Debonair, suave, handsome American actor of yesteryear, Clark Gable
Made hordes of women swoon and held "The King of Hollywood" label.
As Rhett, dumps Scarlet with, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"...
In the movie, Gone With The Wind, feeling she's a two-timing sham.
A Monoku Haiku Footle Tanka Clerihew Limerick Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
Date written: 12/11/2022
It was Clark Gable, who posed the question,
“Oh, Mr., Faulkner…do you write?”
Indeed, Mr. Gable, Faulkner wrote…
About that postage stamp of native soil
In many books and stories did his typewriter toil
regaling about that mythical place he called Yoknapatawpha County
somewhere in the rolling hills of north Mississippi
he penned a tale about Colonel John Sartoris
of Boon Hogganbeck and Lucius McCaslin
taking a trip to Memphis, Tennessee
in “Boss” Priest’s Wynton Flyer
they were “The Reivers”—footloose and fancy free
Yes, Mr. Gable, Faulkner wrote…
of Quentin Compson—“The Sound and the Fury”
the perils of the Bundren family—“As I Lay Dying”
Vardaman said, “My mother is a fish”
Indeed, Mr. Gable, “Mr. Bill” Faulkner did write
about Emily Grierson, her male admirers in “A Rose for Emily”
the trilogy of the Snopes family, such a literary tapestry
Oh, heavens, Mr. Gable, Mr. Faulkner did write
In every novel, every story, all about his native Mississippi
his works a marvelous contribution to America’s rich literary history
--Allen Baswell
© 02-25-22
Each time I see a swimming pool,
I think of you and smile.
Your breaststroke and your butterfly
Could dazzle and beguile.
You aced your screen test with Clark Gable.
Don’t be bashful, drop a line.
You had entanglements with Tarzan.
Come on in, the water’s fine.
You frolicked through the Aquacade,
So dangerous when wet.
Your million-dollar mermaid played
Queen Neptune on the set.
Fox claimed Sonja Henie’s fluid waltz across the ice.
MGM framed Esther Jane’s aquatic edelweiss.
Each time I see a swimming pool,
I think of you and smile.
A pin up in a bathing suit.
Van Johnson liked your style.
I heard a distinct voice in the bowels of an Australian jungle.
Clark Gable! What? He’s been gone a long time.
I followed the voice, but alas, now I was hearing Elvis.
Singing “Love Me Tender”.
The guide had tried to stop me, but I was persistent.
So he held the tour party back until I finally returned.
“Did you hear that?” I asked.
“Did you hear that?” someone else asked, in my voice.
“What is that?” I asked the tour guide.
“That is a lyrebird,” he told me. “They are great at voices.”
I did not believe him until I heard “They are great at voices,”
come out of the jungle, in his exact voice.
A beautiful young woman who came from very near,
was off and running with a great acting career.
She starred in a movie with Clark Gable titled "Mogambo".
Later, she was paired with James Stewart in "Rear Window".
A great film by the name of "High Society" would show.
There were a few other movies we would get to know.
This actress soon met the prince from the tiny country of Monaco.
They tied the knot, and off she would go.
For this lucky prince, Grace made a wonderful wife.
Tragically, a fatal car accident took her life.
I thank imdb.com for valuable information I obtained to write this poem.
When I was small they had what was called a party line
Eavesdropping was fun and games
We would hear Mable and Hazel talking about
Clark Gable who none of us knew
We would sit for hours listening on the phone
Mable would tell Hazel how handsome he was
As we covered the phone and giggled
Both Mable and Hazel were married
But, neither were married to Clark Gable
Who was this mysterious man we wanted to know
Days passed by still listening and wondering
Thoughts ran through our tiny minds
Then my mother said:
Turn on the TV Clark Gable is on
With disappointment in our eyes
We knew no more eavesdropping
Clark Gable was just some dream guy
In Mable and Hazels eyes
Contest: Listen In
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
Date Created: 12/10/2019
I wake from a bad dream
Hey there new man
That’s what they said to me
Hey there how’s it been lately?
I stand, look and see
Elvis, Martin Luther King and John Lennon walk on by so casually.
Roy Orbison and Freddie Mercury harmonising with Liberace as the queen mother watches whilst sipping tea
As I walk what looks like on nothing
I see Winston Churchill talking with Audie Murphy as Lewis Collins stares at me
I say hello to Marylyn Monroe or Norma Jean as Tony Curtis politely corrects me
Burgess Meredith tells me to do push ups, James Mason steadies me. Richard Burton drinking with Roger Moore on one round table and on the table next to them John Thaw doing a crossword - difficultly!
I walk on aimlessly as I see Bruce Lee training ferociously. Clark Gable playing cards with Humphrey Bogart and General Custer sipping whiskey with Einstein, Herriot, Tolkien and Agatha Christie - something too mind bending to me!
I walk through some glass doors and a whole world of familiar faces turns to see.
I wake up suddenly.
I sit up and can’t believe how real that felt to me.
The two men stood in the dusty street,
it was inevitable that they should meet,
suddenly one of them slumped to his knees,
justice had provided one of life' s certainties.
The Marshal strode towards his adversary,
kicked the gun on the ground away slowly,
I went to a party and met a Chinese lady
who phonetically was called High Noon.
She joked about Clark Gable but I told her
that actually it was Gary Cooper, who
recenty had been given a lifetime achievement
award for being such a great trooper.
We met again and so I asked her 'how?'
I said that it must be nearly two o ' clock by now.
(In the summer of 1960, filming began on
"The Misfits". Shot on location in the Nevada
desert, the picture was enveloped in a weird
atmosphere of doom from start to finish. For
the three stars - Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable
and Montgomery Clift - it would be the last
film they ever completed.)
Desert Hearts
What do you think of this?
A motion picture, wrought
in a wilderness, about a woman
loved by Gay, Guido, Arthur, Perce,
a woman who draws men
as thoughtlessly as breathing,
but whose beauty is her curse.
And what of three wranglers,
in the drum of the washing machine,
who live for chasing mustangs -
the dwindling mustangs,
whose fate is to be slaughtered
as food for dogs,
and whose destruction
draws nearer each time
they are chased?
Come with me to Reno,
the town with no water,
the zone of single strangers.
Meet five doomed characters,
moving through a slow gavotte
one deadly summer,
dancing on the spot
finding out anew what
they've really always known: how
to have and have not.
She had a nose for sniffing out well-hid lies
from any boastful cyber Romeo,
who used Photoshop to mask their disguise
She'd get a twitch, a wiggle in her nose
when the words on the screen didn't seem quite right
Telling her there was something fishy about the prose
So she asked one such fake lover man,
what was his can't miss, can't resist pick-up line
He said, lady your ship has finally come to land
She said, it appears you carry quite a load in your cargo pants,
and you certainly talk with a pirate heart
But it's obvious that you're no Clark Gable or Cary Grant
You shoulda told me the truth when you had the chance
Nah, you're just a daddy long-legged liar,
because your pen got no rhythm and your words can't dance
young man new in town
all of the girls on alert
amazed he chose me
Some of them were wittier.
A few of them were prettier.
He asked to take me to the movies.
I blushed as I said yes.
"Gone With The Wind" was showing.
and Clark Gable was the star
My date had no way of knowing
I thought him handsomer by far,
until I told him in the car.
1/06/2016
Clark Gable Vivian Leigh,
both have a place in history.
If we look back is it true that he sinned?
His words have survived, they haven't "Gone With The Wind".
Nineteen thirty nine the world was in shock,
all those who heard him couldn't help but talk.
They said the countries morals were in disrepair,
now people say what they want and don't really care.
Now entertainment is almost censor free,
you can say what you want and see what you see.
I guess in the end we really don't give a damn,
we say we all care but we don't take a stand.
It's a line that I remember.
I could not believe my ears
When Rhett said that word to Scarlett,
And left her in a flood of tears.
Profanity had not been heard
Upon the talking silver screen,
For censors had banned all words
Considered profane or obscene.
It was the year of nineteen-forty.
I had gone with my new beau
To showing of "Gone With the Wind",
A most highly touted show.
I couldn't believe he'd leave her
Just when she had come to know
That she really, truly loved him.
It was the ending of the show.
No one is shocked at anything
That is heard on the screen today,
But Clark Gable stunned the censors,
Tipped his hat and walked away.
Frankly
Scarlett was on her own to do what ever she wanted
Because of her the film language today is forever sated
A special law was passed so the infamous words could be heard
Before this time damn was an extremely naughty word
Rhett Butler's vocabulary definitely rocked the screen
People thronged to see this film some had never been
So Gone with the Wind was a winner, Clark Gable was no ham
as he stood there and said "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"
So Rhett you have a loaded conscience, your mouth needed a zip
When your feelings got the better of you and you let it rip
This attitude has passed to the way people today thinks
A no care way of life oblivious to others stinks
The morals of some governments are found to be gross
Only looking after the "Me" is what hurts the most.
The leaders of today forget the teachings of the church
Of looking after others, not leaving them in the lurch.
Penned 5 August 2013
"Why that ain't nothing but my red petticoat that you done bought me Mr. Rhett." mammy
says after he ask her what the rustling sound is he hears under her skirt. "Let me see!" he
says. Then she pulls her skirt up a little and shows him. Then mammy says, "Mr. Rhett you is
bad!" Rhett says, "Well it took you long enough to wear it!" She says, "Yes sir I know, and
I'm sorry about that." Rhett ask if she still thinks they're mules and then mammy says, "Mr.
Rhett, Miss Scarlett shouldn't have told you that. You ain't gonna hold that against old
mammy is ye?" Then he ask her to have a drink with him to celebrate the birth of his
daughter, Bonnie Blue.
My favorite scene in a movie "Gone With the Wind"
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler
*2nd place winner in Frank Herrera's contest for favorite scene in a movie.
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