Objective Jerk
Army Veteran Asshole that is learning to love Jesus. I use my MIC / Platform as a form of "Therapy", no schedule, no script, just whatever is floating my boat at the moment.
Objective Jerk
SECRETS OF HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE: The Clark Gable Scandal!
Clark Gable's mysterious 1945 car accident reveals how Hollywood studios wielded extraordinary power to protect their valuable stars and control public narratives during the Golden Age. We explore the persistent rumors about MGM's alleged cover-up and separate documented facts from Hollywood mythology.
• Examining the documented crash where Gable hit a tree on Sunset Boulevard at 4 AM after heavy drinking
• Analyzing MGM's immediate control of the narrative before police involvement
• Investigating rumors that Gable killed a pedestrian and MGM arranged for an executive to take the blame
• Comparing conflicting accounts from various Clark Gable biographies
• Exploring how the story connects to modern examples of celebrity privilege and protection
• Discussing how rumors persist when powerful institutions control information
• Looking at how similar protection systems operate in different cultures, including modern examples
Let us know your thoughts about Hollywood scandals or other historical cover-ups by emailing theobjektivejerk@gmail.com.
What's going on? Everybody? This is the Objective Jerk, and I'm said jerk. Welcome to another exciting episode of the Objective Jerk. So exciting, what's up? How's everybody doing? Yeah, what have I been doing? Oh, okay, so Let me. Okay, I did kind of make a couple bullet points. I did a little research. Actually, I think I need to turn down my volume a little bit. I think that's better. I think I might have been blowing out the eardrums there. Anyway, I got phlegm, which is not uncommon, I guess. But what happened to my little? I had my little face thing. Oh, that was on that shirt. I put it on the shirt. Oh, anyway, communication, right, I talked about this before.
Speaker 1:Filipinos, their language is very broad. Um, english is much more detailed oriented, you know. That's why there's so many different words and so many. But case in point was Ash Wednesday, on Wednesday, obviously, and we asked our son to ask one of the priests you know what times the services were right for the day if they were different for Ash Wednesday. He was told 8 o'clock. So we went there.
Speaker 1:All the kids are going to go because they're they're at school. You know that's what they do, and the school is like connected to the church and everything, so, um, but so, as we're getting there, we dropped the kids off to school and then we're there for the, for the service. We wanted to go a little early to get seats because, you know know, generally on Easter and Ash Wednesday and things like that, it's a little more packed than normal, um, so people were coming out and they had the ash on their head and I'm like what the crap, man, I thought it was, you know. So, basically, the schedule was not changed. It was the same as it always is, it's just a little longer, you know, because the ash and they had a priest from out of town and everything, and so. So we ended up having to had to sit through service with the whole entire school, which was cool a little, but at the same time, kids are just so disrespectful and just not even I don't know. It's like I just I guess when my because my wife went to this school when she was younger and back then they had the nuns with the rulers and the sticks and to maintain order and discipline. They don't have that now.
Speaker 1:Kids are like talking and just doing all kinds of. It was just kind of annoying and my wife had to turn around and tell this girl to shut up because the priest was talking. I mean you can't really hear it. You know I don't. I hear some stuff, it's not, but that's not the point. No, keep your mouth shut. You pay attention. It's disrespectful to to talk while someone is talking in front of people and that's kind of.
Speaker 1:Another Filipino thing I've noticed is like when you go to stuff and people are talking like what was the last thing, and just people in the crowd are just talking to each other, not even paying attention, it's like dude, have some respect for the speaker. You know what I mean? I don't know, it's kind of weird, but so it was kind of annoying. But the point is the communication, right, and I was thinking, I was like I wonder what the Filipino military do. They use Tagalog, like how, when they speak and they're giving orders I mean I'm not talking about like BSing but when they're working and they got to give orders and this and that, how do they do it? Because Filipino language is not detail oriented, you know, and I mean, and you gotta, you can't mess up, you can't make mistakes. You got to have clear, concise communication and that's why the military has the, the um, the alpha, what do you call it? But alpha. Bravo, charlie. Delta, echo, you know so.
Speaker 1:When you say a letter or you spell something, there's no like. Oh wait, did you say B or C? I didn't hear it. Bravo, charlie, there's no mistake in it, right? Same thing with the time. That's why there's 24 hours. So there's no am and pm. Oh, I thought he said 2 pm, not 2 am. You know 1400, 02. There's so much miscommunication, misunderstanding, that it's just so infuriating for me sometimes. And you know so it's like. And you know so it's like. When my son asked the priest hey, what time? You know what time is the? What time are the services? I don't know how he asked him exactly, and the priest was probably just thinking, oh, for the class, for the school, oh, it's at eight. But if he was American he'd be like well, all this, all the the schedule is the same, this, this time, this time. But the school is going to be, we're, we're going at eight. O'clock is when the whole school is going there. You know me, and that's just like a natural kind of way to answer it.
Speaker 1:Filipinos, though, are different. They don't think that way, and it's kind of. And that it's not just with communication, though, like they're really bad at just really trying to like when they do what do you call it? Or if they block down a street in a neighborhood, barangay or anything like that, they don't sit there and be like, okay, if we're going to make this a one-way, that means vehicles are going to be going this way. So this neighborhood road right here, which is generally just people that live there, it's going to become a busy road. So we should go talk to the people that live there and say, hey, on this day we're doing this, so traffic's going to be diverted down the street. We need you to not park your car or anything on the street because it's going to be busy. But they don't do that. They're just like, okay, this is one way. And then you're trying to go around the detour and then you've got all these cars and it's like it's a mess. They don't think like that, they don't plan ahead and they don't kind of think of contingencies and possibilities. It's just not the Filipino thing to do, at least not around here to do, at least not around here. Americans suck too. Sometimes I feel like I'm always picking on Filipinos.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so I mean, you know it was my first Ash Wednesday, which was cool. I remember when we were sitting there they were doing the rosary, like they pray, they do the. You know we don't have the rosary. I need to start bringing the rosary, but anyway. So they do it over the speaker, you know. So you're sitting there at the, at the, not the podium, but the thing that you kneel on the heck is it called Anyway.
Speaker 1:And so I was sitting there and I'm just like listening to and kind of going along and all of a sudden I hear a tap soldier. He's like hey, how you doing, and it was like the priest, you know, like the visiting important priest guy, and it like it kind of scared me for a second because I was sitting there and it was like what the? Oh, you know so, but he was like oh, hi, and then, but then it's like you know that's nice and all, but I kind of feel like it's like oh, it's a foreigner, so I'm gonna make sure I say hi to him. I don't know. I mean it's nice, but then I'm not much of an attention seeker, so it kind of makes me uncomfortable a little. But anyway, every once in a great while I'm down for it, but most of the time I'm like, eh, don't talk to me, you know I don't know. But, um, so there was that, and then the bike man.
Speaker 1:I went through some shit with that bike. I'm finally done with my bike. Um, I should take pictures of it. Maybe I'll put pictures on here, I'll try, and, If I remember to do it for the video, I will take a picture and I will put it in the corner which is going to be this corner here, because my logo is over here.
Speaker 1:Anyway, so it's an older specialized hard rock bike, nothing fancy, you know, aluminum, steel, whatever, composite, not composite, it's like aluminum but with steel. So it's light but still strong. You know, I've had everything replaced on it and I just put a new drivetrain on the bike, all Shimano parts, the cheaper oneimano, but still good. Um, so that means the crank, the crank set, which is the pedals and the and the and the crank, the, the parts that the pedal goes to, and then the bottom bracket inside that spins. That whole thing had to replace and actually did that, no problems. You know, watching youtube I got my tool set. I'm all excited to use my tools and, um, and I keep seeing my.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at my volume and it looks like I'm. I hope I'm not blowing out your speakers or your ears. I think it'll it'll when process it. It'll help a little, hopefully. Let me know. If you find this too loud, let me know I'm trying to get it. So I'm not making out with the microphone, but it still sounds. I can talk To me. It sounds good. So I don't know, I'll find out, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So I did that and then I wasn't 100% sure, with my cassette and the hub in the back, like I was like man, I think the hub is damaged, but I wasn't sure until I did my crankset because I didn't know if the bottom bracket was the hub or not. And then once I opened it and I started doing it, I'm like if the bottom bracket was the hub or not. And then, once I opened it and I started doing it, I'm like, okay, this is for the crank set. So that means crap, I'm going to have to buy a hub possibly. So I take you know, cause I didn't really mess with anything until I had everything and I was going to watch the videos, so it was just kind of visually looking at it. So, as I took everything apart. I'm like crap the hub. I need a new hub, right. And so I went to. First I reached out to the guy that I ordered my drivetrain from. He didn't have any, but he helped me out, like as far as picking like a good brand.
Speaker 1:Because that was kind of the problem I was running into before was I'm an aggressive rider. I'm not like one of those guys that does crazy jumps and I'm not like that aggressive, but I'm. I'm aggressive, I like trails, I like going downhill, going over drums and you know stuff like that. Um, and I'm a big dude. I'm like 230 pounds, big, meaning fat, um.
Speaker 1:But so I need, you know, stuff, and I was getting, I think, things local that were cheaper and were not good. They didn't fit my weight and my style of writing. These were components for just mainly going down to the park and street, right, you know what I mean. And I had no way to really tell like I would try to communicate that with them, but it didn't seem. That's why. That's why I decided okay, I'm doing it myself, I'm going to get the stuff that I know is good and it's going to work. So that's why I did the whole Shimano and replaced everything, um.
Speaker 1:But so then with the hubs, you know they have Shimano hubs and stuff. But it's like, man, I already spent so much money. So I asked my guys, like which brands? I was like, okay, these are the brands at this shop, my local shop, have. And I'm like, which one of these are good? And he's like, okay, this one or this one is good. And then I got the price. I was like, are these prices good? He's like, yeah, that's good. So I was like, okay, cool, that's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I went to the, took my wheels with me yesterday, went to the bike shop and originally I was going to do it myself. I was going to undo the spokes and just buy the hubs and do it myself. You know, figure it out, because I want to learn. But I don't have the thing that you set the wheel on and spin it and it has a guide so you can see if your frame is straight. You know, spin it and you can see it like waving oh, the camera's over here. So you know you have the wheel in and it spins and then if it kind of does this, then you adjust the spokes to get to where it's straight. Now you can do it, like on your bike. Some people set it up and then put up a little marker so they can do the same thing. You know, like, like it's possible, um.
Speaker 1:But so I was, that's what I was planning on doing, and the guy that, um, you know, been talking to, he's in Manila, I think the one I bought the drive train from. He's like, dude, just take it in. And I'm like man, I was like, okay, fine, I'll take it in, but I'm going to hang out and I'm going to watch and maybe even try and do some. So that's what I did. I went there and he, you know, began doing everything. So I was like helping. I was like, here, I'll do, I'll do this one.
Speaker 1:He did the, he did the the drive train with the cassette and he was undoing and I don't know if anybody's ever done that, but undoing spokes with the little tool is so tedious and annoying man. But, um, so I was sitting there doing the front wheel and what he was doing the rear and then he had taken all the spokes off, put the spokes on the new hub and was getting it all ready to go. When I was still trying to undo, all the spokes finally came off, and then I got the hub and I put the spokes on. How I thought I did it wrong because it's supposed to be every other whatever. So I had to do you know, so I'm learned, I learned right, and then he did it up.
Speaker 1:So this guy, he knows what he's doing. So I, you know sometimes people I talk about Filipinos that are kind of pretending oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know how to do that, and then they just wing it. This guy, he, he had some skill, he was quick, he knew what to do. So anyway, um, so, as he's doing it, he's getting this. You got to, you know, tighten. I keep doing this like the cameras, this way, the cameras over here. So you know he's tightened the first one right on the spoke, and then do the bottom, left, right, and then you kind of, once that's established in the middle, then you start doing the other ones. But they have to like they don't just go straight, like they go like there's a way to do it, almost like braiding or you know, uh, making fabric or something, like he was doing it and I was watching him.
Speaker 1:I was like man, I do not know what you're doing. So I was like I'm so glad I didn't do it, I'm so glad I didn't. So got it done, bought a couple little accessories and stuff, and then, um, I told that guy I was like, dude, I'm so glad you talked me out of doing that. But so got that figured out and then putting the chain and the derailleur on, so it was the first time, so I have to like figure it out and it was just, oh my gosh, so everything's good, everything's, everything's on there. The, the derailleur, the shifting is not 100% yet, like I can't, you know. So I have to do some more adjusting, which is what I was doing last night. But I was just like I was so tired and so done with my bike that I was just like, okay, I gotta, I gotta tomorrow, tomorrow. So that's what I'm gonna do after this podcast is get that all 100%, take it for a quick little and then Saturday go ride with my son. Finally, it's like been like two, three weeks, but yeah, so that's what's going on with me.
Speaker 1:But the whole reason I'm recording this podcast and I'm kind of talking like this because, for those that don't know, ai makes up the titles for my episodes I mean I can change it if I want to, but usually I'll take what they have or I'll change it up a little bit, but it's like I have a topic but then I spend here. I'm at 16 minutes. I've been talking about all this other crap, but the actual episode is about Clark Gable, right, all right, so I was listening to. What was it? It was Joe Rogan. I know people probably think like that's all I do is listen to Joe Rogan. I listen to Joe Rogan like when I'm doing tasks, like I was working on the bike, so I have it on, you know, as I'm doing stuff, unless I got to watch a YouTube video or something.
Speaker 1:But who's he talking to? I don't remember who he's talking to, but they brought up, they were talking about stories like you know. Hey, you heard about the, you know, like the golden age movie actor that hit and killed somebody and then someone else took the rap for it. You know, the studio had someone else do it so he wouldn't go to jail or something like that, you know, and and that's all he said and they kind of talked about whatever and I was like what? I was like I never heard that and you know, I'm kind of I used I talk about it.
Speaker 1:I used to be like kind of a film buff and I'm my brain, like that's just where my brain goes. You know what I mean? Um, not so much stuff that's out now, because it's all crap, but older movies, like I know who's in them, who directs them, when they came, the year they came out, and crap like that. But there's so many like youtube channels and podcasts that follow that stuff and follow it so much better than I could, so I'm not even going to try. But like I do like if I'm watching a movie hour after after I watch a movie, even if, like it's an older movie and I've done it before, I pull up Wikipedia and I just research about it or you know, and plus other stories, and then it's like and then you go like oh, oh, so-and-so have murdered somebody, they had a whatever. Then you just kind of go down that whatever.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of like a, like a. I don't know what. You call it, not a hobby, but it's just like a, it's a thing I do. So I've kind of heard a lot and you know I'm interested in old classic Hollywood history and stories and things like that. So not all the time. But I mean, you know.
Speaker 1:So the fact that he said this, I was like I was kind of surprised because I was like man, I've never heard that. So I was like, oh, I'm going to talk, I'm going to research and find out what I can find and that's what I'm going to talk about on my next podcast. And here it is 20 minutes and I haven't even started talking about it yet. All right, well, anyway. So, and there's not as much information on it as I thought. I mean, there is information, but it's like I.
Speaker 1:So on the podcast, on the podcast, he didn't say who it was. He was like Clark Gable or Gary Cooper or whoever you know those big actors back in the day. So it took me a minute to figure out which one it was. So it was Clark Gable. You know, I was looking up Gary Cooper, cary Grant, stuff like that. But Clark Gable, who? He was in Gone with the Wind. That's the only thing I know.
Speaker 1:But let's see. So so I'm gonna read a couple and there's no, this, nothing is factual. You know what I mean, because back then you could get away with so much, you could get away with this and I, I think it's, I think it. I'm not saying it did happen, but it was completely possible, you know. I mean I think it totally could have. There's no way to say if it did, but I guess he was a pretty big drinker, so, but here's from gosh Snopes Did I take? Yeah, okay, let's see's see. So did Clark Gable kill a pedestrian while drunk driving? So this is the conspiracy, the whatever so this was published in 2002 says rumor holds that the MGM star see back in the day, if you don't know, actors actors had contracts with studios so they made films for only those studios.
Speaker 1:That doesn't really happen. I mean it's still kind of people do sort of do that they will sign a contract and and maybe, like you know, for a little bit and so many movies or whatever, but for the most part actors, just you know, uh, they'll work for various studios. I mean, like Tom Cruise was like Paramount, I think, for a long time or something. So I mean it's still kind of like that, but not like it was back in the day, like you were, if you were. See it says MGM star, he could only make movies for MGM, you know.
Speaker 1:Anyway, rumors hold that the MGM star killed a pedestrian while inebriated, but the studio conspired with the DA's office to cover up the accident. So here's the claim he killed a pedestrian while drunk driving, but MGM covered up the accident and sent another man to jail in his place. So this is saying that's false. But let's see, so I'm trying to read this there's so much they're kind of talking about, like just me, there's no picture of the process. Okay, so let's see.
Speaker 1:When a drunken Gable hit and killed a pedestrian so this is like the accusation I guess Killed a pedestrian near Hollywood Boulevard, mgm studio head Louis B Mayer sent Gable into hiding and then conspired with the local DA to have a minor executive. So an executive that worked for MGM take the rap in return for salary on the payroll for life at a higher salary. So this is supposedly you know, this is the hush-hush conspiracy, whatever. So basically, you know some young executive or whatever. Hey, if you admit to this and take the rap and go to jail, because supposedly you know he would have went to jail for a few years, you're gonna. You're gonna maintain a paycheck for the rest of your life at this level. You know what I mean. So it's kind of crazy. Would somebody do that? I don't know. I mean, could I mean, I don't know, he's already an executive, so maybe it wasn't an executive, maybe it was somebody that was really hard up for money let's see.
Speaker 1:So this article kind of talks about how they tried to investigate it. So when we were investigating a rumor about a person who was both well-known and long dead, the first place we usually turn to is the most recently published biography about that person, because it's more accurate, maybe because more information has come out. But then at the same time it's been longer since it happened. In this case, the most recent Clark Gable biography was 2002's Clark Gable, and there we found that Mr Harris had indeed addressed this rumor. So I guess he talks about it in his book. But so he did get in a drunken like he wrecked his car, like that's fact I guess. But the killing a person, person, something is the whatever. In march 1945, gables, heavy drinking finally caught up with him while driving home from a party celebrating the american victory on iwo jima. He lost control of the car as he passed through the bristol circle, a dense, tree-filled traffic island on Sunset Boulevard in residential Brentwood in West Los Angeles.
Speaker 1:It being around four o'clock in the morning, there may have been no eyewitnesses to what actually happened, but MGM publicist and security chief Whitey Hendry Whitey. You see that sometimes somebody's name is Whitey. That that's crazy. I want to see a black dude named Whitey, whitey Johnson, anyway. Well, I guess Whitey Boulder his name is Whitey too. Huh, anyway, all right, gotten to the accident scene. Oh, got to the accident scene before it was reported to the police or the press. But so how'd that happen? You know, think about that. People don't have cell phones. Back then some people didn't even have phones. You know what I mean? I mean, I think most people did by then. But, um, he had to have been somebody, had to have been in the car with him, and then maybe he left to make the phone call or something. Because, you know, think about it. I don't know, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So Howard Strickler later claimed that Gable crashed into a tree on the front lawn of Harry Friedman, a talent agent for MCA. According to Strickling, friedman knew enough about the industry's penchant for secrecy to phone MGM instead of the cops. Well, that just answered my question right there. See, I didn't read this, I mean, I did like a quick scan through to. But anyway, it wouldn't have been good if a photographer arrived and snapped Clark Gable lying on the lawn covered with blood and his car all cracked up. After a studio doctor arrived to patch up Gable, he was taken to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital and the wrecked car was quickly towed away. At the hospital, gable required 10 stitches for the head and shoulder wounds and was detained for observation.
Speaker 1:He was in a drunken stupor and kept threatening to walk out. Oh man, I've had to deal with so many drunk people. Excuse me, man, man, there's something in the air. I've been sneezing like crazy, but yeah, they're almost the worst Drunk people that are. I'm in the air, I've been sneezing like crazy, but yeah, they're almost the worst Drunk people that are just not, they don't listen and they're like they're not combative, but they're not. You know, I don't know. They're a pain in the ass. I don't like. My wife likes to hang around her friends. If they're drinking she thinks it's funny. But if I'm sober, drunk people annoy me, which is pretty much all the time. I'm pretty much sober all the time. I don't really drink anyway. So all his clothes were taken away to lessen the chances, so he's walking around naked.
Speaker 1:He spent the next three days in isolation being thoroughly dried out. So he got sobered cold turkey, which is not see back then it. Probably they didn't realize it, but that can be harmful to people Depending on their dependency on alcohol and stuff. You can't just go cold turkey. It can kill you for some people, and then just it's not. You know, you got to wean yourself off, just like anything else. It's like if you're taking meds. You've been taking meds for years and your doctor's like, hey, you got to stop taking it. You don't just stop taking it, you just wean yourself off anyway.
Speaker 1:The press had so many informants at Cedars, lebanon, gable's presence became known within minutes. Amusingly, the story handed out by MGM was that Gable's car had been sideswiped by a drunken driver who immediately sped away. Nobody believed it, but it got printed and also started rumors of what really happened. One of the more extreme had Gable killing a pedestrian and MGM persuading one of its minor executives to take the rap for him. After quote-unquote confessing that he had really been driving the car and Gable was only a passenger. The executive supposedly served a year in jail for manslaughter, after which MGM rehired him with a whopping pay increase and pension plan. I mean, if the guy was there I could see that happening. You know I mean, that's their. You know Clark Gable was a money printing machine. You know what I mean. That's their. You know Clark Gable was a money printing machine. You know what I'm saying. So I think it's totally possible.
Speaker 1:Anyway, according to this account, gable was once involved in an automobile accident while drunk, but he hit a tree and he injured no one but himself, while MGM did feed reporters a story about Gable having been forced off the road by another car in order to head off the unflattering publicity about his drunkenness. There was no pedestrian whose death needed to be hushed by a pliant press, and I guess you would be able to find that out. If somebody died you know death certificate, maybe. I don't think they could cover up that somebody, I mean if somebody who's actually a detective or you know whatever, not a detective, but they could go to and look up the records and find out if people died on that, because they got the date and everything. Did somebody die on that date or around that date? Whatever you know, sure it'd be. Well, let's see if something comes up, but I don't think so.
Speaker 1:We won't dismiss rumors based on a single, however, especially since, in this case, the referenced biography provided no footnote or end notes to indicate the source of the author's information. I mean it's a biography though. So I mean it's basically biographies are propaganda. They're either you know, they talk about how great they were, or they sit there and their unauthorized biography and it just attacks them and stuff you know. Not all of them, I mean some people like Nikki Sixx, his Dirt one, or whatever. That was pretty telling. I mean he probably didn't even tell everything either too.
Speaker 1:Not surprisingly, there has never been a credible validation of Gable's hit-and-run story. The only recorded episode in Gable's life that bears any resemblance occurred on June 20, 1933, when he drunkenly ran his Duesenberg into a tree, according to the Los Angeles Examiner Berg, into a tree. According to the Los Angeles Examiner, he was on his way to visit Strickland when he misjudged the driveway and piled right into a large eucalyptus. So that sounds like that's what happened. This is 1933, though, according to the Examiner, strickland rushed Gable to Cesar's door that he had swerved to avoid drunk driver traveling in opposite direction. Apparently to hide Gable's own intoxication and just to make sure that the public felt sorry for him, strickland forced him to stay in the hospital for an entire week.
Speaker 1:Gable's mysterious hospital stay in 1933 seems to be the real basis of the rumor. Yet even that is of questionable origin. In fact, it's likely that Strickland made up the story about crashing into the tree to hide something else, something slightly more embarrassing. According to his biographer, the real reason for Gable's secretive hospital stay was to get cosmetic surgery on his famously large ears and tobacco-stained teeth, and he didn't want anyone to know about it. Huh, I mean, I guess that's possible too.
Speaker 1:But so this? This one's talking about the strickland guy and it's 1933. But then, okay, so did. Did he get in a car accident, 1945, like? What happened? Huh, let's see. All right, now we were confronted with a legend, with a legend. According to this version, blah, blah, blah. Okay, according to this version, the rumor of Gable's automotive mishap dated from 1933, 12 years earlier than what was originally stated, and the real story involved no dead pedestrian or even an automobile accident. The entire car crash tale was fabricated by Gable and a studio publicist as a cover story for a prolonged hospital stay. All right, so this one. Right away. A few problems with this account jumped out at us. Let's see, no newspaper account from 1933 or even 1945 would have made references to Cedars-Sinai, as the Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai hospitals did not merge to become Cedars-Sinai Medical Center until 1961. Sinai Medical Center until 1961.
Speaker 1:The story given that Gable and the MGM publicist Howard Strickling fabricated a story about an automobile accident to prevent their bosses from knowing Gable had really sneaked away. Yeah, why would he care if the studio heads they would probably be the ones. Dude, you need to trim those ears and fix those teeth, quit smoking. Gable had really sneaked away to the hospital for a week to undergo some cosmetic surgery. I can understand him doing that secretly from the public, but not his bosses. Could anyone really believe Gable's MGM employers, upon hearing that one of their stars had been seriously injured in an automobile accident, wouldn't immediately send someone over to the hospital to check on his condition and investigate what had happened to him? Or that an actor whose major marketability was his looks would, for future living I can't even say that alter his appearance through surgery and think he could hide it from the studio? It's just his ears.
Speaker 1:Improbable as this information might be, mr Young at least mentioned the source. A check on the author's name revealed that the source was the author of the 76th Clark Gable biography, long Live the King. So we turned to that work to see if it could help us sort out the details of this rumor. Confusingly, what we found was nothing in Long Live the King, corroborated by the stories offered in Paul Young's LA Exposed, despite its identification of the former. So basically it's saying like the newest biography that's the thing is like maybe some new evidence comes out. And usually I guess you do kind of get biographies that come out when it comes out this person was gay. You do kind of get biographies that come out when it comes out this person was gay or did this or whatever. And but you know it's been so long now since the actual that it's just it's hard to figure out what's real and what isn't all right. First off, tornabin. That's the author of the other uh biographies from 1976. His take on the genesis of this rumor differed little in detail. It was probably the source of the version we found in his biography we can. So this is kind of what they're thinking. Started the whole thing.
Speaker 1:Clark's heroic consumption heroic consumption of alcohol ceased to be a laughing matter when he wrapped himself around a tree in the middle of the night in March 1945. Too drunk to find the Wilshire Boulevard cutoff from a traffic circle. Fortunately for his image, the tree he ran into was on the lawn of agent Harry Friedman. That is kind of coincidental, right, who knew the business well enough to call Howard Strickling rather than the police or the ambulance. So that's how it happened the calling. It was four or five in the morning, as Howard recalls, and Friedman said to him Howard, geez, your friend is bleeding. What shall I do? Howard told him he was too far away to come quickly so he would send MGM publicist Ralph Wheelwright and MGM security chief Whitey Hendry. In the meantime he said tell Clark to talk to no one and have them get the car out there as fast as they can. Howard explains it wouldn't have been particularly good to have some photographers go out and make a picture of Clark gable lying in the lawn all covered with blood and this car all cracked up, because they would all say who was with him. You know they always said there was some women with him and you hit her, which I'm sure they did. Dude, hollywood has always been scandalous and corrupt and everything you know, and they still are anyway. It's just a little kind of harder to hide some of it now? Well, easy and hard, I guess, but Will Wright called the doctor, who called the surgeon, and Stricklings arrived in time to take Clark to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. There he got ten stitches in his head and shoulder and was placed under observation. Howard had to take away his clothes to make him stay in the hospital, but within three days he talked his secretary into bringing him a suit and his doctor into releasing him Once he was hospitalized.
Speaker 1:There was no way to keep the press from closing in. The story the reporters were told was that Clark had swerved into a tree to avoid hitting a drunk driver who did not stop at the accident. The press printed it, but no one believed it. Those who were told the MGM claimed that was the story behind the newspaper story didn't believe that either. What Told what MGM claimed was the story, the true story behind the newspaper story, didn't believe that either. Rumors persist that the true story, the true true story, was so damaging that MGM issued a fake true story to fog it. Who was with them? People still ask what were they hiding? So I guess they just kind of thought it was bullshit and like why, what were they hiding? So I guess they just kind of thought it was bullshit and like why?
Speaker 1:Nowhere in Long Live the King did we find anything about Clark Gable's involvement in an automobile accident in 1933, or striking and killing a pedestrian, or his plotting a mysterious week-long hospital stay for his ears and his teeth. The book merely mentioned that at some point in his career gable had his teeth capped and that there had since been dispute over when the work was performed and who paid for it. Did he ever do anything with his ears? I remember the cartoons back in the day when they were doing huge ass ears, his ears okay, with several people who worked with Gable, half of whom maintained that Gable had his ears fixed at some unspecified time and half of whom empathetically denied that Gable ever had anything done to his ears. Mayor had dang. This is long. I didn't realize it was this long See Clark Gable. This is another article. This long See Clark Gable, the motion picture star. So this is another article.
Speaker 1:Clark Gable the motion picture star, motion picture actor, was in Cedars of Lebanon yesterday recovering from injuries he received in a freak accident Traffic circle. Blah blah blah already said it. Condition is not serious. Gable, according to a report, was driving east on sunset and, in accordance with traffic regulations, proceeded around the south half of the traffic circle, he was confronted with another car, the driver, which apparently had become confused and was proceeding west in the same arc of the circle. To avoid colliding with the other car, cable drove his automobile over the curb. Cable's car struck a tree, throwing him against the steering wheel. The actor received a laceration in his right leg which required several stitches and a bruised chest. So what about the head and the shoulder? The studio reported Dr ordered Cable to remain in the hospital over Sunday. He is expected to leave today. The driver of the car apparently did not realize that Cable had had an accident and did not stop.
Speaker 1:This is kind of crazy. Like what is going on? You know this is going on and on. Man, I think that's about it though. I think so. All right, I don't know. I had a couple other tabs open to talk about it. You know there's some that say like you know stuff that actually people, whatever. So here's a quick this one's short, so I'll read it real quick and see if it has anything else. Probably not.
Speaker 1:This is from Grunge, nearly a decade before he kickstarted the film noir genre while in the director's chair during the filming of the Maltese Falcon. Wait, what ok, hold on. John Houston was a struggling screenwriter trying to make his way into the depression era of Hollywood. Houston had also developed quite a reputation of drinking too much. Ron Houston was a struggling screenwriter trying to make his way into the Depression-era Hollywood. Houston had also developed quite a reputation of drinking too much and had several drunken incidences while behind the wheel of a car. According to Cracked, the Prissy Honor director had been jailed after he rammed his vehicle into a parked car while intoxicated.
Speaker 1:After two strikes it wouldn't, rumor was spread that it was Clark. Oh, so did he do it? Oh, so he hit somebody. The woman oh, okay, crap okay. Railing down a boulevard when a pedestrian suddenly walked down in front of his car. The woman, later identified as Brazilian dancer Tosca Rulian, had emerged from in-between two parked cars and was immediately struck by Houston Huston. Whatever Rulian was, bounced off the windshield and thrown an estimated 30 feet, houston responded by slamming on his brakes, nearly avoiding running her over, but the damage had been done. Did she die? I have to look that up. Dang it. Houston was fully exonerated by a grand jury. However, he had been sober and he wasn't speeding and William J walked in front of him.
Speaker 1:The tragedy would soon begin. A conspiracy theory that Houston wasn't at the wheel but was covering for another, hmm, so I guess she died. So that's kind of. Maybe. They took the two stories and put them together. I'm going to click on this real quick. So this is what they have about the dancer. Oh man, I got to log in. No, son of a, I ain't logging in.
Speaker 1:Let's see if I can copy it. I'm gonna look up, no, not the link Copy. Ugh, I don't want to copy the link, it won't. Let me just copy. Let's see what happens. Okay, it's going to go right back to the times. I've got to go back to the. Let me see, come on, where's it at? So, tosca Rulian, I'm going to have to just spell it out, but I suck at remembering and spelling, like I never remember people's names. So I like copy and paste. Tosca, see, it's not going to bring it up because, oh, there we go. Tosca Rulian, death. Let's see, it's not going to bring it up because, oh, there we go. Tuscarillion death. Let's see, man, so we did. Killer probably was drinking. All right, I'm just going to read about this a little bit.
Speaker 1:So there was so much, you know, shady stuff going on and covers up, covers up, covering up in Hollywood back then that it would. This would not surprise me. I'm kind of thinking it didn't happen, at least with Clark. Yeah, I don't think it happened, it doesn't seem like it, but if it did I wouldn't be surprised, you know. And what's crazy is, like you know, back then, you know, I always talk about how here in the Philippines reminds me of how I would picture living in states in the 40s and 50s, right, I mean, again, obviously we have cars, air conditioning, wi-fi, internet, all that kind of stuff, but everything else kind of is old school and like people with money will kill someone on the road and it's their fault, but they just pay the family some money and everything's good.
Speaker 1:Like it happens all the time. Like I personally know somebody, I mean I don't know him, know him, but I've met him a few times and yeah, so he accidentally killed a kid, you know, and they have money, so they paid the family, everything's good. It's like you should still maybe. I mean, it kind of seemed like he was pulling into his house and it kind of does seem like it was the kid's fault, so maybe it's the parent more so, you know. But but man, people here, I mean I don't know how many people I've seen laying on the ground here, because people ride mopeds and me and my family I don't know if I talked about this or not, but we went to dinner this was a little while ago now and there was an accident and we drove by and you could see a guy underneath the truck and he was dead. He was all mangled up, it was nasty, and my kids were like they were shocked, so that was their first seeing a dead person. And you know, my kids were like they were shocked, you know, and it was like, so that was their first seeing a dead person and it was. It was pretty gruesome, you know.
Speaker 1:So it happens here a lot because people are very reckless when they drive. And then the problem is you have people, some people drive reckless because they know they can get away with it. They just pay some money and everything's good. They don't have to go to jail. You know what I mean, and that's kind of I don't know, kind of pisses me off. The only people that are in jail are, like you know, drug dealers and thieves and murderers, which they should be, but if you're driving recklessly and you kill somebody, you should do some time. I'm not saying a lot, but it's like come on, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, somebody, why is this taking? I'm waiting for this to load this story, but it's just not coming up because Mac likes to make I use DuckDuckGo and it's so slow and it's always like oh, why don't you use Google, like my computer's telling me use Google. Like, oh, why don't you use Google? Like my computer's telling me use Google, use Google. I don't want to use Google, fuck you. Anyway, let's see. Holy crap, 46 minutes. This is officially, I think, my longest episode. I don't even know if it's going to continue recording. Well, I guess it is Well, okay, um, shoot, need to end it. Wow, send me an email if you want the objective, jerk, at gmailcom. Let me know what you think. I appreciate you hanging out. God bless and see you next time. All right, bye.
