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82 Years Ago, Clark Marries His Second Wife…For the Second Time?
It was 82 years ago today that 30-year-old Clark Gable married 47-year-old Maria “Ria” Franklin. According to the press at the time, it was a repeat ceremony because the one that had been performed months earlier in New York was suddenly discovered to be invalid in California. Well at least, that’s the way it was spun to the public… In many ways, it was easier to be a star back then. The studio assigned you your films, your co-stars, dictated your schedule; they covered up your affairs, paid off columnists to shoo away divorce rumors and personal scandals, and made sure the pictures of you that were published were…
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June Movie of the Month: Night Nurse (1931)
This month, Clark Gable is ruthless, one-dimensional Nick the chauffeur to Barbara Stanwyck’s plucky young nurse in Night Nurse. A quintessential pre-code, the film centers around Lora Hart (Stanwyck) as she struggles to keep her ideals while getting through nursing school. After she graduates, she is assigned to be a night nurse to two little girls suffering from malnutrition and anemia. Clark does not appear until halfway through the film and only appears for a few minutes, as Nick, the evil brute of a chauffeur. Lora becomes suspicious of the doctor treating the children and of Nick. Nick throws her around, bullies her and the children say they are scared of…
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Gossip Friday: Swell Gesture
From September 1937: Swell Gesture: Hearing a property man bragging about his son, Gable asked if his son had a bike. “Not yet, but when I get the money saved, I’m buying him one,” said the prop man. Next day, Clark wheeled onto the set on a new bike. “How ya like it?” Clark asked he prop man. “Finest bike I ever see,” answered the man., “whose is it? Yours?” Answered Gable: “Nope, it’s your son’s, with my compliments.”
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{New Article} 1932: Around the Clock with Clark Gable
In case you have ever sat and thought to yourself, “I wonder how Clark Gable spent his Saturdays eighty-one years ago?” I have the answer! In this probably-mostly-made-up article from 1932! At this point, Clark’s stardom was exploding and the MGM powers-that-be figured out that they couldn’t paint him as a nightclubbin’ man about town, no matter how hard they tried. So they went with the opposite approach: Here is your hearthrob Clark Gable, a man who woos Joan Crawford and wears tuxedos all week at the glamorous movie studio, but on the weekend schelps around town like an every day Joe! Here is is Saturday schedule: It is…
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Gossip Friday: Driving Bored
From April 1936: Clark Gable did two things this month that may interest you—he brought back the style of wearing big striped bow ties for street wear—and he slapped down $16,000 for a new Deusenberg auto—and he looks so, so bored while driving it. Can you imagine that?
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Gossip Friday: Comparing Salaries
From September 1940: Players who came to the Hollywood feast early get most of the gravy. The highest salaries go to firmly established stars like these: Clark Gable hits the cash register for about $7,500 weekly, 52 weeks a year, with fat bonuses. Ronald Colman pockets $150,000 per picture, plus 10% of the world gross when it goes over a certain amount–and it usually does. Robert Taylor brings Barbara Stanwyck an envelope containing about $5,000 weekly, plus bonuses. Bette Davis earns not less than $3,500 a week the year round. Deanna Durbin, who blossomed before the economy blight, earns over $2,500 a week, and bonuses. Claudette Colbert draws $150,000 per…
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Gossip Friday: A Thousand Girls
From October 1936: Did you ever hear Clark Gable’s grand crack, after he’d lectured before a class at Vassar? Asked how he’d enjoyed the experience, Clark grimaced, replied: “I’d rather talk a thousand times to one girl, than one time to a thousand girls!”
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{New Article} 1936: Jean and Clark Expose Each Other!
Clark Gable’s relationship with Jean Harlow was adorable. It wasn’t some great love affair like some people like to claim; it was a buddy-buddy, brother-sister relationship. He was always looking out after her, teasing her, and while everyone else called her “Baby,” he called her “Sis.” I like to point to his relationship with Jean when people say that he was some kind of predatory womanizer, like he bedded every co-star he had. Unfortunately, Jean was also one of the many women in Clark’s life who were special to him and then left him far too soon. This article is an interview conducted on the set of Wife vs. Secretary.…
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Gossip Friday: Dog Gone
From December 1935: Clark Gable lost a dog. It had an identification tag on his collar. Quite soon, Clark received a letter from a Beverly Hills boy named Johnny Marks. “Dear Mr. Gable,” wrote Johnny, “I found your dog and I’d like to keep him.” He offered the best of care. Whether Clark decided such gall deserved a reward, the fact remains that he sent a message, telling Johnny to keep the dog.
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May Movie of the Month: Boom Town (1940)
This month, Clark Gable is a womanizin’ oil chaser, Spencer Tracy is his long-suffering best pal, Claudette Colbert is his best girl, and Hedy Lamarr is his sidedish in Boom Town. Gable is “Big John” McMasters and Tracy is “Square John” Sand, or as Big John calls him right from the beginning, “Shorty”. They are two wildcatters out west trying to strike oil. They pool their money and smarts and soon hit it big. Putting a snag in their festivities is the arrival of Elizabeth or “Betsy” (Colbert), Shorty’s sweetheart from back home. She arrives to see him but falls in love with Big John instead, and they are married…