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clarklovescarole · 1 year

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September 1936: A Busy Month

Sept. 1, 1936: Couples of fans’ dreams

Will super-masculine Clark Gable marry super-feminine Mae West?

Probably not, but you’d be surprised how many movie fans think it would be a swell idea.

Kibitzing the motion picture marriage market is apparently the favorite indoor sport of t those who take film players seriously enough to write letters to and about them. Several hundred during the past month have urged Mae to flee altar-ward with the virile Gable, and vice versa….

Fans are often ignorant of actors’ currently marital ties or blithely disregard them.

William Powell’s followers apparently won’t rest until he marries Jean Harlow, Mary Brian, Elizabeth Allan, Madge Evans, Steffi Duna, Joan Blondell, Tallulah Bankhead, or his ex-wife, Carole Lombard.

Sept. 1, 1936, retrieved from The San Bernadino County

Sept. 2, 1936: Honest Romance

The studios themselves serve as matchmakers for prominent young players and are quick to take advantage of the romances that spring up voluntarily.

Jean Harlow and William Powell might have been teamed in “Libeled Lady” even if they were not so much interested in each other off the screen. But with the situation as it is, the picture is expected to have double appeal for the fans.

Take Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck! There’s a perfectly honest romance which was promptly capitalized on by casting the two in “His Brother’s Wife.”

And Clark Gable and Carole Lombard: There’s no question about their mutual enchantment being of spontaneous origin, because they’re under contract to different studios.

The strategists of each movie company exercise every precaution to promote and nurture romances between stars of their own constellations so that they can be put together in pictures and that publicity may not be shared with rival concerns.

Sept. 2, 1936; retrieved from Marshfield News Herald

Sept. 6, 1936 – The Daily Oklahoman

In addition, myriad rumors are linking in expected matrimony the names of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Robert Taylor-Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow-William Powell, Loretta Young-Eddie Sutherland, Merle Oberon-David Niven, Ronald Colman-Benita Huma, and Eleanor Powell-Jimmy Stewart.

It would be interesting to find out what the fans think of this wholesale renunciation of celibacy, whether they prefer their screen heroes and heroines married or single.

Sept. 7, 1936 – El Paso Herald

Wife files answer to Clark Gable suit; Motion reveals no divorce action planned by couple

Clark Gable and his estranged wife do not contemplate obtaining a divorce, Mrs. Gable disclosed today in her answer to the screen star’s suit for court interpretation of an informal property settlement.

The Gables have been separated for more than a year.

Sept. 7, 1936 – The Mercury

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard glimpsed whispering this and that in a Hungarian lunchery…

Sept. 10, 1936 – The Morning Call

Clark Gable has sworn off bow ties, reportedly because Carole Lombard likes four-in-hands and presented him with dozens…

Sept. 12, 1936 – The Los Angeles Times

(Sheilah Graham column)

Two Stars Discover Their Temperaments Differ

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard have discovered their temperaments differ too widely to allow of friendship.

Incidentally, most of Clark’s friends have remarked that since the separation from his second wife, he has been exceedingly morose and cynical.

Sept. 15, 1936 – Stevens Point Journal

Friends of Miss Helene Knope of Stevens Point, who now is a special correspondent in Hollywood, will be interested in her interview with Clark Gable and her account of his diet, which she sent to the Stevens Point Journal.

Her story is as follows: “Speaking of that Clark Gable-Carole Lombard romance, it seems to be in full swing…”

Sept. 16, 1936 – The Salt Lake Tribune

(Jimmy Fidler column)

I accept more seriously than most the rumors of an ultimate marriage of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable.

This is why: In the first place, I think Carole is more than willing. In the second place, at a shooting range the other evening I asked Clark if he intends to marry again. “Sure,” he answered. “Why not? I’m normal.”

“What sort of woman will your next wife be?” I persisted.

He ceased firing, lowered the gunbutt from his shoulder, and said, “A woman who can make me laugh.”

How well Carole Lombard fulfills the requirement!

Sept. 18, 1936: Actors’ habits

The next time you see Carole Lombard on the screen, notice whether she twirls a cigarette between her first two fingers and her thumb.

Watch Clark Gable twist his neck in his collar, as if the collar were too tight.

See whether Spencer Tracy wrinkles his forehead too much; he thinks he does.

Every star has some idiosyncrasy in his screen mannerisms which he is constantly striving to correct and which he sees again and again as the picture is put on the screen.

Sept. 18, 1936; Retrieved from Standard Sentinel

Sept. 19, 1936: Partner swap

“MY MAN GODFREY” – William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had wanted to play together in a picture when they were married to each other, finally got the opportunity now that they are divorced. Carole and Powell are very friendly and both enjoyed the association.

Clark Gable often called for Miss Lombard after work, and William Powell would hurry to Miss Harlow. Strange indeed is the fact that Carole Lombard and Clark Gable appeared in a picture together, “No Man of Her Own.” Then Miss Lombard would leave the set to join her husband, William Powell.

“My Man Godfrey” was written by Eric Hatch, from a short story by him, and the screen play was done in collaboration with Morrie Ryskind, who is the co-author of that Pulitzer prize play, “Of Thee I Sing.”

Sept. 19, 1936; retrieved from NY Daily News

Sept. 19, 1936 – The South Bend Tribune

Carole Lombard today joined the parade of actresses who have adopted their screen names legally. The blond star, whose real name is Jane Peters, is having her attorney draw up a court petition to have Carole Lombard made her legal name.

Sept. 20, 1936 – The Des Moines Register

The “Valentine Ford” which CAROLE LOMBARD gave CLARK GABLE as a joke has received so much publicity Gable has had it painted black so he can use it without paralyzing traffic.

Sept. 20, 1936: Company picnic

MGM Studio Employees Hold Picnic

It was picnic time in Hollywood when this picture was taken. Keeping ants off their hard-boiled eggs are Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The party was given for several hundred employees and their families by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.

Sept. 20, 1936; Retrieved from The Los Angeles Times

Sept. 22, 1936 – Star Tribune

CAROLE LOMBARD is demanding a very substantial increase in salary, or she will not sign her new contract with Paramount…

Sept. 23, 1936 – The San Francisco Examiner

PARAMOUNT is moving heaven and earth to borrow Clark Gable from MGM to costar with Carole Lombard in “Exclusive.”

The studio heads feel that, due to their muchly publicized romance, the combination would ring the box office bell such as it did with Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck in “My Brother’s Wife.”Paramount, by the bye, will probably soon be on a very large borrowing spree, along with all the other studios, since no less than twenty films are being held up at the moment because of a dearth of leading men. It seems like a pretty good time for freelancers.

Getting back to Miss Lombard, her stock since “My Man Godfrey” has shot practically to the top of the ladder, since “Godfrey” has broken all existing box office records in Los Angeles and is starting out to repeat same in New York.

Sept. 24, 1936 – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard had more fun than anyone at the M-G-M picnic recently…

Sept. 26, 1936: Day at the Fair

MOVIE STARS ATTEND FAIR - The Chicago Tribune

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, two of the reigning favorites of Hollywood, as they attended the Los Angeles county fair at Pomona, Cal.

Sept. 26, 1936 – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

That handsome couple at the Pomona Fair was none other than Clark Gable and Carole Lombard…

Sept. 26, 1936 – Detroit Free Press

Hollywood can get excited about the darndest things. Such as Carole Lombard riding around in a certain car, of a certain type and paint job, which everyone “knew” belonged to Gary Cooper. And the Coopers are supposed to be so happily married, too.

Well, it turned out that Carole was doing nothing of the sort. Said car was owned by Clark Gable, who has a perfect right to loan it to his friend. It happens to be an identical model of an automobile that Gary Cooper owns. But it stops right there, with the Coopers still very happily married. And Clark Gable and Carole Lombard still good friends.

Sept. 26, 1936 – The Los Angeles Times

Two “Romances” Not Serious

Sources close to all parties concerned say there is little likelihood that the current “romances” featuring Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, and Bill Powell and Jean Harlow, will end in the altar. None of them appears to be marriage minded at the current writing, although both twosomes find each other’s company enjoyable and go around together a lot. However, a woman has a right to change her mind – and a man, too, for that matter.

Sept. 29, 1936 – The Spokesman

(Sheilah Graham column)

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard decided to patch up their quarrel for the sake of the joint box they owned for last week’s Pacific southwest tennis tournament.

Another interested observer at the matches was Mrs. Rhea Gable, who spent most of the time looking sadly at the husband from whom she is separated and his blond companion.

Sept. 29, 1936 – The Miami News

Over the Teacups

Carole Lombard, who temporarily lost her title as Hollywood’s most outspoken femme to Arlene Judge, has won it again, under the gentle tutelage of Clark Gable. Clark, in his better moments, can beat any longshoreman at his own game of verbal fireworks, say his friends. And no fish-wife that ever was (say her enemies) can hold a candle to Carole when it comes to verbombast.

Sept. 29, 1936 – Honolulu Star

The Clark Gable-Carole Lombard romance is not quite made to order for movieland’s purposes, Gable is an MGM player and Miss Lombard is at Paramount. Paramount has been trying to borrow Gable to team him in a picture with Carole and MGM has been trying to borrow Carole for the same purpose. These efforts having failed, both studios made the best of the situation by allowing a third studio, Universal, to use the two stars together in My Man Godfrey. (Note: Confused writer??)

Another stunt is to cast divorced couples together and to hint about possible reconciliations. This was done with William Powell and Carole Lombard and with Margaret Sullavan and Henry Fonda. No such reconciliations have, however, developed.

#1936 #carole lombard #clark gable #old hollywood

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byneddiedingo · 2 years

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Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland in Anthony Adverse (Mervyn LeRoy, 1936) Cast: Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Woods, Anita Louise, Edmund Gwenn, Claude Rains, Gale Sondergaard, Louis Hayward, Steffi Duna, Akim Tamiroff, Ralph Morgan, Fritz Leiber, Luis Alberni, Billy Mauch, Henry O'Neill, Pedro de Cordoba, Scotty Beckett. Screenplay: Sheridan Gibney, based on a novel by Hervey Allen. Cinematography: Tony Gaudio. Art direction: Anton Grot. Film editing: Ralph Dawson. Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

This lead-footed, tin-eared attempt at an epic runs for almost two and a half hours, but it seems longer. Warner Bros. threw a lot of resources into it, including some top-flight actors, and earned Oscars for Gale Sondergaard (the first ever supporting actress award), cinematography, film editing, and score (an award that at the time went to the head of the studio music department, Leo Forbstein, and not to the one who deserved it, Erich Wolfgang Korngold). In fact, Korngold's score is the liveliest thing about the film, which is hamstrung by Fredric March's lack of charisma in the title role. March was a fine actor, but he seems miscast and a little too old (he was in his late 30s) in a role that calls on him to be dashing and occasionally reckless. The script, drawn from the first volume of Hervey Allen's doorstop bestseller, is full of contrivances and coincidences, made worse by some cliché-clotted dialogue and characters. The villains, Claude Rains and Gale Sondergaard, are as deep-dyed as you could want. Scheming and sneering at virtue, Rains produces one of the most memorable of villainous cackles when he laughs triumphantly, and Sondergaard narrows her eyes and flashes her teeth with snakelike relish. There's also an unfortunate episode in which Anthony goes to the Warners backlot version of Africa and becomes a slave trader, taking as a mistress a vixen named Neleta, played by the Viennese actress Steffi Duna, who does a hoochy-koochy dance that's surely not African. The problem with any summary of the movie is that it makes it sound like more fun than it is.

#Anthony Adverse #Mervyn LeRoy #Fredric March #Olivia de Havilland

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gatutor · 2 years

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Steffi Duna (Budapest, Austria-Hungary, 8/02/1910-Beverly Hills, California, 22/04/1992).

#Steffi Duna

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fitesorko · 2 years

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Steffi Duna

#steffi duna

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tvln · 3 years

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phantom raiders (us, tourneur 40)

#phantom raiders #jacques tourneur #nick carter #joseph schildkraut #florence rice #walter pidgeon #donald meek #steffi duna #clyde de vinna

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my-retro-vintage · 7 years

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Hungarian-Born Actress Steffi Duna in “The Magnificent Fraud” 1939

#steffi duna #the magnificent fraud

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papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

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THE MARINES FLY HIGH

March 7, 1940

Directed by George Nichols, Jr. and Benjamin Stoloff

Produced by Robert Sisk for RKO Radio Pictures

Screenplay by Jerry Cady and A.J. Boulton, story by A.C. Edington

Filmed October 1939

World Premiere on March 4, 1940

Wide Release on March 7, 1940

CAST

Lucille Ball (Joan Grant) marks her 48th feature film since coming to Hollywood in 1933. It opened exactly a year after she collaborated with Richard Dix and Robert Sisk on Twelve Crowded Hours.

Richard Dix (Lt. Dan Darrick) was nominated for an Oscar in 1931 for Cimarron. He also appeared with Lucille Ball in Twelve Crowded Hours (1939).

Chester Morris (Lt. Jimmy Malone) was nominated for an Oscar in 1929 for Alibi. He also appeared with Lucille Ball in Five Came Back (1939). In December 1960, Morris was a guest on “The Tonight Show with Jack Paar” which also featured Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and little Lucie.

Steffi Duna (Teresa) was a Hungarian-born actress who also appeared with Lucille Ball in Panama Lady (1939).

John Eldredge (John Henderson) appeared on “I Love Lucy” in “Lucy’s Night In Town” (ILL S6;E22) in 1957. He was a theatre-goer sitting behind the Ricardos and the Mertzes in the box seats watching The Most Happy Fella.

Paul Harvey (Col. Hill) did seven films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1943. In 1953 he played the art critic from the New York Times in “Lucy the Sculptress” (ILL S2;E15).

Dick Hogan (Cpl. Haines) also appeared with Lucille Ball and Chester Morris in Five Came Back (1939).

Ann Shoemaker (Mrs. Hill) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Nestor Paiva (Pedro Fernandez) appeared on the very first episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1957 - “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” as the jailer. In 1964 he played Mr. Perkins, boss of the Handy Dandy Vaccum Cleaner Company in “Lucy and the Missing Stamp” (TLS S3;E14).

UNCREDITED CAST

Abner Biberman (Gomez) appeared with Lucille Ball and Steffi Duna in Panama Lady (1939).

Ethan Laidlaw (Barnes) appeared in seven films with Lucille Ball between 1933 and 1947.

Pedro de Cordoba (Grant Farm Worker) also appeared with Lucille Ball and Chester Morris in Five Came Back (1939).

Kirby Grant (Lt. Hobbs) appeared with Lucille Ball in I Dream Too Much (1935).

Selmar Jackson (Doctor) appeared in seven films with Lucille Ball between 1933 and 1949.

Paul McVey (Pilot) appeared with Lucille Ball in Bottoms Up (1934).

Horace McMahon (Monk O'Hara) was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1958. He appeared with Lucille Ball in That’s Right - You’re Wrong (1939).

John Sheehan (Airplane Seller) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

THE STORY

Set somewhere in the Central American jungles, Joan Grant (Lucille Ball) runs a cocoa plantation. She also allows a platoon of US Marines to stay there. Two of the Marines, Malone (Chester Morris) and Darrick (Richard Dix), tussle over her affections. When she is kidnapped the two unite to save her. Henderson (John Eldredge), the plantation foreman, is really El Vengador, the kidnapper. He sets a trap for the Marines he knows will try to rescue her. The two rivals eventually realize that to defeat the enemy, they will have to work together. When Malone is heading for an ambush, Derrick flies to his aid and rescues Joan.

TRIVIA

Benjamin Stoloff took over direction of the film when George Nichols Jr. was killed in an automobile accident during production.

Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz would later purchase the RKO 40-Acres backlot as part of her Desilu Studios holdings.

Lucy Carmichael is mistakenly drafted into the Marines in “Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft” (TLS S5;E9) in 1966. One of television’s most popular depictions of Marines was “Gomer Pyle USMC” [United States Marine Corps] a series filmed at Desilu Studios. Its star, Jim Nabors, did a cameo as Pyle in this episode.

“The Marine’s Hymn” is heard at the beginning and end of the film. In “Lucy is a Sax Symbol” (LWL S1;E5) in 1986, Lucy Barker manages to squeak out a rusty rendition of “The Marine’s Hymn” on her old saxophone for her granddaughter.

A clip from this film is included in “Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie” (1993).

#The Marines Fly High #1940 #Lucille Ball #RKO #Richard Dix #Chester Morris #paul harvey #John Eldredge #Life With Lucy #US Marines #Marine's Hymn #The Lucy Show #Gomer Pyle USMC

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