1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:08,560
Speaker 2: And Elizabeth Zaron. Hey, I got a question for you. Yeah,

3
00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,520
Speaker 2: sit back down. Oh okay, yeah, don't go anywhere. I

4
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,760
Speaker 2: got to question. It's not like one of my normal questions.

5
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,599
Speaker 2: I ask you. It's a good question. You know it's ridiculous.

6
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:18,880
Speaker 3: I do.

7
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:20,200
Speaker 4: I do.

8
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:20,959
Speaker 2: Share it with me.

9
00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,239
Speaker 4: You like you like shoes?

10
00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:25,360
Speaker 3: You like to wear shoes?

11
00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,360
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, I'm a fan of footwear.

12
00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 4: I have too many pairs of shoes.

13
00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:31,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've actually seen that.

14
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:33,760
Speaker 4: I had to pare it down because it was out

15
00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:34,320
Speaker 4: of control.

16
00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:36,080
Speaker 2: I think you have more than I've ever seen. Like,

17
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:37,519
Speaker 2: I've seen some of your shoes, but.

18
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:39,559
Speaker 4: I think you gots Oh I've got some in the

19
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,559
Speaker 4: archives that are pretty sweet. But only I get to

20
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,760
Speaker 4: see that. But like tennis shoes, are you like a Jordan's.

21
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,280
Speaker 2: Guy, I've got a couple of pairs.

22
00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:50,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, You've got a couple of pairs.

23
00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 4: So I was thinking, like, sneakers are a big deal.

24
00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 4: There's a guy who designs them. I think it's mash

25
00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:00,520
Speaker 4: m A c.

26
00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 3: H E.

27
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,960
Speaker 4: He's like, does cool designs. And I know you like

28
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,520
Speaker 4: football and sometimes they have like this week we're wearing shoes,

29
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,040
Speaker 4: and we drew on yeah and hooray. And I know

30
00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:16,000
Speaker 4: I'm aware of all these diseases. Sure, so you know,

31
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,400
Speaker 4: it's like just going about my business thinking these things,

32
00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 4: and then all of a sudden something dropped.

33
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,880
Speaker 5: A new shoe dropped, yes, and the other.

34
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,160
Speaker 3: Shoe dropped Elizabeth, stop, you're so good.

35
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:34,040
Speaker 4: We we were just inundated with messages oh no, yep,

36
00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,160
Speaker 4: and so many of them were gleeful, like I didn't

37
00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 4: want a torture erin but here we are.

38
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,560
Speaker 2: Thank you for that, whoever you were, I appreciate that

39
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:42,080
Speaker 2: there were.

40
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:44,320
Speaker 4: Some too who were like Zaren, I think, actually is

41
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:45,000
Speaker 4: gonna like this.

42
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 3: I wish, I wish I could list off.

43
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,200
Speaker 4: It would take forever to listen up all the people

44
00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,040
Speaker 4: who sent us messages in various forms. Either way, this

45
00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,080
Speaker 4: is what's called the sweetest drip of the season.

46
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:00,720
Speaker 2: That is fine.

47
00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 4: Can I read from the press release to you? I'm

48
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 4: reading from this company's website.

49
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,960
Speaker 2: Now if I say no, I don't listen.

50
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,360
Speaker 4: To anybody in streetwear. Drip is the ultimate compliment. And

51
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,720
Speaker 4: this National Maple Syrup Day December seventeenth, which we missed

52
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:26,560
Speaker 4: it again, this particular company is bringing its signature golden

53
00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 4: drip from the plate to the pavement with the launch

54
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,520
Speaker 4: of Sticky Kicks. Okay, that just sounds like something out

55
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:34,280
Speaker 4: of Parks and Red.

56
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:35,240
Speaker 3: Sticky Kicks.

57
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,639
Speaker 4: It's the first ever sneaker made with real Denny's syrup.

58
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,280
Speaker 2: What you gonna make a shoe Denny's?

59
00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 4: It's Each pair of Sticky Kicks features a clear sealed

60
00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,440
Speaker 4: panel that proudly displays the real Denny's syrup inside, although

61
00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:54,960
Speaker 4: they have a disclaimer like don't puncture it and drink

62
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 4: the syrup out, probably making them equal parts diner art

63
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:05,040
Speaker 4: and streetwear statement designed with syrup colored patent leather, tumbled

64
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,840
Speaker 4: yellow accents, and the iconic Denny's logo in Boston, the

65
00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 4: heel these kicks are the sweetest flecks of the season.

66
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,320
Speaker 4: I'm going to put the picture on Instagram. I'm gonna

67
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 4: tell them to do it.

68
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 2: Do you think that these people approached I hop first,

69
00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,560
Speaker 2: and Ip was like, hell no. They went to Denny's.

70
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,600
Speaker 4: Nation, they went to Black Bear and they were like,

71
00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,720
Speaker 4: come back with some boots. Never mind now, okay, So

72
00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,079
Speaker 4: can I give you a quote from Ellie Doty, Senior

73
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,040
Speaker 4: Vice President, Chief Brand Officer.

74
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:32,840
Speaker 2: Donah why not.

75
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:38,160
Speaker 4: Sticky kicks are impractical, unnecessary, and completely over the top,

76
00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 4: which just exactly why we love them. A Denny's syrup

77
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,680
Speaker 4: isn't just something we serve. It's part of who we are.

78
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 4: It's our golden thread. So it only makes sense would

79
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:48,840
Speaker 4: be the first to turn.

80
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:49,560
Speaker 3: It into fashion.

81
00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 4: Tell a toddler, you're the first to turn syrup into fashion?

82
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 2: You know me, I am not a fan of AI,

83
00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 2: but like, how is AI not taking some of these jobs? Like, oh, I.

84
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 4: Dor how do you know this might be? Like maybe

85
00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,160
Speaker 4: that's the Denny's AI model, is what? Anyway, you can't

86
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 4: of course, like you have to be a member of

87
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,400
Speaker 4: the Denny's Rewards Club.

88
00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm a member of that. Yeah.

89
00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,040
Speaker 4: So they got first access with a special code to

90
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,640
Speaker 4: unlock the site. They're very limited edition. They dropped on

91
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:26,280
Speaker 4: December seventeenth. Diner Drip dot com one one hundred and

92
00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:27,680
Speaker 4: ninety five bucks sold out.

93
00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,000
Speaker 2: That sounds like a nineteenth century disease. You've got diners drip,

94
00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:34,680
Speaker 2: diner drip, So.

95
00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you go to diner drip dot com you

96
00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:37,760
Speaker 4: can check them out.

97
00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:39,640
Speaker 3: Is always hot like our pancakes.

98
00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, anyway, so now I want pancakes, daddy.

99
00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:48,360
Speaker 2: What did you do at work today? Well, I came

100
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,120
Speaker 2: up with diner drip daddy.

101
00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,119
Speaker 3: Where were you in the war, Delizabeth?

102
00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,600
Speaker 5: I know you don't know.

103
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,480
Speaker 2: Okay, this isn't blame me. No, never, I would never

104
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,120
Speaker 2: blame them. I'm blaming you. No, I'm not trying to

105
00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,680
Speaker 2: get back at you, but I'm try to serve up

106
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:13,560
Speaker 2: something that is merits an equally ridiculous approach. So this

107
00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,240
Speaker 2: is also ridiculous. So just okay, Elizabeth, imagine you're at

108
00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:18,440
Speaker 2: war with the whole world.

109
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:20,200
Speaker 4: I don't have to imagine, but.

110
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,719
Speaker 2: You set some time and energy aside to kidnap and

111
00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,640
Speaker 2: kill your favorite actor because you're a super fan turned hater.

112
00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:50,440
Speaker 5: Oh god, this is ridiculous.

113
00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:56,799
Speaker 2: Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons.

114
00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:03,280
Speaker 2: It's always ninety nine percent murder, three and one hundred

115
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:10,880
Speaker 2: percent ridiculous, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, I've got another wild mid century

116
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,760
Speaker 2: love triangle for you. Okay, No, I think we had

117
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,239
Speaker 2: some fun with the Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner Howard love triangle.

118
00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:18,680
Speaker 4: Right, we had fun.

119
00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:22,320
Speaker 2: So I found another strange love triangle. Okay, it's the

120
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:27,920
Speaker 2: love hate triangle of Clark Gable, Carol Lombard and Adolf.

121
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:32,000
Speaker 5: Hitler record scratch, yes, I.

122
00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,359
Speaker 2: Know, I know. How the hell does this love hate

123
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,560
Speaker 2: triangle play out in any fun kind of way?

124
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,640
Speaker 4: That's a I am I'm gonna sit back and see

125
00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:44,359
Speaker 4: how you over you.

126
00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:45,200
Speaker 5: Yeah.

127
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,479
Speaker 2: Well, as we've said many time and time again, this

128
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:49,719
Speaker 2: show is steadfastly anti Nazi.

129
00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:50,279
Speaker 5: Correct.

130
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,200
Speaker 2: We are like Indiana Jones, we hate those guys. Yep.

131
00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,000
Speaker 2: So in this instance, much like Bugs Bunny, we're going

132
00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,440
Speaker 2: to mock Adolf Hitler and expose him for the weak

133
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,600
Speaker 2: sauce that he was. Now, this so called love triangle

134
00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,600
Speaker 2: wasn't a traditional love triangle, not like Frank Sinatra, Howard

135
00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,520
Speaker 2: Hughes and both vying for the love of Avid Gardner. No,

136
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,360
Speaker 2: in this instance, it was the opposite. It wasn't that

137
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,239
Speaker 2: Clark Gable and Adolf Hitler both loved Carol Lombard. Maybe Nope,

138
00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,080
Speaker 2: it worked the other way. Carol Lombard and Adolf Hitler

139
00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:18,360
Speaker 2: both loved Clark Gable.

140
00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,960
Speaker 4: Oh god, yes, my head is swimming.

141
00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:28,280
Speaker 2: Buckle up. Maybe get like a five point like yeah?

142
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,880
Speaker 2: So okay, so is that it works, Elizabeth? Until Hitler

143
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 2: became a hater instead of loving Clark Gable. He wanted

144
00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,840
Speaker 2: to really spend time with a beloved actor. Okay, in fact,

145
00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,080
Speaker 2: well here what's the story here?

146
00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,520
Speaker 5: Great question, Elizabeth.

147
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,520
Speaker 2: Before we get into Adolf Hitler's blood feud against Clark Gable,

148
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,640
Speaker 2: first we need to track back and answer the question.

149
00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,320
Speaker 2: Who was Clark Gable. It's a good question because there

150
00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:53,400
Speaker 2: are some young folks it may not be familiar with

151
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:53,840
Speaker 2: the man.

152
00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:55,480
Speaker 5: That is true, Clark Gable.

153
00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,200
Speaker 2: He came into this world in nineteen oh one in

154
00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,320
Speaker 2: a town called Cadiz, Ohio. It was a small farm

155
00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 2: town that had been named in honor of the city

156
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,000
Speaker 2: in Spain. Oh really Cadiz. Yeah, And later on it

157
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,840
Speaker 2: became part of the early oil industry in America that

158
00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,559
Speaker 2: was like really centered around Ohio and Pennsylvania. And I've

159
00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 2: also found that during the pre Civil War era, this

160
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,080
Speaker 2: town was a stop on the underground railroad for escaped

161
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 2: enslaved people on their way to the Canadian border. So

162
00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,120
Speaker 2: good job on you, Cadiz. Interesting, many local families in

163
00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 2: fact harbored people seeking freedom.

164
00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 4: So do they pronounce it Cadiz or they're all those

165
00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:31,840
Speaker 4: you know towns across Cairo.

166
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I think they pronounced it Cadiz. At least

167
00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,040
Speaker 2: that's what I found on LA. I don't know how, Yeah,

168
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,560
Speaker 2: I don't know how. You'd like anglicize or americanize that

169
00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,800
Speaker 2: one into something whack Cadi is. Yeah, it could be done. No.

170
00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,680
Speaker 2: In nineteen oh one, baby Clark Gable he enters the

171
00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:50,520
Speaker 2: world in Cadiz, and he's born the son of a

172
00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,280
Speaker 2: roughneck aka an oil well driller and a housewife. Now. Sadly,

173
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,360
Speaker 2: before he reached his first birthday, his mother passed away.

174
00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,520
Speaker 2: His father, unable to raise this baby on his own,

175
00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,280
Speaker 2: you know, being a roughneck, he sent the infant Clark

176
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 2: Gable to live with his grandparents. A year later, father remarries.

177
00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:08,800
Speaker 2: He's like, send the boy back to me. So he

178
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:10,760
Speaker 2: had Clark Cable's ship back. I don't know if it

179
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,560
Speaker 2: was like in a mail bag, like probably as you

180
00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:14,520
Speaker 2: pointed out with those mailing.

181
00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:15,880
Speaker 5: Children, yeah, y on the train.

182
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:17,840
Speaker 2: Yeah. But he returned to live with his father and

183
00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,840
Speaker 2: now stepmother. As a boy, Clark Gable was a mix

184
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,440
Speaker 2: of contradictions. He was tall for his age. He was

185
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,520
Speaker 2: gifted with a loud, booming.

186
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,640
Speaker 4: Voice, like at six years old he was six feet tall,

187
00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:31,680
Speaker 4: huge voice, But he was.

188
00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:34,959
Speaker 2: Also really like preternaturally shy, much like he was father.

189
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:36,920
Speaker 2: Though he was good with tools. He liked to work

190
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,600
Speaker 2: on car engines. He was also like an outdoorsy kid,

191
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,400
Speaker 2: so he liked to like split wood with an axe

192
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 2: and go hunting and fishing and that kind of stuff.

193
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,880
Speaker 2: But he also he loved the magic of words on

194
00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,440
Speaker 2: a page. He was a big reader. He also had

195
00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,480
Speaker 2: a fondness for poetry. He would he would memorize poetry

196
00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,120
Speaker 2: in particular, he was keen on Shakespeare. He memorized a

197
00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,200
Speaker 2: bunch of his sonnets. He would like save them at

198
00:09:58,240 --> 00:09:59,160
Speaker 2: a drop of a hat.

199
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,120
Speaker 4: Just to like, you're a renaissance boy.

200
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,200
Speaker 2: Seriously, I was impressed to learn this while I was

201
00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,720
Speaker 2: like reading up on him. Now his love of literature

202
00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 2: it blossomed into an affinity for acting and for the stage.

203
00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,079
Speaker 2: So then he wanted to like run off and become

204
00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,160
Speaker 2: a full on thespian. But his family unfortunately was too

205
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,120
Speaker 2: poor to get him a start in that life. So

206
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,640
Speaker 2: they're like, how about instead you go to work in

207
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,880
Speaker 2: the oil business with pop. Yeah, that's what he did.

208
00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,400
Speaker 2: He moved down through the oil fields of Oklahoma because

209
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,520
Speaker 2: by then they had the big oil strikers right, Oklahoma, Right,

210
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,520
Speaker 2: So finally he gets his chance to walk the boards

211
00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,679
Speaker 2: of a theater when he's relocated to the Pacific Northwest.

212
00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,760
Speaker 2: This is now in his early twenties. He starts doing

213
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,439
Speaker 2: plays as part of a traveling theater troupe. They performed

214
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,520
Speaker 2: at like lumber camps. Right, you imagine that, right, It's

215
00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:43,720
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty to performing theater and a part of the

216
00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,120
Speaker 2: lubber camps. And they love it because people loved culture

217
00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,440
Speaker 2: back then, even like work folks.

218
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:50,760
Speaker 3: They got Clark Gable performing, right.

219
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,360
Speaker 2: So eventually this leads him finding his way down to

220
00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:55,640
Speaker 2: Hollywood in nineteen twenty four, and at the age of

221
00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,760
Speaker 2: twenty three, he joins the mini dreamers who hope to

222
00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,000
Speaker 2: make it big in the dream fact, but in his case,

223
00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,920
Speaker 2: he did. It took him a while. He started working

224
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,640
Speaker 2: in silent films, but unsatisfied with his acting chops, he

225
00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,160
Speaker 2: moved east and to New York and he starts working

226
00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,360
Speaker 2: the stage there. He knew he needed to get better

227
00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,240
Speaker 2: as an actor, so he starts winning parts on Broadway.

228
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,839
Speaker 2: Once he was more confident in his acting, he went

229
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,920
Speaker 2: back west and made a second attempt at stardom in Hollywood,

230
00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 2: and the second time he actually finds success. But there

231
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,120
Speaker 2: was one trouble for this sensitive, yet rough and tumble

232
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,640
Speaker 2: tall kid from Ohio. As the legendary film executive Darryl F.

233
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,880
Speaker 2: Xanik said about Clark Gable after seeing a screen test,

234
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,000
Speaker 2: his ears are too big and he looks like an ape.

235
00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,400
Speaker 2: Oh so, yeah, wow, they were rough back then on

236
00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,439
Speaker 2: the screen test. You read notes on screen tests, you're like, wow,

237
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,600
Speaker 2: that's just uncut hateration, Like what's up? So it didn't

238
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,120
Speaker 2: scare off the other Hollywood film moguls are like, I

239
00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,680
Speaker 2: don't trust Xantick's opinion. Eventually, Clark Gable gets put under contract,

240
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,560
Speaker 2: starts getting supporting parts. They play up his rugged good

241
00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:01,480
Speaker 2: looks nineteen thirty one. He catches the attention of audiences

242
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:03,960
Speaker 2: and soon enough he's on his road to start up.

243
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,160
Speaker 2: No more small parts for Clark Gable. His breakout role

244
00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:10,240
Speaker 2: comes and it happened one night and he was so

245
00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,760
Speaker 2: good in that one. He won the Best Actor at

246
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:14,800
Speaker 2: the Oscars at the Academy Awards.

247
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:16,520
Speaker 3: Yeah right, spoiler.

248
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,160
Speaker 2: So Clark Gable's cockture attitude is charming away with his

249
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,920
Speaker 2: female co star Claude Colbert his nineteen thirties, fast talking

250
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,000
Speaker 2: bravado with a hint of sly danger like lurking underneath.

251
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,319
Speaker 2: It was this irresistible combination. And of course also there

252
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,080
Speaker 2: was his mustache and his ears that drew attention away

253
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 2: from his oversized ears. It all combines to make him

254
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,200
Speaker 2: this true new screen presence and very much the like

255
00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,240
Speaker 2: spirit of the early thirties. Sure, so he becomes this

256
00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,319
Speaker 2: major star and all this, like I said, happening in

257
00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 2: the nineteen thirties, Elizabeth, So you know what this means.

258
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,360
Speaker 2: This is the height of the Great Depression. The world

259
00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,360
Speaker 2: was going through it, right, and Clark Gable expresses this

260
00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,200
Speaker 2: defiant swagger of America's view of itself while America's going

261
00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:00,440
Speaker 2: through it's tough times.

262
00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:00,800
Speaker 5: Yeah.

263
00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,000
Speaker 2: Now, in that classic Hollywood description of a leading man,

264
00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,480
Speaker 2: Clark Gable was the sort of man that men wanted

265
00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,920
Speaker 2: to be and women wanted to be with. Right, So

266
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,400
Speaker 2: he nails that, right. This is pretty much what makes

267
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,920
Speaker 2: him famous. Now, by the time he played rhet Butler

268
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,000
Speaker 2: and Gone with the Wind, he'd become the biggest star

269
00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,560
Speaker 2: in the world. Everybody around, like who knew about movies

270
00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,679
Speaker 2: knew who he was. He was like the new Rudolph Valentino,

271
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,800
Speaker 2: but said it for the twenties. He's for the thirties.

272
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:26,800
Speaker 4: I remember it well.

273
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,319
Speaker 2: I thought you were you were yeah, yeah, like your

274
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,080
Speaker 2: middle aged at that point, like you were young.

275
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,720
Speaker 4: So it was beautiful, beautiful.

276
00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,679
Speaker 2: Not long after this, Ed Sullivan no Less dubbed him

277
00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,920
Speaker 2: the King of Hollywood. Ed Sullivan was a columnist in

278
00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,840
Speaker 2: New York Rock and the like stuff back then. Hinder

279
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,640
Speaker 2: Damon forever anyway, Elizabeth, have you ever seen Gone with

280
00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:49,000
Speaker 2: the Wind?

281
00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:50,640
Speaker 5: I have, I have not.

282
00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:51,640
Speaker 3: You're lucky.

283
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,200
Speaker 2: I have intentionally boycotted it. As the Son of Atlanta,

284
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,320
Speaker 2: I was like, forget that film. No, I seriously. I spent, like,

285
00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,360
Speaker 2: you know, my the first decade of my life in Atlanta,

286
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,240
Speaker 2: and you just always hear from the old heads how

287
00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,240
Speaker 2: Clark Gable like was like so cool. But one thing

288
00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:05,800
Speaker 2: I did hear from the old heads that I liked

289
00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,800
Speaker 2: about Clark Gable. He publicly planned to boycott the premiere

290
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,800
Speaker 2: of that film in Atlanta because the theater was segregated

291
00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,560
Speaker 2: and the racist wouldn't let his co stars Haddie McDaniel

292
00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,120
Speaker 2: and Butterfly McQueen into the theater to attend the screening

293
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,880
Speaker 2: because they were both black, and when Clark Gable heard that,

294
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,120
Speaker 2: he was like, oh, hell no, they aren't let in.

295
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,600
Speaker 2: Then I won't go either. Yeah, I like that about

296
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,920
Speaker 2: the man had backbone. Okay, So anyway, I still haven't

297
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,160
Speaker 2: seen the movie though, so but like most folks, I

298
00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,680
Speaker 2: do know his very famous line Frankly, my dear, I

299
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:36,600
Speaker 2: don't give a damn Yeah, like you know that one

300
00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,120
Speaker 2: just hits. And so anyway, this is when he becomes

301
00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,680
Speaker 2: the king of Hollywood. And Clark Gable obviously is not

302
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 2: as famous these days as he once was, but I

303
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,040
Speaker 2: think i'd like to think people still know who he is. Anyway,

304
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,720
Speaker 2: he was beloved back when I was a boy, so

305
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:51,640
Speaker 2: I grew up thinking of him as a man's man,

306
00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,760
Speaker 2: like he very much was the idea of an American

307
00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,280
Speaker 2: who hunts and rides horses and the ladies man. And

308
00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,480
Speaker 2: he's kind of charming and a little bit dangerous and ye,

309
00:14:58,800 --> 00:14:59,720
Speaker 2: a true leading man.

310
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 4: He was the cat's pajamas.

311
00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,800
Speaker 2: No, lie, it was. But then Elizabeth. All this changed

312
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,320
Speaker 2: when he meets Carol Lombard.

313
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,240
Speaker 4: Yes, all everything changed for him.

314
00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,560
Speaker 3: Everything changed, everybody's for everybody changed.

315
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:15,640
Speaker 2: So who was Carol Lombard.

316
00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:17,360
Speaker 4: Good questions, Aaron, I'm glad you asked such.

317
00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,160
Speaker 2: An important question. Elizabeth, as you no doubt know, she

318
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,680
Speaker 2: was a Hollywood star, big in the thirties. She was

319
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,120
Speaker 2: seven years younger than Gable, born in nineteen oh eight.

320
00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,400
Speaker 2: She was also from Midwest, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

321
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,960
Speaker 2: Her parents separated when she was a little girl, and

322
00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,440
Speaker 2: her mother moved them out to Los Angeles. He's like,

323
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:35,640
Speaker 2: you know where we should go to Los Angeles?

324
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:37,680
Speaker 4: We just walk down the street and pick oranges.

325
00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:40,720
Speaker 2: In nineteen fourteen, it wasn't even like the films were

326
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 2: popping off.

327
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 4: No, that's when it was like, come out here. It's

328
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:44,800
Speaker 4: the You know, the.

329
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 3: Streets are paved with gold.

330
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's oranges everywhere.

331
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:49,120
Speaker 2: And the weather is irresistant.

332
00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:50,800
Speaker 4: And did we mention that we have oranges?

333
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,200
Speaker 2: So by the time, yes, there are oranges, delicious, delicious

334
00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:56,120
Speaker 2: them right.

335
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,480
Speaker 4: Off the tree as you walk down the street. Also,

336
00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:00,000
Speaker 4: have you ever had an orange?

337
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,600
Speaker 2: The streets are lined with orange rinds.

338
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:03,080
Speaker 5: Yes.

339
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,040
Speaker 2: Now. By the time young Carol Lombard was in junior high,

340
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,680
Speaker 2: she was a sporty girl. She excelled at swimming and

341
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,720
Speaker 2: tennis and volleyball. In fact, playing baseball with boys is

342
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,080
Speaker 2: how she caught the eye of a film director who

343
00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,080
Speaker 2: was looking for a girl to play the kid's sister

344
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:18,600
Speaker 2: in his next picture. He sees her and he's like, whoa,

345
00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:20,280
Speaker 2: she's kicking those boys butts.

346
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:20,880
Speaker 5: Huh.

347
00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 2: But actually, I actually I found the quote from the guy,

348
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 2: the film director, as he put it, was she was

349
00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,720
Speaker 2: a cute looking little tomboy out there knocking the hell

350
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,520
Speaker 2: out of the other kids, playing better baseball than they were. Okay, right, yeah,

351
00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:34,880
Speaker 2: so I thought you'd like her a little tomboy. Her

352
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,840
Speaker 2: new acting career almost into prematurely, though, because she's in

353
00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,000
Speaker 2: this car accident when she's like nineteen. It shatters a

354
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 2: windshield which cuts her face, leaves this huge scar in

355
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,960
Speaker 2: her face. They're like, oh, I don't know, right, But

356
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,160
Speaker 2: she found this guy, Max Sennett of the old comics

357
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,800
Speaker 2: like Shorts, the Short Wheels. He liked her, and he's like,

358
00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,600
Speaker 2: we're just gonna have you switched to comedy, and she did.

359
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,400
Speaker 2: Kept it moving. Eventually she becomes a young woman that

360
00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,360
Speaker 2: Hollywood sees the star potential in her. By nineteen thirty four,

361
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,080
Speaker 2: she's offered the female lead and it happened one night

362
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,160
Speaker 2: which would have pair her with our table, but she's like, no,

363
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,399
Speaker 2: she turned down the role, really yes. So instead she

364
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,320
Speaker 2: started to work with the screwball comedy film director Howard Hawks,

365
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:16,879
Speaker 2: and this launch has earned a new strata of stardom.

366
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,600
Speaker 2: She finally found her niche, mixing comedy and drama, but

367
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,600
Speaker 2: screwball comedies obviously. So in praise of her acting critics,

368
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,720
Speaker 2: she used to use this term that you love so much.

369
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,479
Speaker 2: They said she was whip smart.

370
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:34,719
Speaker 4: Oh my god. You never hear a man described as

371
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,520
Speaker 4: whip smart. No, no, never did condescending.

372
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,640
Speaker 2: I use that about myself. People like Saren like, oh,

373
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:41,479
Speaker 2: I'm whip smart.

374
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,520
Speaker 4: People come up to you and say what serenly.

375
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,920
Speaker 2: Yes to me. Personally, I'm happy to.

376
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,320
Speaker 3: Answer, he's whip smart.

377
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:50,359
Speaker 4: That he is me.

378
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,480
Speaker 2: He is a fun fact. He's me whip smart. So,

379
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,119
Speaker 2: returning to the theme of Indiana Jones, Carol Lombard was

380
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,280
Speaker 2: such a hard drinking, foul mouth, yet equally charming and

381
00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,280
Speaker 2: seductive woman. She was the inspiration for the role of

382
00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:08,480
Speaker 2: Marion Ravenwood and Raiders the Lost Ark. Really Yeah for

383
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,359
Speaker 2: his love and Ye. So by nineteen thirty seven, Carol

384
00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:13,480
Speaker 2: Lombard was so popular as a leading lady. She was

385
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,240
Speaker 2: now making five times more than the President of the

386
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,800
Speaker 2: United States. She derived Elizabeth Yea and so by that

387
00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,679
Speaker 2: same time she starts seeing Clark Gable romantically. Like the

388
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:24,959
Speaker 2: story goes, the pair of Hollywood stars, they meet at

389
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,520
Speaker 2: this party at Carol Lombard's house back in thirty six.

390
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,840
Speaker 2: The pair hits it off instantly right now. They'd worked

391
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,320
Speaker 2: together back in nineteen thirty two, and at that time

392
00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,240
Speaker 2: they didn't really like each other like at all. But

393
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,720
Speaker 2: this time, when he first sees her on a dance floor,

394
00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 2: Kark Gable walks right up to her and says, I

395
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,159
Speaker 2: go for you, Ma, and this is because they're for you. Yeah. Well,

396
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,560
Speaker 2: Carol Lombard didn't quite know what the King of Hollywood meant,

397
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,040
Speaker 2: but she looked up at him. It all clicked because

398
00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,960
Speaker 2: he was referencing the movie that they'd made four years earlier,

399
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,520
Speaker 2: and Ma and Paul were their character names. Okay, so

400
00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,719
Speaker 2: Carol Lombard said back to Gable, I go for you too, Pa.

401
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,280
Speaker 3: Oh, they're gonna step.

402
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,199
Speaker 2: Out, No, seriously, they're meet cute had the charming appeal

403
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,320
Speaker 2: of a Hollywood rom com in real life. In fact,

404
00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:10,200
Speaker 2: the sparks were so self evident that Clark Gable invites

405
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,200
Speaker 2: her to come back with him to his hotel room.

406
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 2: He meets her at a party at her place. He's like,

407
00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,960
Speaker 2: why don't you come back to a live place, and

408
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 2: response Carol Lombard said, quote, who do you think you are?

409
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,520
Speaker 2: Clark Gable? Look at these two incredible So instead they

410
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,480
Speaker 2: stayed at her place at the house party, where she

411
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,480
Speaker 2: continued giving him a teasing hard time. In fact, she

412
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,399
Speaker 2: was so mean to him that the next day she

413
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,520
Speaker 2: felt bad about it, so she sent him a literal

414
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,439
Speaker 2: peace offering, which was a pair of doves and not

415
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,159
Speaker 2: only that, what yes, not only that? Though attached the

416
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,919
Speaker 2: leg of one of the doves live doves was a

417
00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,679
Speaker 2: handwritten note from Carol Lombard, and it read, how about it, Carol?

418
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,200
Speaker 2: That's it right? So after their wild.

419
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:55,920
Speaker 4: Waits go ahead where where she has a dove?

420
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,640
Speaker 2: Guy? She's Hollywood, Elizabeth, it's the magic Hollywood. She knows

421
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 2: a guy. So after that wild night and day after exchange,

422
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,199
Speaker 2: Gable was smitten, like, who is this girl sending me

423
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:08,920
Speaker 2: live birds with the nota test?

424
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:09,359
Speaker 4: Right?

425
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,080
Speaker 2: So Elizabeth. This marked the official beginning of one of

426
00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,160
Speaker 2: America's most touching love stories. The trouble for the pair

427
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,439
Speaker 2: was that Clark Gable was married at the time.

428
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,680
Speaker 4: Oh okay, when he's like, come to okay, but.

429
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:25,120
Speaker 2: They were legally separated. They were legally separated, and once

430
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 2: the divorce was finalized, the pair ran off and they

431
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,880
Speaker 2: eloped in Kingman, Arizona, and they settled down. They bought

432
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,560
Speaker 2: a ranch and in Sino, California, because both of them

433
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,160
Speaker 2: loved animals and they also loved hunting, so they raised

434
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,080
Speaker 2: a barnyard's worth of farm animals and they bagged deer

435
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,600
Speaker 2: and ducks together just had a good old time, like

436
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 2: shooting at critters on hunting trips. But there was one

437
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,960
Speaker 2: trouble for their love affair. Elizabeth Clark Gable quite famously

438
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,280
Speaker 2: had a wandering eye, and despite his new love affair,

439
00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 2: he continued his unscrupulous hobby of betting his co stars.

440
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 2: Oh my god, so which I found kind of funny

441
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,800
Speaker 2: since his new wife said of her husband, quote, my god,

442
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:01,960
Speaker 2: you know how I love Pa, but I can't say

443
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,040
Speaker 2: he's a hell of a good lay WHOA yes, right, wow.

444
00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:08,639
Speaker 2: He has all this practice, but yet he's not getting

445
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 2: any better.

446
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,720
Speaker 3: These two are so crassed, right, I thought, I.

447
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,520
Speaker 2: Just can't anyway, this Starcross couple, they had one other

448
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:16,960
Speaker 2: trouble to deal with. It was a big one and

449
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 2: his name was Adolf Hitler. So let's take a little break.

450
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 2: When we get back, we'll peel back this orange find

451
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:50,120
Speaker 2: out what's the juicy inside. Elizabeth, We're back, We are back.

452
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 2: So now we got the third angle in this triangle,

453
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 2: introduced Adolf Hitler. Now, co incidentally, uh, Carol Lombard and

454
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,040
Speaker 2: Clark Cable had gotten married in nineteen thirty nine. Do

455
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,720
Speaker 2: you know what else happened in nineteen thirty nine, Elizabeth?

456
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:08,399
Speaker 4: How many years before the release of point break with that?

457
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 4: I can't do that kind of mapp. I think it's

458
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,720
Speaker 4: thirty minus thirty whatever, fifty.

459
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 2: Two years sure either way. That same year, in nineteen

460
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:23,359
Speaker 2: thirty nine, Nazi Germany invaded Poland leads to the start

461
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 2: of World War two in Europe. Boiler because something I

462
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 2: was gonna say least to the start of World War two,

463
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:28,680
Speaker 2: but I had to add in Europe because now a

464
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 2: lot of people go back and they say that China

465
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,280
Speaker 2: and Japan really started World War Two. Anyway, the Nazis

466
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,119
Speaker 2: invade Belgium next, and the Netherlands, and soon enough it's

467
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,160
Speaker 2: apparent that har Hitler has no plans of stopping until

468
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,119
Speaker 2: someone stops him and his war machine. So America still

469
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 2: doesn't get into the war, though for a little while,

470
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,159
Speaker 2: and in nineteen forty one, America is still not in

471
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,600
Speaker 2: the war. The King of Hollywood now is forty years old,

472
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:52,880
Speaker 2: and he has no plans to go fight the Nazis,

473
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 2: you know, primarily because we're not in the war, but

474
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,199
Speaker 2: also he's just like, I'm a middle aged guy. What

475
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,280
Speaker 2: am I going to do. I'm a Hollywood actor, I'm

476
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,160
Speaker 2: King of Hollywood. I should stay here. And I think

477
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 2: about it. I mean, the guy was, as I said,

478
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 2: Hollywood star, and really what could he do to help

479
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,679
Speaker 2: the war effort? I mean, but he guess he's kind

480
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 2: of good at hunting war bonds. So then Japan attacks

481
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:16,840
Speaker 2: Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen forty one.

482
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,320
Speaker 4: It's a day that will live in infamy.

483
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,920
Speaker 2: Completely everything changes. Certainly, America is at war. Everyone's changed

484
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,359
Speaker 2: their mind. We're no longer isolationists. And now Clark Gable's

485
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 2: opinions about not going to fight in the war aren't

486
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 2: so hip aren't so cool. Yeah, One day on the

487
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,679
Speaker 2: MGM studio a Lot, he's speaking with his fellow Stellia

488
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 2: Lloyd Matinee Idol Jimmy Stewart, who mind you had volunteered

489
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,400
Speaker 2: to go fight in Europe's right Clark Gable told Jimmy Stewart,

490
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: you know you're throwing away your career, don't you.

491
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,360
Speaker 4: Like, in the face of what's more important?

492
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 2: Yes, Ark, stardom or like ending the Nazi threat totalitarian

493
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,480
Speaker 2: control of the entire planet. Now, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth was

494
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 2: no fool. He was fully aware he was risking not

495
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 2: only his life but his stardom, and he said as

496
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 2: much to Gable. And this didn't make sense to the

497
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 2: King of Hollywood. So Gable told Jimmy Stewart, you won't

498
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,679
Speaker 2: catch me doing that, but I wish you god speed.

499
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,199
Speaker 4: Well, it's like, you know, I think I've said it

500
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 4: here before, but you know, integrity is like pregnancy. Got

501
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 4: you know, it's either positive or night like, yes, you

502
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 4: have it or you don't. Well, and he's proven you

503
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:19,399
Speaker 4: know it doesn't really don't.

504
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, but like pregnancy, he can get it, he can't.

505
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 2: So just hold on to that thought because Fate with

506
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,680
Speaker 2: a capital F was listening to his words, because within

507
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,199
Speaker 2: months Clark Gable would find out how wrong he was.

508
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 2: He could get involved because not only that, there was

509
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: that love triangle I told you about on top Clark

510
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 2: Gable finally realized he would need to go fight the Nazis.

511
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 2: And when he'd realized this, it really would piss off

512
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 2: the man who started it, one of his biggest fanboys,

513
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 2: the Fur of Germany aka Old Adolf Hitler. Turns out,

514
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 2: I said Hitler, Yeah, he was one of Clark Gable's

515
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 2: biggest and most devoted fans.

516
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 3: Interesting.

517
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, even after Hitler called America and It's art degenerate,

518
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,879
Speaker 2: the Feur would still secretly watch Clark Gable movies.

519
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 4: Oh sure, they all do this whereas you say one

520
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 4: thing and then you live another.

521
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 3: Yes, right, I mean pretty much surprise.

522
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 2: So getting back to the Carol Lombard Clark Gable aspect,

523
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,200
Speaker 2: to see what pushes Clark into the war. This pair,

524
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,359
Speaker 2: as I've pointed out, they were a fantastic fit. They

525
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 2: were both crass and.

526
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 4: Were both you know, cheating on her.

527
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 2: But yeah, she doesn't seem to care because he's a

528
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 2: bad lay So who knows no, Carol Lombard, just like

529
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 2: Clark Gable, love to be outside, love to enjoy nature.

530
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 2: Like for instance, they said she was a bit of

531
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 2: a tomboy when she was a girl. As a star,

532
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,320
Speaker 2: she'd like to go out and skeet shoot, and to

533
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 2: hike and to fish and to camp under the wide

534
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 2: open heaven of twinkling stars. Like she was doing that

535
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 2: as a star. Okay, right now, Back in polite society,

536
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 2: she was known for her full throated embrace of life.

537
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 2: She was a sort of woman who laughed easily, She

538
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 2: joked often, she cussed apologetically. She was very much her

539
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 2: own woman. Is my point. This is at a time

540
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 2: when this was not celebrated. Sure, right. So she was

541
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,639
Speaker 2: also a convert to the Bahai faith, which she was

542
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,760
Speaker 2: prepared to go her own way in terms of heaven.

543
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 4: Fascinating. She's like Rain Wilson.

544
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally exactly. So. As a rough and tumble and

545
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 2: foul mouth as she was, she was also eager to

546
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 2: express her more feminine concerns, like her love and devotion

547
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 2: to her husband. So as she once said, and I quote,

548
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 2: I just think of that husband of mine all the time.

549
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 2: I'm really stuck on that bastard and it isn't all

550
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 2: that great lover crap, because if you want to know

551
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,360
Speaker 2: the truth, I've had better Now I'm nuts about him

552
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 2: and not just about his nuts.

553
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 5: Wait, yes, these.

554
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 2: Are her quotes, Like she's singing the praises, yes, like

555
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 2: the fan magazines.

556
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 5: So what yah?

557
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 2: And as I said, she she took her shots at

558
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 2: his bedroom prowess.

559
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 5: In the press repeatedly, she's unafraid.

560
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 2: Of teasing you basically, so she's like, yeah, But then.

561
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 4: It comes to a point where, I mean, you've known

562
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,640
Speaker 4: couples like that where they kind of bag on each other,

563
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,199
Speaker 4: and then it just doesn't ever seem to stop me.

564
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 4: You have to be like, do you guys actually do

565
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 4: anything you like about each other? Because like he apparently

566
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,879
Speaker 4: is constantly on your nerves. She's annoying.

567
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 3: That puzzles me. I don't get that.

568
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,960
Speaker 4: Plus I just feel like united front, like you don't

569
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 4: talk about the family outside the.

570
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 2: Fra Oh yeah, we're much more loyal I am. Now

571
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 2: can you continuing the theme of her being a bad

572
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 2: mouth or she once out of their love ranch and

573
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,199
Speaker 2: Encino the little farmhouse with all the animals, right, Oh,

574
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 2: it's a love ranch now, she called it quote the

575
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 2: best little house in the San Fernando Valley, just crass

576
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 2: so crown. While her husband leaned conservative in politics, she

577
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 2: wasn't a valid Democrat, a huge fan of President Roosevelt. Okay,

578
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 2: she was also part of FDR's Hollywood brain trust. In fact,

579
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 2: she often visited with him in the White House and

580
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 2: was there for his fireside chats when he would record

581
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 2: those on his weekly radio addresses to bolster the spirit

582
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 2: of the nation to get them through the depression. Now,

583
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,359
Speaker 2: when war in Europe comes and later when Japan attacked

584
00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,120
Speaker 2: the US and Pearl Harbor, Carol Lombard of course wants

585
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:03,680
Speaker 2: to do her part for the war effort, unlike her

586
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,719
Speaker 2: husband who was fine sitting on the sidelines. But FDR

587
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 2: tells her you are needed where you are, which only

588
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 2: served to irritate her. So she's like, I want to

589
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,199
Speaker 2: get in the war right now. Later, she when she

590
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 2: found out that the studio heads were trying to secure

591
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 2: a state side commission for her husband so he didn't

592
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 2: have to go overseas. Yeah, she told them, that's the

593
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,120
Speaker 2: last thing I want for Pappy is one of those

594
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 2: phony commissions.

595
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 5: She's like, I want him out there get him on

596
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 5: the battle.

597
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 4: I would like to be a war widow.

598
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 2: Thank you. Instead. Carol Lombard tells her husband he needs

599
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 2: to go join the fight because she can't join up,

600
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 2: but she planned to have somebody in the family do it.

601
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 2: She's like, yeah, right, So, with her typical verve and vigor,

602
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 2: Carol Lombard threw herself into selling war bonds because that's

603
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 2: what she could do. So while her husband's sitting on

604
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 2: the sidelines and she's selling war bonds. And she did

605
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 2: this like as FBR told her, like you know, stay here,

606
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 2: She's like, okay, but I'm gonna sell something.

607
00:28:58,120 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 4: Yeah.

608
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 2: Now, meanwhile, her husban became the chairman of the Screen

609
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 2: Actor's Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee. Just a nonsense

610
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 2: like raising awareness. Exactly, there's a war going on people,

611
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 2: so there are differing levels of commitment to the war.

612
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 2: Effort led to tensions between them. Now this was not

613
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 2: the only tension. There was also another trouble that went

614
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 2: by the name of Lana Turner. Oh yeah, So while

615
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 2: his wife is always selling war bonds to fund the

616
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 2: nation's fight in the war, Clark Gable's back in Hollywood

617
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 2: and he's getting up to his old ways, trying to

618
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 2: bet his.

619
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 5: Coach star that victory guard exactly so.

620
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 2: At the start of the year in forty one, Gable

621
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 2: was in a film called Somewhere I'll Find You with

622
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 2: Lana Turner, and much like the World War, this blonde

623
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 2: and kirby starlet nicknamed the Sweater Girl, was a serious

624
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 2: threat to the couple's happy home life. So Carol Lombard

625
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 2: let Clark Gable know although she knew he had a

626
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:50,959
Speaker 2: wandering eyes, I've pointed out, and she's cool with it

627
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 2: in the past, but now she was not cool when

628
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 2: it was Lana Turner. Yeah, because Lana Turner is like

629
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 2: twenty years old and she's like this up and coming starld.

630
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 2: It's like very much like, yeah, she can see that

631
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: she may lose him.

632
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 4: He's right.

633
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh. Now, the troubles between the merry couple they

634
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 2: turned into a full on spat the night before she

635
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 2: used to fly out for a big war bond drive

636
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 2: at her home state of Indiana. They argued about Lana Turner,

637
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 2: and Clark Gable promised he'd yet to sleep with his

638
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 2: much younger co.

639
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 4: Star, right yet, I haven't done it yet, So Carol.

640
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 2: Lombard didn't necessarily believe him. They ended up sleeping in

641
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:29,800
Speaker 2: separate beds that night in their little house in Encino. Now,

642
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 2: the next morning, she left to go to the train station,

643
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 2: and he didn't take her because they were like after

644
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 2: they had the fight. Yea, So he stayed behind in bed.

645
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 2: And what he didn't know, and what he could not know,

646
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 2: was this would be the last time he ever saw

647
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 2: his wife.

648
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 5: Oh yes.

649
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 2: Interestingly, before she left for her train, Lombard gave her

650
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 2: secretary this pascel of handwritten love letters and instructed her

651
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 2: secretary to give one letter to Clark Gable every day

652
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 2: she was gone. Okay, like, just keep him, keep him

653
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 2: fresh in mind. Right That night, after that she left

654
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 2: our Gable returned home from the studio and he found

655
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 2: waiting in their bed her last surprise for him. It

656
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 2: was a blonde mannequin, and attached was another note, just

657
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 2: like with the doves, and this note said, so you

658
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 2: won't be lonely. Oh God, crass, right, Yeah, So Gable

659
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 2: read the notes, stared at the blonde mannequin in their bedroom,

660
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 2: and he laughed, and he laughed and laughed until tears

661
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 2: were streaming down his face.

662
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 5: They were a perfect pair.

663
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 2: Elizabeth. Yeah, what a woman, What a wife, he thought

664
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 2: to himself. Right. Fortunately, Elizabeth, this was not the last

665
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 2: time Carol Lombard would make him cry, because you see,

666
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 2: the very next day, Carol Lombard called him from Indiana,

667
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 2: and the two happy lovers they made up, and they

668
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 2: cooed at each other over the phone, you know, like

669
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 2: love doves. And meanwhile, while she was out on her

670
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,959
Speaker 2: war bond drive, she'd sold a record amount of war bonds,

671
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: and in her excitement, she telegraphed her husband and told him, Hey, Pappy,

672
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 2: you'd better get into this man's army. But she's still

673
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 2: like pushing it, right. And so, while she's out on

674
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 2: their road for her warbond tour, Chris crossing the US

675
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 2: on January fifteenth, nineteen forty two, Lombard plans to rush

676
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 2: back to be with Gable. So rather than take the train,

677
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: she decides to fly from Indiana to Los Angeles, which

678
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 2: would require numerous stops. Right right now, the Treasury Department

679
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 2: they forbade her from flying. But Carol Lombard, as I've

680
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 2: probably pointed out, does what Carol Lombard wants to do.

681
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 2: So she plans to fly home anyway, since it's faster

682
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 2: and that gets her, you know, speeds her to her

683
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 2: husband's arms.

684
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 4: Yeah.

685
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 2: Her husband's pr agent, by the way, was with her,

686
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 2: and before Carol got her way, he asked, why don't

687
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 2: we flip a coin, Heads, you can fly home, Tails

688
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 2: will take the train. They flip the coin. Carol wins,

689
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 2: She's like, I'm flying Jack.

690
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, Elizabeth.

691
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 2: Back then a plane couldn't just fly from Indiana all

692
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 2: the way to Los Angeles, as I said, The planes

693
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:45,479
Speaker 2: didn't have that kind of range, so they had to

694
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 2: stop periodically for refueling. Yeah, so they stopped at Wichita

695
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 2: and albert Querque and then onto Las Vegas. Finally they'd

696
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 2: fly the last leg to La or rather the Burbank Airport,

697
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 2: which we both.

698
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 4: Love, love the Burbank Airport.

699
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 2: So to welcome his wife home, Gabel had arranged a

700
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: surprise party for Carol Lombard and also privately, he'd arranged

701
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 2: a playful little riff on the blonde dummy that was

702
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 2: in the bed that Carol had left him as a surprise.

703
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 4: Yeah.

704
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 2: While she was gone, Gable had a male mannequin with

705
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 2: a sheet raising erection waiting in the bed for her.

706
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 2: Oh god, I thought you'd hate that.

707
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would.

708
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 2: That night is Gable waited for Lombard to return. He

709
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 2: sat by the phone eager, like a little schoolboy with

710
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 2: big ears. And then the phone rings and it's a

711
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 2: call from Eddie Mannix, who's this like the big fixer

712
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 2: for MGM for the studio. And Gable entered the call

713
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 2: and he assumed it was like it's gonna be Carol.

714
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 2: And he's like, can I get back to you. I'm

715
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,480
Speaker 2: expecting word on Ma's arrival any minute.

716
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 6: Yeah.

717
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 2: And the reason why the studio fixer Mannox was on

718
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 2: the phone was he had bad news. He said, King,

719
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 2: That's why I'm calling you. Larry Barbier just phone from

720
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 2: the airport. Carol's plane went down just a few minutes

721
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 2: ago after it left Las Vegas. Oh no, yes, tw

722
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 2: Flight three never made it to the Burbank airport. The

723
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,800
Speaker 2: plane wrecked. It painted the desert mountain side with bright flames.

724
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,400
Speaker 2: It was like a really bad record, right, no survivors.

725
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 2: There were rumors though, that Nazi sabatoeurs had gotten to

726
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 2: the plane and they'd set it up for a crash. Really,

727
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,319
Speaker 2: and that's not me saying that that's the opinion of

728
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 2: friend of the Show Orson Wells.

729
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,399
Speaker 4: Well then right there he was.

730
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,280
Speaker 2: Convinced of it. He's like, because, according to Orson Wells,

731
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,360
Speaker 2: all the governments, all the government insiders and Hollywood folks

732
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 2: with connections, they knew the truth that Nazi Sabaturs had

733
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 2: down the plane, but FDR covered it up because he

734
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,759
Speaker 2: wanted to minimize any national panic about Nazi.

735
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 4: Sabatine for operating out of Las Vegas.

736
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:34,880
Speaker 2: I don't know where they were operating out of, and

737
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 2: they were just following her war bond drive.

738
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 4: Here is do you know what I'll go with orson

739
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:41,760
Speaker 4: that crazy diamond.

740
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 2: I believe Orson Wells on this read right, So I

741
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,680
Speaker 2: guess this way this could count as a one percent murder.

742
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,439
Speaker 2: Sorry anyway, the plane wreck, as I also erecked something else.

743
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,319
Speaker 2: Clark Gable, his sense of what his life was is

744
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 2: now dashed.

745
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,280
Speaker 4: Right, I'm like, I'm sorry. But he gets his call

746
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,240
Speaker 4: and then he goes into the bedroom.

747
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 2: He has a Claire out with the tent raising man.

748
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 4: See, this is why you don't do stuff like that.

749
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 4: That's why I always be prepared for the worst news possible.

750
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 2: There you go, Yes, the Elizabeth Utton. Yes, so President Roosevelt.

751
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 2: He declared Carol Lombard as quote the first woman to

752
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:21,839
Speaker 2: be killed in action and defense of our country in

753
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,840
Speaker 2: its war against the access powers.

754
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 5: Wow right.

755
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 2: Yeah. He also sent Clark Gable his private condolences for

756
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 2: the loss.

757
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:28,640
Speaker 4: Sure.

758
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,959
Speaker 2: Now for the next few months, Clark Gable, he does

759
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,760
Speaker 2: what I would do with something like this. He crawls

760
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 2: inside a bottle of liquor and he refuses to surface.

761
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 2: He drank scotch every day. He didn't he didn't eat,

762
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 2: and and he was all alone. He had like house staff,

763
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 2: but he wouldn't talk to them. He didn't have the mannequin.

764
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,800
Speaker 2: He loses twenty pounds on his like all like liquor diet.

765
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:51,359
Speaker 4: Yeah.

766
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 2: And then to mark his grief, he wore a locket

767
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,280
Speaker 2: of Carol's hair that had been retrieved from the crash site.

768
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:56,800
Speaker 4: Oh god.

769
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 2: Yeah. And Gable also he watched the couple's old home

770
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,279
Speaker 2: movies over and over and over again. It was just

771
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:03,160
Speaker 2: a really rough time.

772
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 4: I know that everyone grieves differently, but that doesn't sound healthy.

773
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 2: No, No, drunk, alone, emptied and in a liquor bottle,

774
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 2: like doing your best impression of a liquor bottle. But

775
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,560
Speaker 2: he felt he'd lost his one and only soulmate. So

776
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 2: he's like, he's like, this this world has done for me.

777
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:19,799
Speaker 2: I may be the biggest star in the world, but

778
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 2: I don't want to be here anymore.

779
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 4: Was he feeling that when he was chasing young gals.

780
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,960
Speaker 2: That was different Elizabeth, that was an occupational hazard?

781
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:29,280
Speaker 3: Wasn't feeling it deeply?

782
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,200
Speaker 2: So one day Clark Gabil, he wakes up, he gets

783
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:33,840
Speaker 2: out of bed. He decides he's going to get his

784
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 2: revenge on the Nazis that stole the love of his

785
00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 2: life from him. Yeah, so Clark Gable volunteers to go

786
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 2: to war. Now, not only that, he didn't want to

787
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,840
Speaker 2: sell war bonds, he wanted to go and fight. He's like,

788
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 2: I got good, am, I'm a hunter. He len't give

789
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 2: me a gun and I'm mad. Yeah, totally, And he's like,

790
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 2: I want to kill a lot of them. So he

791
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:52,920
Speaker 2: signed up to join a bomber group. He's like, can

792
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,439
Speaker 2: I drop bombs from the sky. He wanted to drop

793
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 2: two thousand pound bombs on Nazi Germany right and do

794
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 2: it for Carol. It was time for Paw to get

795
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,080
Speaker 2: in the war. But what the King of Hollywood didn't

796
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 2: know is that his choice would piss off is number

797
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,800
Speaker 2: one Austrian fanboy der fuer Adolf Hitler.

798
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 4: I wonder if Hitler was like, see, he's not getting

799
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 4: involved in this.

800
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 5: Pretty much, but he once he started to do secretly.

801
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,920
Speaker 2: Now, there were other objections to Clark Gable going off

802
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 2: to fight in the war. For one, the studio bosses

803
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 2: that were going to lose a fortune if he went.

804
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:23,800
Speaker 4: Yeah.

805
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 2: So when MGM studio mogul Louis b. Mayer learned that

806
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 2: his biggest star, Clark Gable planned to go leave Tinseltown

807
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 2: to fight Nazis in Europe, he was against it. You know,

808
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 2: it's a short answer. He was against it. So he's like,

809
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,959
Speaker 2: how do I make this not happen? So they start

810
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 2: scheming against this move. They're contacting the War Department. They're like,

811
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 2: do not let him sign up, no matter what he

812
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,960
Speaker 2: tells you. He's drunk, he doesn't mean it right. They

813
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 2: also read to talk Gable out of it. They're like,

814
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 2: you're drunk, you don't mean it. But Gable he's not

815
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 2: hearing it right. So instead he renegotiates his contract and

816
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,280
Speaker 2: he frees up his schedule for any of the planned

817
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 2: new movies they had for him, because remember he's the

818
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,360
Speaker 2: biggest star on the world. He really wants He's like,

819
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,800
Speaker 2: I want to go fight Hitler and they're like, nice,

820
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:08,280
Speaker 2: can anyone stop this guy. Meanwhile, he's got this buddy

821
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 2: studio buddy, Jimmy Stewart, who's training to be a bomber pilot.

822
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 2: Clark Gable's like, that's what I want to do. So

823
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 2: he gets the idea from Jimmy Stewart, and when a

824
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 2: screenwriter friend puts him in touch with a Colonel Luke

825
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:20,719
Speaker 2: Smith of the Army Air Corps because back then there

826
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,040
Speaker 2: was no Air Force was part of the Army. He

827
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 2: tells Gable quote, everybody wants to be a pilot. You

828
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 2: becoming a gunner would help to glorify the plane cruise

829
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: and the grease monkeys Like, okay, I can do that.

830
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 2: I'm good with a gun. So Gable agrees. Now, Elizabeth,

831
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:37,160
Speaker 2: the next question to consider was could a forty something

832
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 2: year old actor who had never been in the military

833
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 2: even make it through boot camp.

834
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 4: Probably, I mean, I don't know. He was an outdoorsy type.

835
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:45,479
Speaker 2: It's a good point.

836
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think as long as he didn't have flat feet.

837
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 2: I don't know, but he's going out there with guys

838
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 2: that he could be their father, you know, that would

839
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 2: be his like so true. Anyway. August twelfth, nineteen forty two,

840
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,240
Speaker 2: Clark Gable enlists in this Man's army, as his wife

841
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 2: called it, and then he climbs the boarder train and

842
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 2: travels to Miami for induction to OCS Officer Candidacy School.

843
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 2: It's basically the equivalent to boot camp for them. He

844
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,840
Speaker 2: arrives in Miami, the press is there, of course, waiting

845
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 2: with flash bulbs at the ready, and seeing that he

846
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:14,799
Speaker 2: would need to get free of the press if he's

847
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,760
Speaker 2: going to get a chance to become one of the boys,

848
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 2: he cuts a deal with them. He's like, look, I'll

849
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 2: let you film and photograph me getting my haircut and

850
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 2: them cutting off my world famous mustache because you weren't

851
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 2: allowed to have that either. You get to go and

852
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 2: clean and I'll let you film the buzz cut, the

853
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 2: whole bit, as long as you leave me alone. After that,

854
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,760
Speaker 2: the press is like okay, and back then they actually

855
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 2: meant it. They did it.

856
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 4: So he went in as an officer.

857
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, props, he candidacy yeah. Yeah, So more than losing

858
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 2: the mustache, it was the haircut that Clark Gable feared

859
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 2: because the buzz cut would reveal those oversized ears that

860
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:51,360
Speaker 2: he'd done so much to hide on screen.

861
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 5: Wings.

862
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, because his ears re sizable. They're like Obama's, They're like,

863
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,480
Speaker 2: you notice them right now. After the mustache trim and

864
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,319
Speaker 2: the ear revealing haircut, Clark gets to work learning how

865
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 2: to be a soldier, and very soon it becomes clear

866
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 2: to his commanding officers the Gable didn't seem to care

867
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,520
Speaker 2: if he even came back from the war, which was

868
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 2: spot on since he did not care about coming back

869
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 2: from the war.

870
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 4: I feel like maybe that's that's who they want.

871
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,959
Speaker 5: Yeah, right, they want someone is just like.

872
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,759
Speaker 2: Well they were a little worried though, because well, I'll

873
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 2: explain it to that in a second. But at the

874
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 2: time Clark Gable said, and I quote, I'm going in

875
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 2: and I don't expect to come back, and I don't

876
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,880
Speaker 2: really give a hoot whether I do or not. Right,

877
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 2: So that attitude didn't color his time in basic training

878
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 2: because the now forty one year old star he took

879
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,720
Speaker 2: classes for like eight hours a day every day except

880
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,319
Speaker 2: for Sunday, and he ran. He did the pushups, the

881
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 2: set ups, everything else that all the other eighteen year

882
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,280
Speaker 2: old draftees are doing. Yeah, and soon enough Clark Gable

883
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 2: is no longer the king of Hollywood. He's just another

884
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 2: boot camp recruit, right, no different than all the others,

885
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,759
Speaker 2: just twenty years or so older. Now, while boot camp

886
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,239
Speaker 2: was this slog it's a brutal challenge, it was the

887
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 2: class work that was more difficult for him. Because you see,

888
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 2: Clark Gable had never graduated from high school. So what

889
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 2: does he do. He approached all the classwork the same

890
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 2: way he would prepare for a part in a movie.

891
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 2: He just memorized sections of the US Army textbook like

892
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,160
Speaker 2: it was a text to be learned for the next

893
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,400
Speaker 2: day's shoot. Now, despite the many challenges, he does make it.

894
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 2: Clark Gable graduated seven hundredth in a class of twenty

895
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,840
Speaker 2: six hundred new recruits. Okay, not the best rank, but

896
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,959
Speaker 2: he made it. So he was asked by his fellow

897
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 2: soldiers to give the commencement speech, and so Clark Gable

898
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 2: stood at the podium and he said, the important thing,

899
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 2: the proud thing I've learned about us, is that we

900
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:34,799
Speaker 2: are men. Soon we will wear the uniform of officers.

901
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 2: How we look in them is not very important. How

902
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 2: we wear them is a lot more important. Our job

903
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:43,759
Speaker 2: is to stay on the beam until in victory we

904
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:46,160
Speaker 2: are given the command. A fall out and.

905
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,000
Speaker 5: They went, oh yeah, who've been hollering?

906
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,799
Speaker 2: Right, So the other new recruits they break out into

907
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 2: the thunderous applause right for the old man of the barracks,

908
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 2: and his flair for being dramatic really served them. He

909
00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 2: was able to put it to great use. He inspires

910
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 2: his fellow soldiers, and just like that, they felt like

911
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 2: they were in a movie, you know. Anyway, Clark Gable,

912
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 2: he's putting on a brave face because he, like I said,

913
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 2: he's not afraid of dying. In fact, he's kind of

914
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 2: inviting it because his grief is still gripping at him.

915
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 2: But just before he gets shipped overseas to start his

916
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 2: combat assignment, Gable told someone, I have everything in the

917
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 2: world anyone could want, but for one thing, all I

918
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,319
Speaker 2: really need and want is Ma and it's one thing

919
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,279
Speaker 2: he can't get. Right, So now he's planning to take

920
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 2: it out on Hitler for taking her from him. Okay,

921
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 2: so now we got the stage set. Elizabeth. Next comes

922
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 2: the war. Take a little break, and after these messages,

923
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:57,879
Speaker 2: we go off to war with Clark Gable. Elizabeth, Aron,

924
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 2: we're back. You're ready to go to war with.

925
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, he seems a little reckless,

926
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:04,760
Speaker 4: and you know, you want someone who's got that fire

927
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 4: in their belly. But at the same time, that recklessness

928
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:08,520
Speaker 4: is dangerous.

929
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 2: Exactly, they risks the man who's extending to his right

930
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:12,960
Speaker 2: to his left.

931
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 4: Which they already have a spotlight on him, because they

932
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,080
Speaker 4: got Clark Gable up in there.

933
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 2: There you go. So in April forty three, Clark Gable

934
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 2: gets shipped off to England to join the air combat

935
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,320
Speaker 2: over Europe because now he's a trained officer. He's a

936
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 2: gunner for a bomb squad. Now, back when Gable had

937
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 2: first graduated flight school, the newsreel cameras filmed the moment,

938
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,760
Speaker 2: and when the newsreels played in theaters across America before

939
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 2: the films, the narrator warrened, Hitler, watch out, mister Hitler,

940
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 2: Lieutenant Clark Gable is headed your way.

941
00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 4: I can then imagine he's like in the castle listening

942
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:44,800
Speaker 4: to it all.

943
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:46,759
Speaker 5: Night.

944
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,080
Speaker 3: So he drops his popcorn.

945
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:51,680
Speaker 2: No, he was there in England ready to shoot down

946
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 2: Nazi pilots as a gunner and obomber. Right, but the

947
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:57,320
Speaker 2: Nazis were also ready for the King of Hollywood. In fact,

948
00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 2: harr Hitler was strategizing how he could get his head

949
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,680
Speaker 2: on Clark Gable because so when he first lands in England,

950
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 2: there's this Nazi propagandist who's broadcasting across England. Yeah, and

951
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,520
Speaker 2: on the radio, and he put out an address that quote,

952
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:14,319
Speaker 2: welcome to England, famous American cinema star Clark Gable. We'll

953
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,920
Speaker 2: be seeing you soon in Germany. Clark, you will be

954
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 2: welcome there too.

955
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,840
Speaker 4: See. I just I don't think it was wise to

956
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 4: broadcast this, so you.

957
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:25,880
Speaker 2: Think, right, so heavily it draws a lot of attention

958
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 2: to his bomber group. Yes, So the reason for this

959
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 2: veiled threat was that Adolf Hitler being the huge Clark

960
00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 2: Gable fan that he was, since it was his favorite

961
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:35,400
Speaker 2: star in the whole wide world. Who wasn't a German.

962
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 2: He's back in thirty nine, when Gone with the Wind

963
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 2: first came out, Hitler had a print of the film

964
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:43,719
Speaker 2: secretly smuggled out of America and brought to him so

965
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 2: he could do private screenings. Really, that's what I'm saying, fanboy.

966
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 2: Wow right, Yeah, So now that his favorite American star

967
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,880
Speaker 2: has decided to wage war on Hitler, what's Hitler's gonna response.

968
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a personal betrayal, right, Imagine a

969
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,799
Speaker 2: fanboy finds out that one that the is like, I'm

970
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,320
Speaker 2: going to kill you. So you know how Hitler was

971
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,840
Speaker 2: about slights. He took that stuff personally, right, So Hitler

972
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 2: orders Herman Garring, the head of the Lufwaffer aka the

973
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:14,560
Speaker 2: Nazi Air Force, to kill or kidnap the King of Hollywood.

974
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,080
Speaker 2: He's like, if you can shoot him down, good, you

975
00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:20,279
Speaker 2: can capture him alive even better. Hitler promised that he

976
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,520
Speaker 2: would personally give the German soldiers who captured Clark Gable

977
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 2: a very sizable reward. Okay, he put a bounty on

978
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:28,520
Speaker 2: the head of Clark Gable.

979
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 4: A giant tobler.

980
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 5: Yeah.

981
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 2: Hitler was like, bring me Clark Gable alive and I

982
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:36,240
Speaker 2: will load you down in cold Now. After Hitler placed

983
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:38,319
Speaker 2: his huge bounty on the head of Clark Gable, it

984
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,560
Speaker 2: made the King of Hollywood want to fight just all

985
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:42,680
Speaker 2: the more. It's like, I want to be killed anyways,

986
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 2: this is good for me motivation. So also though kind

987
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:47,280
Speaker 2: of scared him a little bit that he might actually

988
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,799
Speaker 2: get grabbed, like he might not die. He hadn't thought

989
00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 2: about that party. And I went to war to die.

990
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 2: I didn't go to war to become like right well,

991
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 2: the rugged star. He joked with the reporters who asked

992
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:57,880
Speaker 2: him about the Hitler's bounty on his head, and he

993
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:01,399
Speaker 2: was like, how could I hide this face? It's still

994
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 2: a Hollywood star. So although he might hide his fear

995
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,719
Speaker 2: behind jokes in the performance of Bravura, calrd Gable knew

996
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 2: the war was seriously deadly business right, that there was

997
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,160
Speaker 2: the risk and he could be shot down and that

998
00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 2: was very real. That didn't really scare him as much

999
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,160
Speaker 2: as if he got shot down and he did not die,

1000
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,239
Speaker 2: As he told reporters, Hitler catches me, the son of

1001
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:21,880
Speaker 2: a bitch will put me in a cage like a

1002
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,480
Speaker 2: gorilla and send me on a tour of Germany. If

1003
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 2: a plane that I'm ever in gets hit, I'm not

1004
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:29,640
Speaker 2: bailing out the plane goes, I'll just go down with

1005
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 2: the son of a bitch.

1006
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 5: Wow, right, Yeah.

1007
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:35,400
Speaker 4: So maybe stop talking about it to the press.

1008
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 2: Listen but there is no small irony that Gable was

1009
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:40,520
Speaker 2: fully prepared to go out the same way as he

1010
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:42,480
Speaker 2: lost the love of his life. It was like, you know,

1011
00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 2: I want to be also consumed in flames. Now. The

1012
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:46,920
Speaker 2: woman who was the reason why he was there in

1013
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,640
Speaker 2: the bomber, Carol Lombard, you know, she would not want that.

1014
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,200
Speaker 2: So he's like, I gotta stay alive for Carol. Ironically,

1015
00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 2: I hate that idea. So at this point, now he's

1016
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 2: officially Captain Clark Gable of the three hundred and fifty

1017
00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,319
Speaker 2: first Heavy Bombardment Group. Now at this point, he's also

1018
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,879
Speaker 2: still like piling around with fellow movie stars because he's

1019
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 2: somewhat like you know, cordoned off if you will, from

1020
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,399
Speaker 2: the full army. Sure, So like, for instance, I found

1021
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 2: that he was like powing around with the British actor

1022
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 2: David Niven. Way, he's spent a weekend with the equally

1023
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 2: rugged English actor since the two had been friends back

1024
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 2: in Hollywood, and he was like a nice needed escape

1025
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 2: to go over to David Niven's house. And because he

1026
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,600
Speaker 2: was like, hey, he doesn't care that I'm Clark Gable.

1027
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 2: I can be Clark Gable around him, right, And I

1028
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,920
Speaker 2: found out that also David Niven was training people to

1029
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:32,880
Speaker 2: be commandos. That's what he was doing in the ward.

1030
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 2: David Niven was a boss.

1031
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:36,239
Speaker 4: That's what I was wondering, if he's just hanging out

1032
00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:37,320
Speaker 4: at his country estate.

1033
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 2: But no, no, he was training commandos. He's like, I

1034
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 2: can teach you how to kill the man with just

1035
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 2: a pen.

1036
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 4: That's amazing.

1037
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. And at one point when Clark Gable was

1038
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:48,080
Speaker 2: in England, he was filming some footage for the war

1039
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,560
Speaker 2: Effort and Gable was surrounded by all these fawning English

1040
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:52,920
Speaker 2: women who wanted to see the King of Hollywood with

1041
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,080
Speaker 2: their very own eyes. And police were there, but they

1042
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 2: were soon overrun because this one British lady broke through

1043
00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:01,120
Speaker 2: the police line. She fought off the police, he made

1044
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:03,400
Speaker 2: it to Clark Gable. She threw her arms up and

1045
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 2: leapt on Clark Gable and began to scream I found you,

1046
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 2: I found you, And in his typical loud baritone, Gable

1047
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,200
Speaker 2: ordered the police get this son of a bitch off me.

1048
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:14,640
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, exactly, well he was. He didn't know as

1049
00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 2: she was. She scared him, I guess anyway, since he

1050
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:19,800
Speaker 2: was unable to escape his stardom. He mostly just focused

1051
00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:22,839
Speaker 2: on getting his revenge against Hitler. So what happened once

1052
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 2: he took his turn in the skies bombing the Nazis

1053
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 2: from high above?

1054
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 4: I don't know what happens.

1055
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:29,160
Speaker 2: A great question, though, Elizabeth.

1056
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:29,600
Speaker 3: It is a good question.

1057
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,280
Speaker 2: Eventually, his bomber crew was sent over the English Channel

1058
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 2: to battle the loof Waffe and evade the exploiting shelves

1059
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,840
Speaker 2: of the anti aircraft artillery. So he's got a B

1060
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 2: seventeen flying Fortress, that's what he flies around in. And

1061
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 2: Clark Gable he was the waist gunner. He was like

1062
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 2: on the side around the middle of the plane. So

1063
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,520
Speaker 2: this means that the King of Hollywood legitimately is facing

1064
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:51,520
Speaker 2: death every single time he takes to the skies. Yeah,

1065
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:53,680
Speaker 2: but you know what, rather than me tell you about it, Elizabeth,

1066
00:48:54,000 --> 00:49:02,400
Speaker 2: close your eyes as I want you to picture it.

1067
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:06,520
Speaker 2: It's Clark Gables's very first combat mission over Germany, and you, Elizabeth,

1068
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 2: are a Browning fifty caliber machine gun aimed out of

1069
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,279
Speaker 2: the window of a B seventeen bomber. The flight over

1070
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:15,320
Speaker 2: the English Channel was uneventful. The crossing was almost idyllic

1071
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 2: out there among the low hanging fluffy white clouds, which

1072
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:22,680
Speaker 2: provide cover for the squadron of B seventeen bombers so

1073
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:25,920
Speaker 2: that they can safely pass, like a formation of Canadian

1074
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:28,880
Speaker 2: geese flying south for winter, only in this case, the

1075
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 2: flying v is headed to Nazi Germany, and the geese

1076
00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:36,400
Speaker 2: are four engine B seventeen flying fortresses. Those four Pratt

1077
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,640
Speaker 2: and Whitney engines power the propellers that chop at the

1078
00:49:39,680 --> 00:49:42,839
Speaker 2: air are so loud that they tear sound from your

1079
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,839
Speaker 2: ears if you had ears. But that's not your problem,

1080
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,080
Speaker 2: since you have no ears. You're a machine gun. At

1081
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:50,640
Speaker 2: the moment, the gloved hands of the King of Hollywood

1082
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,759
Speaker 2: rest against your grips. He's loose limbed, but firmly at

1083
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 2: the ready. He braces against the cold air that rushes

1084
00:49:56,719 --> 00:50:00,120
Speaker 2: in through the open windows where your gun barrels protrude.

1085
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 2: And then you feel his hands tightened against your grip.

1086
00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 2: What you don't hear that he does is the bomber

1087
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 2: pilot's radio call warning of incoming flak from ground based

1088
00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:13,880
Speaker 2: anti aircraft artillery. But soon enough you feel it. The

1089
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,040
Speaker 2: booming explosions sound all around the plane. One explosion takes

1090
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,719
Speaker 2: out one of the bomber's four engines, and yet the

1091
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:24,600
Speaker 2: plane continues on unabated to its target. A little while later,

1092
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:27,760
Speaker 2: the bombay door is open and the payload is primed

1093
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,400
Speaker 2: and made ready for the bombing run. The pilot is

1094
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:34,040
Speaker 2: skillful and directs the B seventeen to its target. When

1095
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:37,440
Speaker 2: the plane is directly overhead, the bombs Away call sounds

1096
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:40,839
Speaker 2: in the headphones of the bomber crew. The whistling payloads

1097
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:44,480
Speaker 2: of bombs descend toward the Earth and the factory targets

1098
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:48,239
Speaker 2: far below. Soft explosions boom against the sound of the

1099
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,520
Speaker 2: choppy air of the engine's propellers, and then you feel

1100
00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 2: it again. Clark Gables gloved hands on your machine gun

1101
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,920
Speaker 2: grips tight. This is in response to the bomber pilot

1102
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:02,640
Speaker 2: calling out Hogi's on the horizon. It's a formation of

1103
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 2: Nazi war blades. The propeller driven Loofwappler fighters look like

1104
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:10,680
Speaker 2: angry hornets as they swarm and dive through the bomber group.

1105
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:14,560
Speaker 2: Clark Gables swivels you in the firing position. He uses

1106
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,239
Speaker 2: your target sites to line up his shot, and then

1107
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:21,280
Speaker 2: he squeezes hand on the trigger. Your double barrels flash

1108
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,760
Speaker 2: as you miss fit fifty caliber bullets with the German fighters.

1109
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:28,480
Speaker 2: One German fighter targets your bomber. The pilot lines up

1110
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:32,360
Speaker 2: his guns, then he pulls the trigger. Twenty millimeter shells

1111
00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:35,719
Speaker 2: pierce the aluminum skin of the B seventeen Flying Fortress.

1112
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:38,920
Speaker 2: One shell ripsuit the center of the plane and tears

1113
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,160
Speaker 2: right through the heel of Clark gables boots. Another twenty

1114
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,640
Speaker 2: millimeter shell cuts through the bomber and passes just inches

1115
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,040
Speaker 2: above Clark Gable's head. You feel his grip squeeze your

1116
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:52,759
Speaker 2: trigger again, your double barrel's flash with a response of

1117
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,640
Speaker 2: fifty caliber shells. His aim, though is off. He misses

1118
00:51:56,640 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 2: the German fighter. It disappears from view. The bomber pilot

1119
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,360
Speaker 2: poles the base of maneuvers, and the hulking plane dives

1120
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:05,799
Speaker 2: down to the left and then climbs back up to

1121
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:10,279
Speaker 2: the right as more German fighters screamed passed. Somehow, in

1122
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:13,960
Speaker 2: some ways, your bomber is able to survive this flurry

1123
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 2: of air combat. The plane survives the German fighters, who,

1124
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:20,200
Speaker 2: once they run low on fuel, are forced to fly

1125
00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:24,720
Speaker 2: back to German airbases. Meanwhile, your bomber limps back home

1126
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:28,520
Speaker 2: with three engines. The flying fortress makes it safely back

1127
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:31,160
Speaker 2: to the air base located there in the quaint and

1128
00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:35,000
Speaker 2: charming English countryside. No one was able to shoot down

1129
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 2: the King of Hollywood. Not today, So there they go.

1130
00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:42,680
Speaker 2: As you just heard, Elizabeth, the danger of air combat

1131
00:52:42,719 --> 00:52:45,080
Speaker 2: was as real as steel. And they nearly took out

1132
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,040
Speaker 2: Clark Gable day one. Yeah right, just missed his head,

1133
00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:49,040
Speaker 2: just missed his feet.

1134
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:49,840
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1135
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:52,480
Speaker 2: Anyway, on a different flight, when Clark Gable trained his

1136
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,759
Speaker 2: machine gun sights on an approaching Nazi warplane, the aircraft

1137
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,439
Speaker 2: was so close to his B seventeen that Gable could

1138
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:01,760
Speaker 2: see the German pilot's He could see the pilot's eyes.

1139
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:05,880
Speaker 2: The two men made eye contact, and then he squeezed

1140
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,400
Speaker 2: that trigger as he saw the Nazi also open fire,

1141
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,600
Speaker 2: and this torn of hot bullets gets exchanged the Nazi

1142
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:13,880
Speaker 2: fighter planes bullets they ripped into the metal skin of

1143
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:16,840
Speaker 2: the bomber, but they just miss Gable again. Yeah, he

1144
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 2: almost got killed numerous times.

1145
00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:19,000
Speaker 3: Attempt.

1146
00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 2: It is a crime, so up there, technically in war

1147
00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:27,320
Speaker 2: it's not a crime, but Hitler trying to kill him

1148
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:30,080
Speaker 2: and putting out a bounty on his head, calling for

1149
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:33,360
Speaker 2: a hit crime, that's a crime, sure, and then also

1150
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:37,560
Speaker 2: the attempted to kidnapping another crime. That's two. So anyway

1151
00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:41,120
Speaker 2: up there in the air and then the wild blue yonder.

1152
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:44,120
Speaker 2: As they say, there are no fixers, no publicists who

1153
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,479
Speaker 2: can help run cover for the Hollywood star up there.

1154
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:49,640
Speaker 2: He's no different than anyone else. Now, there were lots

1155
00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:52,000
Speaker 2: of Hollywood folks in the war effort, as I pointed out,

1156
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 2: like Jimmy Stewart. There was also the film director Frank Capra.

1157
00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:57,279
Speaker 2: He was over there in England making movies to show

1158
00:53:57,280 --> 00:53:59,319
Speaker 2: the folks back home and build support for.

1159
00:53:59,280 --> 00:53:59,960
Speaker 5: The war effort.

1160
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:02,680
Speaker 2: And while there he ran into this general, the one

1161
00:54:02,719 --> 00:54:05,279
Speaker 2: who is in charge of Clark Gables bomber group. And

1162
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:07,440
Speaker 2: the General's like, well, what am I supposed to do

1163
00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:09,360
Speaker 2: with this guy? Would you please take him back to Hollywood?

1164
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:10,040
Speaker 3: Oh you're kidding.

1165
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:11,920
Speaker 2: Frank Caeper asked the general, like, well, how's the king

1166
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 2: of Hollywood doing in the war? And Elizabeth the general

1167
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:16,799
Speaker 2: said he was very candid in his answer. He told

1168
00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:19,359
Speaker 2: Capra and I quote, he's scaring the hell out of us.

1169
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,960
Speaker 2: The damn fool insists on going on bombing missions and

1170
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:24,720
Speaker 2: he wants to be a gunner. Yet no officer, man's

1171
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:26,839
Speaker 2: a gun. The guy's crazy. You know what it would

1172
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:29,640
Speaker 2: do to us if he gets himself shot. I'm pulling

1173
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:31,799
Speaker 2: every string there is to get him out of here.

1174
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:35,080
Speaker 2: He gives me the willies. He's trying to get himself killed.

1175
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 2: That's how he's doing.

1176
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:37,560
Speaker 4: That's the recklessness.

1177
00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:41,280
Speaker 2: I was talking about you totally could you You should

1178
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:42,439
Speaker 2: be You're the general this show.

1179
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:46,040
Speaker 4: I mean disciplines my middle name, I thought it was Clyde.

1180
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:47,480
Speaker 5: Anyways, Discipline.

1181
00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:50,120
Speaker 2: Gable's luck in the sky's high above Nazi Germany. It

1182
00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:53,040
Speaker 2: holds out. He never gets shot down. No German spies

1183
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:55,160
Speaker 2: or saboteurs were able to find out where he was

1184
00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:57,399
Speaker 2: and like to abduct him from his base and angle

1185
00:54:57,520 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 2: and just take him to Hitler. Yeah so, this only

1186
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:03,480
Speaker 2: serves to infuriate the fury. Despite his orders, Hitler's bounty

1187
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 2: brings no results, and despite the King of Hollywood doing

1188
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:09,520
Speaker 2: his best efforts to tempt fate, Hitler never gets to

1189
00:55:09,560 --> 00:55:10,600
Speaker 2: meet his screen crush.

1190
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:11,360
Speaker 3: Interesting.

1191
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:13,920
Speaker 2: Yeah so, And although he seemed happy to die in

1192
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:18,080
Speaker 2: the war, Clark Gable escapes unscathed. So in October forty three,

1193
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:20,840
Speaker 2: after the completion of his service, Captain Gable is honored

1194
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:23,279
Speaker 2: with the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for

1195
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:28,400
Speaker 2: quote exceptionally meritorious achievement while participating in five separate bomber

1196
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 2: combat missions. So the general who feared that all the

1197
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 2: focus on gunning down Clark Gable's bomber would put extra

1198
00:55:34,520 --> 00:55:37,120
Speaker 2: targets on all of the planes in his bomber group,

1199
00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:39,120
Speaker 2: he finally got his wish and to' like send him

1200
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:43,080
Speaker 2: back stateside. So yeah. Months later, on January fifteenth, nineteen

1201
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:46,080
Speaker 2: forty four, at the third anniversary of her death, Clark

1202
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:48,400
Speaker 2: Gable got to stand aboard the new Liberty ship, the

1203
00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:53,239
Speaker 2: SS Carol Lombard, and through streaming tears, he celebrated her

1204
00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:56,240
Speaker 2: the love of wo And then finally, on June twelfth,

1205
00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:59,680
Speaker 2: nineteen forty four, just six days after D Day and

1206
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,240
Speaker 2: the launch of the invasion of Fortress Europe, Clark Gable

1207
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:04,800
Speaker 2: was discharge from the Army Air Corps. He was forty

1208
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:07,960
Speaker 2: two years old. A fellow actor, also a captain, was

1209
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:12,040
Speaker 2: the presiding officer for his discharge. That captain was Ronald Reagan.

1210
00:56:12,719 --> 00:56:14,160
Speaker 3: You're kidding, you know, right?

1211
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:16,880
Speaker 2: Anyway, back to Carol Lombard, the woman who made a

1212
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:19,759
Speaker 2: real man out of Clark Gable and ultimately reminded him that,

1213
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:22,760
Speaker 2: as Hemingway once wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolds,

1214
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:24,960
Speaker 2: that the heroic tale of a man at war, a

1215
00:56:24,960 --> 00:56:27,600
Speaker 2: different heroic tale of a man at war. Quote, the

1216
00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:30,560
Speaker 2: world is a fine place and worth the fighting for,

1217
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:33,200
Speaker 2: and I hate very much to leave it. And you

1218
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:35,279
Speaker 2: had a lot of luck, he told himself, to have

1219
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:38,399
Speaker 2: had such a good life. So I agree with him.

1220
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:41,440
Speaker 2: The world is a fine place. It is worth the fighting.

1221
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:42,400
Speaker 3: For most certainly so.

1222
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:44,600
Speaker 2: When Clark Gable passed away in nineteen sixty the age

1223
00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:47,040
Speaker 2: of fifty nine, his wife at the time his fifth wife,

1224
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:49,759
Speaker 2: honored his wishes and had him buried in Forest Lawn

1225
00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:52,799
Speaker 2: Cemetery in Glendale, and he was interred next to the

1226
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:56,360
Speaker 2: love of his life, Carol Lombard, Paw and Maw together forever.

1227
00:56:56,880 --> 00:56:58,440
Speaker 2: So there you go, Elizabeth. That's the story of how

1228
00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:01,040
Speaker 2: the King of Hollywood became Hitler's work nightmare, and how

1229
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:03,400
Speaker 2: he reminded himself and America that the world is a

1230
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:05,080
Speaker 2: fine place and it is worth fighting.

1231
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:06,120
Speaker 4: It certainly is.

1232
00:57:06,239 --> 00:57:08,800
Speaker 2: And if you were wondering, I think that this counts because,

1233
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:12,319
Speaker 2: as you pointed out, we have the kidnapping. We have

1234
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,840
Speaker 2: the attempted murder, the attempted hit I mean this was

1235
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,080
Speaker 2: a mafia boss, he wouldn't even be doubting well and.

1236
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:19,360
Speaker 4: In many places the infidelity.

1237
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,280
Speaker 2: Yea crime, Yeah, totally. And the fact that it was

1238
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:24,960
Speaker 2: Hitler and his fanboy crush was Clark Gable. That's what

1239
00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 2: makes it ridiculous.

1240
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:26,840
Speaker 5: Yes, that is so.

1241
00:57:26,920 --> 00:57:28,920
Speaker 2: There you go. What's a ridiculous takeaway here?

1242
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:32,720
Speaker 4: I think that, you know, if if your heart's in it,

1243
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:34,280
Speaker 4: that's good, but don't be reckless.

1244
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:36,520
Speaker 2: Okay, I like that. I like that.

1245
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:39,240
Speaker 3: How about you? It's your ridiculous takeaway.

1246
00:57:39,320 --> 00:57:42,960
Speaker 2: My ridiculous takeaway is I love that the king of

1247
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:46,400
Speaker 2: Hollywood was able to defeat the Hitler. I just think

1248
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:48,760
Speaker 2: that's so like, you know, an American like, there should

1249
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:50,440
Speaker 2: be a movie about this somehow, and there's.

1250
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:51,000
Speaker 5: Not, and there's not.

1251
00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 3: That's what's crazy.

1252
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:53,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it would be like you know, it

1253
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:57,080
Speaker 2: very much feels like a Tarantina retelling of the past.

1254
00:57:57,280 --> 00:57:58,320
Speaker 5: Yeah type movie.

1255
00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:00,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. Anyway, you in the move for a talk back?

1256
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:04,160
Speaker 2: We can I really really am wash this all down

1257
00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:15,440
Speaker 2: with something delicious for the ears. Oh my god, I

1258
00:58:15,520 --> 00:58:15,840
Speaker 2: love g.

1259
00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:22,080
Speaker 6: Hi Sarah and Elizabeth and producer d I wanted to

1260
00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:24,400
Speaker 6: share that I really loved the show and I've been

1261
00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:28,240
Speaker 6: listening a lot, so much so apparently that I had

1262
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:32,040
Speaker 6: a dream last night that Zaren and I were dating

1263
00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:36,080
Speaker 6: and we were very very happy. Nice tries, Aaron, but

1264
00:58:36,560 --> 00:58:39,880
Speaker 6: unfortunately I am taken. Maybe in the next life love

1265
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:40,880
Speaker 6: the show guys.

1266
00:58:43,520 --> 00:58:47,160
Speaker 2: Well maybe in the next life. That's awesome. Thank you.

1267
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:50,800
Speaker 2: That's that's a really nice compliment. And if you could

1268
00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 2: see my face, you would see these two is good.

1269
00:58:56,800 --> 00:59:02,560
Speaker 2: Accuse me, not in this life, Elizabeth, maybe the next time.

1270
00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:04,120
Speaker 2: Thank you for that. That was that was awesome. I

1271
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:07,480
Speaker 2: really appreciate that. As always, you can find us online

1272
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 2: Ridiculous Crime on social media and we have the account

1273
00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:13,480
Speaker 2: Ridiculous Crime Pod on YouTube. Go there. You can listen

1274
00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:16,200
Speaker 2: to these while you watch if you want. If you're

1275
00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:19,040
Speaker 2: into that, we have our website ridiculous Crime dot com.

1276
00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:22,200
Speaker 2: We were just nominated for the best recipe for Sizzling Fajitas,

1277
00:59:22,240 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 2: which is very excitable nice fingers crossed, so like wish

1278
00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:27,560
Speaker 2: us luck. We take that one home, right. We also,

1279
00:59:27,560 --> 00:59:29,840
Speaker 2: obviously we love your talkback, so go check the high

1280
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:32,160
Speaker 2: Art app download it, leave a talk back tell me

1281
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:34,640
Speaker 2: about a dream you had about Elizabeth and maybe or

1282
00:59:34,760 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 2: producer d you know, mix it up and maybe you'll

1283
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:39,680
Speaker 2: hear your voice here we'd like to hear it. Oh,

1284
00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:41,880
Speaker 2: you can email us if you want at Ridiculous Crime

1285
00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:44,840
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. So there you go, and once again,

1286
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:48,080
Speaker 2: thank you for listening. We will catch you next crime.

1287
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:56,160
Speaker 2: Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Burnette,

1288
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:59,200
Speaker 2: produced and edited by the commander of our Flying Battalion,

1289
00:59:59,320 --> 01:00:03,920
Speaker 2: Dave Kustin, and starring Annaaluse Rutger as Captain Judith. Research

1290
01:00:04,040 --> 01:00:07,040
Speaker 2: is by Clark Gables overworked acting teachers Marissa Brown and

1291
01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:10,600
Speaker 2: Jabari Davis. Our theme song is by our resident house band,

1292
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:14,280
Speaker 2: Carol and the Lombards aka Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton.

1293
01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:17,880
Speaker 2: The host wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred guest Harry,

1294
01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:22,120
Speaker 2: makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers are Clark

1295
01:00:22,120 --> 01:00:26,000
Speaker 2: Gables Mustache role models Ben Bolin and Noel Brown.

1296
01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:35,160
Speaker 5: Why say it one more time?

1297
01:00:35,400 --> 01:00:35,880
Speaker 4: Gee?

1298
01:00:36,520 --> 01:00:36,800
Speaker 3: Cry?

1299
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:41,320
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts.

1300
01:00:41,400 --> 01:00:44,560
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1301
01:00:44,600 --> 01:00:46,360
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows,