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FROM THE BOOK:
Norma
Shearer, at the time Hollywood's reigning leading lady, plays Jan, the
daughter of alcoholic lawyer Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore).
Through her father, Jan meets Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable), a gambler and
underworld leader. She dumps her fiancé (Leslie Howard) and becomes Ace's
lover. Jan is no gangster's moll - she's rich, headstrong. A free
soul, she does exactly what she wants. Her father disapproves and
promises to give up drinking if she will give up Ace. She agrees,
but her father can't keep up his end of the bargain, and she goes back to
Ace, who has turned into a brute.
The
public was ready for a new type of leading man. Perhaps it was a reaction
to the times, but whatever the cause, it was not lost on Howard Strickling
of the MGM publicity department that the days of the romantic, genteel
leading man were over. Strickling promoted the idea of a new kind of hero,
and audiences loved it when Gable pushed his leading lady around. Norma
Shearer later said, 'It was Clark who made villains popular. Instead
of the audience wanting the good guy to get the girl, they wanted the
heavy to win her.'
Most of
the critics praised Barrymore, who won an Oscar for his performance.
Gable's role was dismissed as relatively unimportant. The fans,
however, went wild, writing fan letters to him and to MGM, demanding more
Gable. MGM responded by tearing up Gable's contract and writing a
new one for $1150 a week.
Gable had
arrived.
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