the morning.
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In Memory of Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard died 78 years ago today at the age of 33. Flying home to Clark after selling a record number of war bonds in her home state of Indiana, her plane crashed into Mount Potosi outside Las Vegas. In the newspaper on January 20, 1942: ROOSEVELTS SEND THEIR CONDOLENCES A telegram of condolence from Pres. Roosevelt arrived Monday at the nearby ranch home of screen actor Clark Gable, whose film actress wife, Carole Lombard, was one of 22 persons killed Friday night in the crash of a huge airliner near Las Vegas, Nev. The message read: “Mrs. Roosevelt and I are deeply distressed. Carole was our friend, our guest…
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Gossip Friday: No Photos Please
From September 1949: Hyman Fink, longtime Photoplay magazine photographer: “Many a sleepless night I’ve spent scheming up ways to grab a Clark Gable exclusive. Clark has a neat way of stalling. Whenever a cameraman wants a picture of him, he takes away their camera and starts shooting them. Once, on the set of one of his films, he had me posing all over the place. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that Gable has more pictures of Fink than Fink has of Gable. Clark also had a ban about pictures being taken of his home. But I managed to fool him with a telescopic lens. I climbed the hill behind his house…
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Gossip Friday: Mr. and Mrs. Gable in Nashville
From January 1941: Nashville, TN: Gable, Lombard Smilingly Give Autographs in Stopover Here Clark Gable and Carole Lombard smilingly gave autographs and had a cheery greeting for nearly a hundred persons who had gathered to see the movie stars in their brief stopover at Berry Airport last night. The two were en route to Hollywood via American Airlines from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore where Gable underwent an operation for an abscessed tooth and where Mrs. Gable had taken a room to be near him. They were accompanied by Howard Strickling, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer representative, who said Gable’s next starring vehicle will be “Soapy Smith,” a roistering romance of the Colorado mineral…
