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Gossip Friday: Take It From the Script Girl
From March 1937: Florence Thomas is the eldest script girl [at MGM]. For eight years she has been W.S. Van Dyke’s secretary and script girl, and she knows her movie stars. Florence can take them apart, and considers some of them not worth the trouble of putting together again. But about Clark Gable she says: “I’d just as soon he were in all our pictures.” “And not because he’s the great Gable either, or any bunk like that. It’s for purely selfish reasons. Because he’s no trouble. Because he’s efficient. Because he knows this is his business and treats it like a business, and not like a circus hoop for…
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Remembering Clark Gable, 60 Years Later
Clark Gable died sixty years ago today, on November 16, 1960. He was only 59 years old. After a long and tedious shooting schedule for The Misfits, Clark was ready for a rest. He was set on not doing another movie until after his child was born, in March. On November 6, 1960, he spent what would be his final day at his beloved ranch. He toiled away the day working with his hunting dog, playing with the children, and relaxing. He told Kay he felt tired and went to bed early. He tossed and turned all night. At about 8:00am, Kay awakened to see Clark standing in the doorway, pale and…
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Gossip Friday: Home by Five
From August 1950: Clark Gable seen dashing off the golf course because, “I’m a married man now and promised to be home by five!”
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Gossip Friday: A Hollywood Picnic
From June 1937: Cutest party of the month was the picnic–uh huh, picnic time is here!–of Clark Gable (of course!!), Carole Lombard, and Gail Patrick and Gail’s boyfriend, Robert Cobb. They took along a huge picnic basket packed with everything it takes to make a picnic hot. Also (and this IS a Hollywood wrinkle in picnicking!) they took along, in a trailer, two horses–“Pride” and “Sonny,” owned by Clark and Bob. At a ranch near the picnic spot in a canyon, some fifty miles from Hollywood, two more horses were hired for Carole and Gail. Hot spot of the afternoon was the goat-lassoing contest between Gail and Clark. Gail won,…
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Gossip Friday: What Do You Love About Her
From January 1937: Clark Gable speaking of Carole Lombard: “It’s her naturalness. There are no affectations about Carole. She’s honest in what she thinks, says and does.”
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Gossip Friday: In the Dog House
From March 1938: The latest prank played by Carole Lombard on Clark Gable concerns the monstrous sheep dog Clark gave her as a gift. While Clark was in San Diego on location, Carole had a dog house built for her pet and proudly led Gable out to see it when he returned. One look, and Clark almost swooned, for at the windows of the dog house were cream-colored Venetian blinds with organdy drapes. A dotted-swiss draped dressing table set with dainty bottles of flea powder and dog brushes stood in one corner. Taffeta cushions were scattered about while the dog, tied up with pink bows, reclined on a blue rug.…
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Gossip Friday: He Just Wants to Be Alone
From January 1937: I hope for better luck on my New York vacation than Clark Gable had. He went for three weeks and stayed three days. The reason he had to leave was because he couldn’t keep the chambermaids out of his hotel room. Even if the crowds in the streets did knock over a taxi-cab in which he was riding, due to the crush they created in trying to grab a glimpse of him, he did eventually escape. But he couldn’t get away from the chambermaids in his hotel. They bootlegged the keys to his room to one another so that America’s favorite he-man could neither sleep nor take a…
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Gossip Friday: Just Give Up
From June 1951 (Sheilah Graham): No one, not even the columnists who were constantly linking Clark Gable with this girl and that grandmother, really expected him to try marriage again. I knew wife number one, Josephine Dillon, when I first came to Hollywood. It was Jo who nurtured the acting ambitions of young Clark. When talking to me about him, she was kind of detached, like an aunt discussing a favorite but far-away nephew. I was in New York when Clark’s second wife Rhea announced the separation. So was Clark, who sprinted all over Manhattan dodging reporters. The tragic death of wife number three, Carole Lombard, seemed to write “End”…
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Gossip Friday: Speechless
From 1954: Debbie Reynolds: “I’ll never forget the time I was introduced to Clark Gable. I knew I should be saying something. But for awhile–it seemed like a million years–I couldn’t locate the first word. His wonderful friendly manner finally brought back my voice. Pretty soon, I was at ease again…and very thankful for it! It’s a fine occasion when you come to realize that even people who tend to leave you awestruck are actually human.”
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Gossip Friday: Practically Starving
From March 1950: Clark Gable…never forgets his public–or his figure. Before every movie he makes, Clark practically starves himself on one of the strictest diets in Hollywood. Mrs. Gable, however, keeps that shape through pure lack of interest in eating. Lucky lady.
