{"id":3713,"date":"2012-01-21T22:18:17","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T03:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/?page_id=3713"},"modified":"2012-01-21T22:18:17","modified_gmt":"2012-01-22T03:18:17","slug":"1942-carole-lombards-life-story-excerpt-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/?page_id=3713","title":{"rendered":"1942: Carole Lombard’s Life Story, Excerpt 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carole<\/a><\/p>\n

Carole Lombard’s Life Story<\/h2>\n

Excerpt 1
\nby Louella Parsons, February 1942<\/p>\n[Carole Lombard] was at that time twenty-four years old and lovelier to look at than she\u2019d ever been before in her life. And yes\u2026.she\u2019d already met Clark Gable. They\u2019d made a picture called No Man of Her Own. During the making of which, Mr. Gable had eaten his lunches with the crew in the commissary and Miss Lombard had taken hers in her dressing room. During the making of which, Mr. Gable had been quoted as saying that if there was anything he liked in a woman, it was a low, well-modulated speaking voice. And Miss Lombard (though she wasn\u2019t quoted) had observed to friends that she knew she talked like a fog horn and if he didn\u2019t like it, maybe he\u2019d better run away and play\u2026(She didn\u2019t incidentally, talk like a fog horn! But she talked a lot and fast and carelessly and you have never picked her for an education teacher.)
\nMr. Gable had also hinted\u2014for publication as well as privately\u2014that if the Gods were ever kind enough to grant him a divorce from his present wife, wild and rearing horses wouldn\u2019t drag him to the altar again! Those who know him say he emphatically wasn\u2019t kidding. He was involved, at the time, in a distinctly sordid, unpleasant property squabble with [Ria Gable]. He had been, for the past three years, paying her half his salary. The question was, simply, how much of that salary she was to get in the years to come. This reporter doesn\u2019t know what was asked or what was offered. And doubts if anyone else knows wither, except the two most concerned. But it wasn\u2019t the kind of struggle that whets any man\u2019s appetite for romance. And then, remember, Clark Gable was the kind of a guy he was. Simple, and quiet, and a little shy, and nowhere near as dashing as those lovely parts he plays. At the height of his difficulties with Rhea, he announced with a burning sincerity that none could doubt: \u201cThe only possession I have ever craved\u2014the only goddess I can serve faithfully for all my life\u2014is Freedom!\u201d
\nIt was, perhaps, six weeks after that statement of Clark Gable\u2019s that Jock Whitney gave his famous Hollywood Gag Party. And what was to be easily the greatest romance of our century began to tremble into life.
\nTo those of us who were close to it\u2014to me, certainly\u2014it all seemed, even its beginnings, like a kind of Romeo and Juliet in very modern dress. Maybe we all felt that way because the marks of greatness, and tragedy, and recklessness,, were on that romance even in its foolish start. And maybe, even while we all disapproved so violently, we also realized instinctively that nobody had ever approved much of Romeo and his girl friend either! Not while they were alive\u2026
\nThe Whitney gag party was held at noon, on February 7th, 1936. The guests were instructed to come in evening clothes and brighten up the proceedings in any way that occurred to their imaginations. \u201cAnd if you can\u2019t think of a gag come anyway\u2026\u201d
\nIt need hardly be said here that Carole Lombard was able to think of a gag.
\nShe came on a stretcher\u2014looking, as one of the guests said later, such a lovely ghost of herself that for a moment it seemed sacrilege to laugh.
\nBut they laughed all right\u2014when they caught their breaths! She had herself carried in, you see, by two men dressed as internes. And you know how people are\u2014lots of them fell for the stunt at first, and rushed forward pretty panicky. And then, where issued from the pale lips of that still white figure, the kind of crack that only Carole Lombard could make\u2014well, most of Mr. Whitney\u2019s guests thought it was a scream\u2026
\nBut there are always those who are not amused. The exception being, in this case, quite conspicuous. Yes\u2014his name was Gable. And he hadn\u2019t come with a gag. And he watched Carole\u2019s stretcher entrance with his famous face quite blank, and his unsmiling, and ever so faintly bored, look.
\nIt wasn\u2019t an accident of course\u2014that look on Gable\u2019s face. It was a pretty pointed insult. And of course, Carole felt it instantly, and glanced his way instinctively and, of course, their eyes met. There followed the kind of silence that every good host prays won\u2019t happen at a party of his.
\nOut of the silence, Carole Lombard said: \u201cPersonally, I\u2019ve always considered the man a stuffed shirt.\u201d
\nShe didn\u2019t whisper it, you understand. Or mutter it or anything. She said it loud and clear and sweet. And there were at least three newspaper men and one woman reporter present. I\u2019ve been told that Paramount\u2019s publicity office spent the next weeks doing nothing but killing that story.
\nGable didn\u2019t say anything, as he walked away. But is face, which is ordinarily a good healthy brown from outdoor exercise he loves so, wasn\u2019t brown at all. It was yellowish. And I can still see the tight twisted line of his mouth\u2026
\nBeyond question, Carole\u2019s crack had gone very deep. Deeper than she could have possibly intended! And for reasons she couldn\u2019t possibly have known—then.
\nBut later it wasn\u2019t hard for Carole\u2014and others\u2014to understand what Clark must have felt that day. We just had to remember one or two things. And put ourselves in his place. It went, you see, something like this:
\nOn that particular day in 1936, Clark had been married to Rhea Gable for more than five years. Now, no one is denying that Rhea was a charming person, and according to her own lights, a fine high-minded character! But neither would her best friends claim for her that informality or lighthearted fun were her strong point. Rhea Gable just hadn\u2019t been brought up that way.
\nAnd Clark Gable was an eminently easy-going guy. It\u2019s pretty well known now that he\u2019d done at least his share of compromising to make that marriage with Rhea go. It\u2019s no secret, certainly, that he went with her to many a ponderous social function he would joyfully have skipped. And he lived in a home that certainly wasn\u2019t his own idea of informal comfort\u2026
\nNow Clark Gable never liked, and never adopted, Rhea\u2019s point of view on life. In fact, he liked it so little that, long before Carole Lombard entered the picture, he\u2019d brought himself to the point of fighting for a divorce.
\nBut the fact remains\u2014no two people can live together for years and try to make their marriage go, without, to some degree, absorbing each other\u2019s tastes. And Clark had tried hard to play thing Rhea\u2019s way! Result: After five years some silly people were beginning to whisper that Clark was getting as stuffy as his wife\u2026
\nNow that kind of gossip can be very galling, indeed! Especially if you\u2019re a plain, friendly, unpretentious person, like Clark Gable. And most especially, if like him, you\u2019ve spent a lifetime hating phoniness, stuffiness, and front. It can be worse than galling when it\u2019s said to your face by a very lovely blonde devil, who, when all is said and done, is about the most attractive creature you\u2019ve ever met\u2026!
\nIt must have been about twelve fifteen when Clark walked away. I know because Carole invariably arrived on time at parties and this one had been called for noon.
\nIt must have been about twelve thirty when everybody saw Clark shoulder his way back to her. He\u2019s a big man and always a conspicuous figure at a party. He was twice as conspicuous that day because he had on his face a look with which several million Americans are familiar\u2014the look of a very angry man about to punch somebody squarely on the nose.
\nHe took her over to the bay window, beside the book case, and they probably stood there for the best part of half an hour taking turns talking and neither of them smiling once. When Carole left him, her eyes were black and enormous, and almost literally smoking with rage.
\n\u201cThat guy,\u201d she told me, \u201cis worse than a stuffed shirt. He\u2019s an insulting heel!\u201d
\n\u201cCarole\u2026.\u201d
\n\u201cDid you,\u201d she asked me quietly, \u201csee anything wrong with that gag of mine? Did it strike you as in poor taste? Do you think I\u2019m an exhibitionist? Do you think I\u2019m a neurotic? Do you think I\u2019m a childish and a miserable little fool?\u201d
\nI said I didn\u2019t. I also asked a lot of questions but they didn\u2019t do me any good. Carole merely stated, icily, that she\u2019d spoken her mind and thought she\u2019d gotten under Gable\u2019s skin. Judging by his black glowering face, and his frozen manner, the rest of the party, she was right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carole Lombard’s Life Story Excerpt 1 by Louella Parsons, February 1942 [Carole Lombard] was at that time twenty-four years old and lovelier to look at than she\u2019d ever been before in her life. And yes\u2026.she\u2019d already met Clark Gable. They\u2019d made a picture called No Man of Her Own. During the making of which, Mr. Gable had eaten his lunches with the crew in the commissary and Miss Lombard had taken hers in her dressing room. During the making of which, Mr. Gable had been quoted as saying that if there was anything he liked in a woman, it was a low, well-modulated speaking voice. And Miss Lombard (though she wasn\u2019t quoted) had observed to friends that she knew she talked like a fog horn and if he didn\u2019t like it, maybe he\u2019d better run away and play\u2026(She didn\u2019t incidentally, talk like a fog horn! But she talked a lot and fast and carelessly and you have never picked her for an education teacher.) Mr. Gable had also hinted\u2014for publication as well as privately\u2014that if the Gods were ever kind enough to grant him a divorce from his present wife, wild and rearing horses wouldn\u2019t drag him to the altar again! Those who know him say he emphatically wasn\u2019t kidding. He was involved, at the time, in a distinctly sordid, unpleasant property squabble with [Ria Gable]. He had been, for the past three years, paying her half his salary. The question was, simply, how much of that salary she was to get in the years to come. This reporter doesn\u2019t know what was asked or what was offered. And doubts if anyone else knows wither, except the two most concerned. But it wasn\u2019t the kind of struggle that whets any man\u2019s appetite for romance. And then, remember, Clark Gable was the kind of a guy he was. Simple, and quiet, and a little shy, and nowhere near as dashing as those lovely parts he plays. At the height of his difficulties with Rhea, he announced with a burning sincerity that none could doubt: \u201cThe only possession I have ever craved\u2014the only goddess I can serve faithfully for all my life\u2014is Freedom!\u201d It was, perhaps, six weeks after that statement of Clark Gable\u2019s that Jock Whitney gave his famous Hollywood Gag Party. And what was to be easily the greatest romance of our century began to tremble into life. To those of us who were close to it\u2014to me, certainly\u2014it all seemed, even its beginnings, like a kind of Romeo and Juliet in very modern dress. Maybe we all felt that way because the marks of greatness, and tragedy, and recklessness,, were on that romance even in its foolish start. And maybe, even while we all disapproved so violently, we also realized instinctively that nobody had ever approved much of Romeo and his girl friend either! Not while they were alive\u2026 The Whitney gag party was held at noon, on February 7th, 1936. The guests were instructed to come in evening clothes and brighten up the proceedings in any way that occurred to their imaginations. \u201cAnd if you can\u2019t think of a gag come anyway\u2026\u201d It need hardly be said here that Carole Lombard was able to think of a gag. She came on a stretcher\u2014looking, as one of the guests said later, such a lovely ghost of herself that for a moment it seemed sacrilege to laugh. But they laughed all right\u2014when they caught their breaths! She had herself carried in, you see, by two men dressed as internes. And you know how people are\u2014lots of them fell for the stunt at first, and rushed forward pretty panicky. And then, where issued from the pale lips of that still white figure, the kind of crack that only Carole Lombard could make\u2014well, most of Mr. Whitney\u2019s guests thought it was a scream\u2026 But there are always those who are not amused. The exception being, in this case, quite conspicuous. Yes\u2014his name was Gable. And he hadn\u2019t come with a gag. And he watched Carole\u2019s stretcher entrance with his famous face quite blank, and his unsmiling, and ever so faintly bored, look. It wasn\u2019t an accident of course\u2014that look on Gable\u2019s face. It was a pretty pointed insult. And of course, Carole felt it instantly, and glanced his way instinctively and, of course, their eyes met. There followed the kind of silence that every good host prays won\u2019t happen at a party of his. Out of the silence, Carole Lombard said: \u201cPersonally, I\u2019ve always considered the man a stuffed shirt.\u201d She didn\u2019t whisper it, you understand. Or mutter it or anything. She said it loud and clear and sweet. And there were at least three newspaper men and one woman reporter present. I\u2019ve been told that Paramount\u2019s publicity office spent the next weeks doing nothing but killing that story. Gable didn\u2019t say anything, as he walked away. But is face, which is ordinarily a good healthy brown from outdoor exercise he loves so, wasn\u2019t brown at all. It was yellowish. And I can still see the tight twisted line of his mouth\u2026 Beyond question, Carole\u2019s crack had gone very deep. Deeper than she could have possibly intended! And for reasons she couldn\u2019t possibly have known—then. But later it wasn\u2019t hard for Carole\u2014and others\u2014to understand what Clark must have felt that day. We just had to remember one or two things. And put ourselves in his place. It went, you see, something like this: On that particular day in 1936, Clark had been married to Rhea Gable for more than five years. Now, no one is denying that Rhea was a charming person, and according to her own lights, a fine high-minded character! But neither would her best friends claim for her that informality or lighthearted fun were her strong point. Rhea Gable just hadn\u2019t been brought up that way. And Clark Gable was an eminently easy-going guy. It\u2019s pretty well known now that he\u2019d done at least his share of compromising to make that marriage with Rhea go. It\u2019s no secret, certainly, that he went with her to many a ponderous social function he would joyfully have skipped. And he lived in a home that certainly wasn\u2019t his own idea of informal comfort\u2026 Now Clark Gable never liked, and never adopted, Rhea\u2019s point of view on life. In fact, he liked it so little that, long before Carole Lombard entered the picture, he\u2019d brought himself to the point of fighting for a divorce. But the fact remains\u2014no two people can live together for years and try to make their marriage go, without, to some degree, absorbing each other\u2019s tastes. And Clark had tried hard to play thing Rhea\u2019s way! Result: After five years some silly people were beginning to whisper that Clark was getting as stuffy as his wife\u2026 Now that kind of gossip can be very galling, indeed! Especially if you\u2019re a plain, friendly, unpretentious person, like Clark Gable. And most especially, if like him, you\u2019ve spent a lifetime hating phoniness, stuffiness, and front. It can be worse than galling when it\u2019s said to your face by a very lovely blonde devil, who, when all is said and done, is about the most attractive creature you\u2019ve ever met\u2026! It must have been about twelve fifteen when Clark walked away. I know because Carole invariably arrived on time at parties and this one had been called for noon. It must have been about twelve thirty when everybody saw Clark shoulder his way back to her. He\u2019s a big man and always a conspicuous figure at a party. He was twice as conspicuous that day because he had on his face a look with which several million Americans are familiar\u2014the look of a very angry man about to punch somebody squarely on the nose. He took her over to the bay window, beside the book case, and they probably stood there for the best part of half an hour taking turns talking and neither of them smiling once. When Carole left him, her eyes were black and enormous, and almost literally smoking with rage. \u201cThat guy,\u201d she told me, \u201cis worse than a stuffed shirt. He\u2019s an insulting heel!\u201d \u201cCarole\u2026.\u201d \u201cDid you,\u201d she asked me quietly, \u201csee anything wrong with that gag of mine? Did it strike you as in poor taste? Do you think I\u2019m an exhibitionist? Do you think I\u2019m a neurotic? Do you think I\u2019m a childish and a miserable little fool?\u201d I said I didn\u2019t. I also asked a lot of questions but they didn\u2019t do me any good. Carole merely stated, icily, that she\u2019d spoken her mind and thought she\u2019d gotten under Gable\u2019s skin. Judging by his black glowering face, and his frozen manner, the rest of the party, she was right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3003,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3713","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3713\/revisions\/3716"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}