{"id":7822,"date":"2013-11-22T17:08:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T22:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/?page_id=7822"},"modified":"2022-06-28T10:38:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T14:38:52","slug":"1931-how-many-marriages-for-clark-gable","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/?page_id=7822","title":{"rendered":"1931: How Many Marriages For Clark Gable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"clark<\/h2>\n

By Dorothy Calhoun<\/p>\n

Movie Classic, <\/em><\/strong>September 1931<\/p>\n

New Screen Sheik has Hollywood guessing<\/i><\/p>\n

Popular actor says he has been wed twice, but friends claim four marriages for him<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Clark Gable\u2019s friends quote him as saying last summer. \u201cI\u2019m not married now. My wife just got a divorce in April.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Clark Gable admitted six months later to inquiring interviewers. \u201cI\u2019m married. But I\u2019d rather not discuss that, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, a few weeks ago, came a hasty trip to Santa Ana, where a license was secured for William C. Gable and Mrs. Rita Langham to wed. The license indicated, it was reported, that this was the lady\u2019s third marriage, and Clark Gable\u2019s second. Maybe his first marriage to Mrs. Langham did not count.<\/p>\n

How many times has Clark Gable really said, \u201cI do\u201d? Let us see! The newest \u201cgreat lover\u201d of the screen labors under the misfortune of being a local boy who hung around Los Angeles casting offices for years. There are altogether too many people here who \u201cknew him when\u201d!<\/p>\n

Friends warned Clark that if he wanted to keep his remarriage to Rita Langham a secret, he had better not go to Santa Ana, whose courthouse has been the scene of so many headline romances that reporters watch it like hawks. But Clark is apparently sincere in his declaration, \u201cWhy, I\u2019m nobody! I\u2019m not important! I\u2019m just an actor working at his job!\u201d<\/p>\n

If he really thought that no notice would be taken of his wedding, he was very much mistaken\u2014as mistaken as Rudolph Valentino when he thought that no one would find out that he had married Natasha Rambova in Mexico before his California divorce was final. For an exactly similar reason Clark Gable says he remarried the lady whom he first wed \u201csomewhere back East,\u201d a trifle too soon after he and Josephine Dillon were divorced. Though he does not declare dramatically, like Rudy, \u201cMy love could not be kept waiting!\u201d\u2014a line that thrilled a million women.<\/p>\n

Who is the present Mrs. Clark Gable? Apparently an attractive, smartly-dressed and well-to-do divorcee with two previous husbands and a son and daughter. Clark met her in the East when he temporarily gave up the struggle to make a go of picture work and tried his luck on Broadway. Was he married to her when he returned to Los Angeles in the stage production of \u201cThe Last Mile\u201d and won a screen contract? If so, why did he tell friends last summer at Malibu that he wasn\u2019t married? If not, when and where were they married the first time?<\/p>\n

As though this were not enough mystery, the newspapers printed the ages of the couple\u2014the lady\u2019s as forty-one, Gable\u2019s as thirty. For the second time he has married a wife ten years his senior.<\/p>\n

While he was living here humbly several years ago, often going hungry, one of the women who saw him making his endless rounds of the theaters, agencies, and casting offices was Josephine Dillon, a well-known vocal teacher. She took pity on this ambitious, poorly-prepared boy and worked with him tirelessly, coaching him, improving his delivery of dramatic lines. At length they were married. Though they separated not long after, it was not until April, 1930, that the lady obtained a divorce from her young husband. Her age was given as forty-two.<\/p>\n

But according to one of Clark\u2019s closest friends, a young screen actor, even this was not Gable\u2019s first marriage! For good measure this friend\u2019s story mentions a young son also, and swears that he has often seen telegrams from the boy to Clark. Which, if true, would make four marriages for the newest screen sheik, counting two to Mrs. Langham?<\/p>\n

\u201cClark\u2019s preference for older women is easily explainable,\u201d says a well-known actress, who helped him get small theatrical parts in the old days. \u201cHe was never sure of himself\u2014he relied on other people\u2019s advice. He had terrific respect for experience. He needed guidance and knew it. Older women\u2019s liking for Clark is also understandable. He appealed to their maternal instinct. He was very humble about himself, boyishly enthusiastic, grateful. He used to have plenty of chances to go out with beautiful girls, but he always chose to be with mature women, whenever he could.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mere fact that the Gable-Langham marriage at Santa Ana was a remarriage did not surprise Hollywood. Only last spring Helen Twelvetrees announced her marriage to Frank Woody, only to remarry him a few days later, just to make sure that the titles to community property were all in legal order. John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy once remarried, too.<\/p>\n

Hollywood doesn\u2019t know what to make of this matrimonial mystery. Why hasn\u2019t Hollywood seen the new Mrs. Clark Gable with her young husband at openings and restaurants? Did Clark Gable really say, as he is quoted as saying when an actor mentioned Josephine Dillon, \u201cDillon? Josephine Dillon? I don\u2019t believe I knew the lady\u201d? Has Clark a nine-year-old son? Why all the mystery? It\u2019s an out-of-date superstition that the public prefers its romantic heroes unmarried?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dorothy Calhoun Movie Classic, September 1931 New Screen Sheik has Hollywood guessing Popular actor says he has been wed twice, but friends claim four marriages for him \u201cNo,\u201d Clark Gable\u2019s friends quote him as saying last summer. \u201cI\u2019m not married now. My wife just got a divorce in April.\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d Clark Gable admitted six months later to inquiring interviewers. \u201cI\u2019m married. But I\u2019d rather not discuss that, please.\u201d Then, a few weeks ago, came a hasty trip to Santa Ana, where a license was secured for William C. Gable and Mrs. Rita Langham to wed. The license indicated, it was reported, that this was the lady\u2019s third marriage, and Clark Gable\u2019s second. Maybe his first marriage to Mrs. Langham did not count. How many times has Clark Gable really said, \u201cI do\u201d? Let us see! The newest \u201cgreat lover\u201d of the screen labors under the misfortune of being a local boy who hung around Los Angeles casting offices for years. There are altogether too many people here who \u201cknew him when\u201d! Friends warned Clark that if he wanted to keep his remarriage to Rita Langham a secret, he had better not go to Santa Ana, whose courthouse has been the scene of so many headline romances that reporters watch it like hawks. But Clark is apparently sincere in his declaration, \u201cWhy, I\u2019m nobody! I\u2019m not important! I\u2019m just an actor working at his job!\u201d If he really thought that no notice would be taken of his wedding, he was very much mistaken\u2014as mistaken as Rudolph Valentino when he thought that no one would find out that he had married Natasha Rambova in Mexico before his California divorce was final. For an exactly similar reason Clark Gable says he remarried the lady whom he first wed \u201csomewhere back East,\u201d a trifle too soon after he and Josephine Dillon were divorced. Though he does not declare dramatically, like Rudy, \u201cMy love could not be kept waiting!\u201d\u2014a line that thrilled a million women. Who is the present Mrs. Clark Gable? Apparently an attractive, smartly-dressed and well-to-do divorcee with two previous husbands and a son and daughter. Clark met her in the East when he temporarily gave up the struggle to make a go of picture work and tried his luck on Broadway. Was he married to her when he returned to Los Angeles in the stage production of \u201cThe Last Mile\u201d and won a screen contract? If so, why did he tell friends last summer at Malibu that he wasn\u2019t married? If not, when and where were they married the first time? As though this were not enough mystery, the newspapers printed the ages of the couple\u2014the lady\u2019s as forty-one, Gable\u2019s as thirty. For the second time he has married a wife ten years his senior. While he was living here humbly several years ago, often going hungry, one of the women who saw him making his endless rounds of the theaters, agencies, and casting offices was Josephine Dillon, a well-known vocal teacher. She took pity on this ambitious, poorly-prepared boy and worked with him tirelessly, coaching him, improving his delivery of dramatic lines. At length they were married. Though they separated not long after, it was not until April, 1930, that the lady obtained a divorce from her young husband. Her age was given as forty-two. But according to one of Clark\u2019s closest friends, a young screen actor, even this was not Gable\u2019s first marriage! For good measure this friend\u2019s story mentions a young son also, and swears that he has often seen telegrams from the boy to Clark. Which, if true, would make four marriages for the newest screen sheik, counting two to Mrs. Langham? \u201cClark\u2019s preference for older women is easily explainable,\u201d says a well-known actress, who helped him get small theatrical parts in the old days. \u201cHe was never sure of himself\u2014he relied on other people\u2019s advice. He had terrific respect for experience. He needed guidance and knew it. Older women\u2019s liking for Clark is also understandable. He appealed to their maternal instinct. He was very humble about himself, boyishly enthusiastic, grateful. He used to have plenty of chances to go out with beautiful girls, but he always chose to be with mature women, whenever he could.\u201d The mere fact that the Gable-Langham marriage at Santa Ana was a remarriage did not surprise Hollywood. Only last spring Helen Twelvetrees announced her marriage to Frank Woody, only to remarry him a few days later, just to make sure that the titles to community property were all in legal order. John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy once remarried, too. Hollywood doesn\u2019t know what to make of this matrimonial mystery. Why hasn\u2019t Hollywood seen the new Mrs. Clark Gable with her young husband at openings and restaurants? Did Clark Gable really say, as he is quoted as saying when an actor mentioned Josephine Dillon, \u201cDillon? Josephine Dillon? I don\u2019t believe I knew the lady\u201d? Has Clark a nine-year-old son? Why all the mystery? It\u2019s an out-of-date superstition that the public prefers its romantic heroes unmarried?<\/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-7822","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822","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=7822"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16138,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822\/revisions\/16138"}],"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=7822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}