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Gossip Friday: That Red Dress
From 1945, Hedda Hopper’s memory of the infamous Mayfair Ball in 1936 (my recap of this incident here): Hollywood first got exclusive at the Little Club in the Ambassador where only the bon ton and the elite could cavort and caper on bathtub gin. But I think Hollywood snootiness flowered much later on at the Mayfair dances. Something happened there I’ll never forget. The Mayfair numbered Hollywood’s ultra-smart set. A Hollywood copy of the London West-Enders, of course, and oh, my dear, so formal. For a time its balls made news all over the world and I doubt if there was ever a more publicized and flash-bulbed Peacock Alley anywhere.…
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Movie of the Week: The Tall Men (1955) and Soldier of Fortune (1955)
This week is a double dose of 1955 Clark Gable, chasing Jane Russell in the Western The Tall Men and Susan Hayward in the foreign drama Soldier of Fortune. Clark Gable is Ben Allison, who along with his brother (Cameron Mitchell), join a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in 1866, headed by Nathan (Robert Ryan). En route, they save Nella (Jane Russell) from an Indian attack and she joins them on the journey. Ben and Nella share a cabin to ride out a blizzard and fall in love. Soon they realize that they have different futures in mind–Ben wants a ranch and a small family life, while Nella…
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Gossip Friday: On His Arm
From May 1942, fan letter to magazine: Los Angeles, May 28, 1937. I stood with many thousands at Wrigley Field, as busload of stars pulled in to watch the boxing match that night. I saw a great, handsome man emerge in a tweed coat and trousers, crepe sole shoes, and hat down over one eye, Behind him, his wife, Carole Lombard, dressed almost exactly like him. “Clark Gable!” I whispered, and he immediately pushed his hat back and grinned like only he can. I grabbed his right arm (Carole was on the other) and buried my head so that the police couldn’t see that I didn’t belong there, and walked…
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Movie of the Week: Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (1931) and Sporting Blood (1931)
This week, Clark Gable loves Greta Garbo in Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise and Madge Evans in Sporting Blood (both 1931). Susan Lenox is a fine little pre-code film, mostly notable only because his co-star is the Great Garbo. Garbo is Susan (born Helga), an illegitimate orphan raised in shame by her aunt and her cruel husband, who treats her like a slave. He picks a man for her to marry “so you won’t be without a wedding ring like your mother”. When the man tries to rape her, she runs away in a rainstorm, seeking shelter in a barn owned by architect Rodney (Gable). Rodney lets her stay…
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Gossip Friday: Chief Export
From December 1935: South America had a good shipping year. Their chief exports to the U.S. appear to be coffee, frozen meats, and snapshots of Clark Gable in swim trunks surrounded by various Latin dolls.
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Movie of the Week: They Met in Bombay (1941)
This week, Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell are rival jewel thieves in They Met in Bombay (1941). Clark is Gerald Meldrick, a jewel thief who has trailed a British duchess to India to steal her antique diamond necklace. He encounters Anya Von Duren (Russell), a rival thief out for the same score. She succeeds in stealing the necklace, but he fools her into believing he is a detective and gets the necklace from her. She figures him out and he proposes they be partners. They hop on a Chinese ship headed for Hong Kong but the crooked captain (Peter Lorre) tries to turn them in for ransom. Paddling their…
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Gossip Friday: Don’t Ask
From February 1937: Interviewers of Carole Lombard are cautioned in advance that they must not mention or ask about Clark Gable. Interviewers of Gable are expected not to mention Miss Lombard. Yet Gable isn’t in the least reticent about telling friends that he hopes to make a picture with Miss Lombard. Not only wants to, but expects to. __ Wants to make ANOTHER picture with Miss Lombard, to be precise. And a shame that never happened.
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Movie of the Week: Dance Fools Dance (1931) and Laughing Sinners (1931)
This week, we’ve got a Clark Gable/Joan Crawford pre-code double feature: Dance Fools Dance (1931) and Laughing Sinners (1931). These two films were made back-to-back, as Clark, a rising star in MGM’s roster, and Joan, one of MGM’s shiniest stars, were engaged in heated love affair. Clark’s of course second fiddle to Joan in both of these. In Dance Fools Dance, Joan is Bonnie Jordan, a rich girl suddenly thrown into the real world after her father dies and she finds out all his money is gone. She goes to work as a writer for the local newspaper. One of her assignments is to go undercover and get a story on…
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Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s 80th Anniversary
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married 80 years ago today, on March 29, 1939. They were together about three years before they were married and unfortunately never made it to their third wedding anniversary before Carole’s untimely death, but Carole’s impact on Clark’s life can not be overestimated. In 1957, a reporter asked Clark why he doesn’t talk about Carole in interviews. “You may not like my next question,” I said. “Is it true that you don’t like to talk about Carole Lombard because it reminds you of her tragic end and distresses you?” “That isn’t true,” [Clark] said. “My feelings are under better control than that. I have…
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{New Article} 1950: The King Takes a Lady
After Clark Gable suddenly up and married his fourth wife, Sylvia Ashley, there were a lot of articles praising the union (naturally, are they really going to say otherwise) and this here is one of those: They came back to his Encino Ranch on December 21st, the morning after their wedding, Clark Gable and Sylvia Hawkes Ashley Fairbanks Stanley, who has just become Clark’s fourth wife. And as they fled through the ranch gates, surrounded by knots of curious fans, Clark called out merrily, “I have never been happier.” Then, the big white ranch gate swung shut and a couple of burly, grinning cops from the Metro Studios mounted guard…
