Carole Lombard was not NED McCOBB'S DAUGHTER or known as THE ARIZONA KID. She was Frederick Peter's daughter, the Indiana kid. Her parents divorced and eventually they ended up in California. She grew up and began a wonderful career in films.

Carole Lombard was a young vivacious HIGH VOLTAGE, TWENTIETH CENTURY type, WHITE WOMAN who loved to dance, act, live life to its fullest. She was known to dance at the Cocoanut Grove probably doing the tango, BOLERO, RUMBA or who knows what new steps she might have developed?

She had an accident in a friends roadster and it put her career on hold for a BRIEF MOMENT.

Carole met a real LADIES MAN, William Powell, and they became romantically involved. He was a debonair man, a very structured man, career well in hand, MAN OF THE WORLD. In 1930 they gave out the BIG NEWS that they would be married. The marriage lasted until 1931. Probably the highly volatile energy of Carole and the restrained, rather deliberate Bill were a bit too much for each other and they parted ways. They remained good, good friends and he requested she play Irene in MY MAN GODFREY. That says a lot about two people when they can be married/divorced/remain friends and work together in such a way.

Carole made such films as LOVE BEFORE BREAKFAST, ME, GANGSTER, THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS, SINNERS IN THE SUN, WE'RE NOT DRESSING, and NO MORE ORCHIDS. (I have to list them this way because I can't figure out for the life of me how to fit them in this story and I will not be defeated in my attempt to use all the movie titles.)

Carole was known to have a very salty language. One director called her "The Profane Angel." I use a movie of hers to rename her THE DIVINE SINNER as she was divine to look at but she could make even a sailor blush at her expletives.

From 1931 to 1936 Carole Lombard had NO ONE MAN on her mind. She did, however, fall for crooner Russ Columbo, but that ended very tragically as he was shot in an accidental shooting.

Carole had NO MAN OF HER OWN until the Mayfair Ball. Carole Lombard went to the Mayfair Ball where UP POPS THE DEVIL, Clark Gable, and on this night the sparks were ignited. The POWER of those sparks was immediate. Gable was married to Ria Langham at the time, but Carole played FAST AND LOOSE with Gable for 3 years. A FOOLS FOR SCANDAL type atmosphere abounded with the studios. Such a scandal could cost them their careers because he was a married man, but they went the distance and maintained their relationship.

Carole was always pulling some new prank, joke and keeping one step ahead of Gable. Carole went to race tracks with Gable, she went on fishing expeditions, she romped in the duck blinds with Gable, but she was always A LADY BY CHOICE. She knew his every need before he did. She wasn't about to let their affair stay on that level and to her VIRTUE she sought Gable for husband material. Gable realized he did love Lombard and he would declare I TAKE THIS WOMAN in marriage. He requested a divorce from Ria Gable, after all, their marriage had been IN NAME ONLY for quite some time and this led the way for Gable and Lombard to become husband and wife. Gable and Lombard, THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED and during the filming of one of his films, they eloped to Kingman, Arizona, thus making Lombard THE GAY BRIDE.

Gable and Lombard bought a ranch. They set up housekeeping. They continued to make movies and their love blossomed. Some say these two were MADE FOR EACH OTHER. I like to think that also. With their soaring popularity these two SHOW FOLKS found it becoming increasingly harder and harder for them to be private people. I imagine many a time they wanted to place a sign outside their ranch saying "MR. AND MRS. SMITH - Private Citizens." Carole always felt IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE (she loved being in the public eye and mind) and in many a TRUE CONFESSION to reporters, Carole would give out tidbits about Gable often apprising them of his lovemaking abilities or she teased him unmercifully about his box office bomb called "Parnell". Carole left NOTHING SACRED about their union except regarding the prospect of future little Gable-ites. This, she held most dear. She wondered if she was ever TO BE OR NOT TO BE a mother, after all they had been trying now for quite sometime. Gable and Lombard soared together like THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK, their love transcending earthly limitations.

Carole continued her career and was offered a chance to go to her hometown for a war bond tour. Being the patriot she was, being the highly energetic individual she was, she accepted this task and did it well. On January 16, 1942 Clark Gable received word that Carole's plane was down. He immediately went to Las Vegas for more details. A VIGIL IN THE NIGHT was staked by Gable who was waiting for some news of what might well be a pending disaster. Although I've heard there's SAFETY IN NUMBERS, this did not hold true for the 22 people aboard that ill-fated flight. Gable went FROM HELL TO HEAVEN on this lonesome night. Hell, because he just found out his wife and 21 others perished and his eyes had to be looking towards the heavens for answers. If we, Carole's fans, could in some SUPERNATURAL way, place our HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE of time, we would hold her hand with the dearest appreciation of the woman she was and we would thank her for the spirit of the woman we have come to know and love.

I feel a certain SWING HIGH, SWING LOW feeling about the Gable/Lombard romance. High in that we had such great love for these two, their accomplishments, what was to come. Low, in the fact that it ended this way, we lost her and at such an early age. However, we do have the memories of what she was, her movies and those shall be etched in our minds, NOW AND FOREVER!

Clark Gable (as I see it) was A FREE SOUL. He had a hard life, but a most rewarding life. He worked with his father and felt CHAINED down in the BOOM TOWN oil fields not at all THE EASIEST WAY to make a living and it was dirty work at that. This might be fine work for someone else BUT NOT FOR ME. He was (you might say) POSSESSED to become an actor and even overrided his father who thought acting was sissy work.

Gable answered THE CALL OF THE WILD or his inner self talking and looked for work as an actor. This ADVENTURE would take him ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI, across the LONE STAR state, SAN FRANCISCO, across THE PAINTED DESERT, or the small city of SARATOGA, and even across the CHINA SEAS. It mattered not, he was willing and able to go. He started making films such as THE FINGER POINTS, THE SECRET SIX, SUSAN LENOX, DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE, this acting bug was in his system and he was now SPORTING BLOOD.

Gable was sent to another studio to work on IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. He was supposedly being punished by Mayer and felt BETRAYED. The joke, however, was on Mayer, as Gable did such a good job in that movie he won his only Oscar.

Love strikes at the most unusual times, although the romantic in us wants to believe IT STARTED IN NAPLES or THEY MET IN BOMBAY when in actuality Gable went to the Mayfair Ball in 1936 and met actress Carole Lombard whom he had worked with in a previous movie. She had NO MAN OF HER OWN at this particular time and Gable was interested. He took the DANCING LADY to the dance floor and the the fire was kindled. Previously Gable had seen Lombard pull one of her silly jokes and didn't think it was funny. She supposedly dressed in a hospital gown and had an ambulance drive her to a party with a sheet over her head. MEN IN WHITE took her out of the ambulance to a stunned group of socialites. Now Gable found Lombard was TOO HOT TOO HANDLE on the Mayfair ball dance floor. Maybe Gable thought he could grab his LOVE ON THE RUN, but Lombard was no POLLY OF THE CIRCUS. She had read the books on how to HOLD YOUR MAN. Gable liked the idea of love as ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY or THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS, while Lombard was busy making his life more adaptable to hers called FORSAKING ALL OTHERS or there was going to be a MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY.

Ria Langham, Gable's wife, thought the antics of Gable and Lombard was a STRANGE INTERLUDE. She thought a socialite like herself had a better chance of a happier marriage with Gable than the two actors did. This Clark/Ria versus Clark/Lombard situation started looking more like a MANHATTAN MELODRAMA or WIFE VS. SECRETARY script.

During the filming of GONE WITH THE WIND, in the RED DUST of the state of Georgia, Clark Gable was given THE KEY TO THE CITY by the mayor. It was not long after that, that Ria Gable gave Clark a divorce. Clark and Carole were married during the filming, bought a ranch and started to nestle down to a real life. Carole was an IDIOT'S DELIGHT. The comic antics in their home were always abundant. She was more fun than a barrel of monkeys and Clark loved every minute of it. Carole chided old Clark for his pitiful portrayal of PARNELL and lived to tell about it.

In January of 1942, Carole Lombard had been on a war bond tour when her plane when down in Las Vegas. Gable took a NIGHT FLIGHT to Las Vegas and waited for word of the plane. He remarked, "They NEVER LET ME GO to the crash site." Strangely enough the film he was working on at the time of Carole's death was SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU.

In August of 1942, 7 months after Carole's death, Gable made a COMMAND DECISION to join the Army. He wanted to RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP and go where the going was rough. Lombard had wanted him to take a more active role in the service, so to please himself and maybe TO PLEASE A LADY, he did just that. In Officer's School he was no TEACHER'S PET. He had to work very hard and gain the respect of his comrades. Maybe a few COMRADE - X's because Hitler wanted him dead or alive and was going to reward any German officer who nabbed Gable. Gable was neither a TEST PILOT nor a HELL DIVER, he was a gunner and then became an officer. Gable knew he was a SOLDIER OF FORTUNE when the Germans were unable to capture him.

Gable returned to Hollywood after his tenure in the service. After being back a few years Gable became rather unsettled. AFTER OFFICE HOURS at the studio he visited a few HONKY TONKS, went motorcycling, hunting, fishing, whatever. Gable was lonely. He remarry after 8 years, but what seemed to fit at first suddenly took on a MISFIT appearance and it ended sadly enough.

Do you know what Clark Gable's favorite dish was? The answer is MOGAMBO soup. The recipe for MOGAMBO is actually just old fashioned gumbo soup with a dash of Grace Kelly and a twist of Ava Gardner on the side. That is a recipe for a KING and besides Gable did like a dishy dame.

Gable met Kay Spreckles who he had known previously but now wanted to get to know a little better. They became LAUGHING SINNERS or CAIN AND MABEL rebellions in each other's love. Kay appeared in not one of his films such as THE WHITE SISTER, THE HUCKSTERS, THE TALL MEN, nor STRANGE CARGO. She was there for Clark and brought to their marriage more happiness than he had felt in quite some time. However, for all good movies there is an ending. On November 16, 1960 Clark Gable was stricken with a heart attack. At about 10:10 that evening Clark laid his head back and passed on. No doubt A BAND OF ANGELS came to take Clark to his grandest of HOMECOMINGS. He never had time to say good NIGHT NURSE or good night, beloved Kay. I believe that CALLOWAY WENT THATAWAY!

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