• Gossip

    Gossip Friday: Gable the Cow

    From December 1933: Clark Gable laughed at this, so I suppose I am safe passing it along. I mean this paragraph from a letter from Jean Betty Huber, a Gable fan: “We took snapshots. One pose especially was good; I was garbed in slacks and had my arms around Clark Gable. Our ‘Clark” happens to be the cutest little brown calf with the world’s BIGGEST EARS!!! Oh, well, Clark laughed at it.

  • Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wednesday: Merry Christmas from David O. Selznick

    Clark Gable and Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick didn’t exactly always see eye-to-eye (to put it mildly), but nonetheless David let bygones be bygones and gifted Clark with this gorgeous Tiffany’s cigarette case for Christmas in 1939: “Presented to Clark Gable at the completion of “Gone with the wind” Atlanta–Dec. 25, 1939 David O. Selznick.” I wonder if he gave it to him at the Atlanta premiere, which was just ten days before Christmas? The case went for $20,000 at auction a few years back (complete with the unfiltered cigarettes). Quite a priceless artifact! Here’s hoping maybe it pops up in a museum one day…  

  • Films,  Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wednesday: 45 Atlanta Premiere Facts

    1. Tickets for the premiere went on sale at Loews Grand Theater on November 18, 1939. 2. The premiere festivities lasted from December 13-15, 1939. 3. Ann Rutherford (Careen O’Hara) was the first star to arrive, on December 13. She was given the key to the city. 4. One of Ann’s first stops was at the Atlanta Journal newspaper offices, where she requested to see where Margaret Mitchell worked. She had her picture taken at the typewriter Ms. Mitchell used. 5. Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara) arrived on December 13, accompanied by Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Wilkes), Mr. and Mrs. Selznick and Laurence Olivier. 6. Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara) and Ona Munson (Belle…

  • Photos

    Very Sincerely Yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt

    After Pearl Harbor, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were scared, like most Americans, and felt they should do something for their country. They wasted no time in sending President Roosevelt a letter and telling him of their willingness to help in any way, shape or form. On December 16, 1941, he wrote them the following letter: Dear Carole and Clark Gable: Many, many thanks for your fine letter of December tenth. It is most encouraging to have this pledge of loyal support, as well as the assurance of your desire to be of service in this time of grave crisis. For the present, at least, I think you can both…

  • Gossip

    Gossip Friday: His Majesty is Haughty

    From May 1954: Clark Gable has given Flickerville something to talk about since his departure from the MGM lot. He’s reported as having snubbed old, old pals and a couple of West Coast scribes who really helped put him up there with The Big Ones. “The King” is very haughty these days and isn’t having any of the old rah, rah, rah comradeship huddles that used to be part of the Gable legend. Despite the boost in his career that “Mogambo” gave him, tailor-made vehicles for His Majesty aren’t in the offing…

  • Gossip

    Gossip Friday: A Change of Heart

    From May 1955: We can be wrong, of course, but we also doubt that Clark Gable and Kay Williams Speckels will ever say “I do” to each other. Same magazine, September 1955: Clark Gable’s elopement with blonde and beautiful Kay Spreckels came as no surprise to me. Clark likes to laugh, and Kay is full of fun. This is the marriage Clark needed to forget his last mistake with Lady Sylvia. It was only shortly before they took the plunge in the wedding pool that the King was asked when it would happen. He put off with: “Kay and I might do it just to kill your favorite question.” But…