Clark Gable & Carole Lombard Hunting.

[King Brown]

Dave, there is no mention of Gable in acclaimed biographies of Hemingway by Carlos Baker and James R. Mellon. There are many references to Cooper.

[Researcher]

I stumbled across these pictures of the Clark Gable BHE-Grade 32-inch barrel 20-gauge taken at our PGCA booth at Sandanona in 2000. Because of the glare it is hard to see but the left side has a Dove in flight --



The right side has two California Quail --

[Austin W Hogan]

Parker Pages ran a cover photo of Ernest Hemingway with a Parker and several ducks a couple of issues back. The editor recieved a rather strongly worded letter from a Hemingway collector that Hemingway owned no Parkers, and that Parker Pages and PGCA were attempting to invent a Hemingway Parker.
We replied that the fact that the picture showed Hemingway holding a Parker, was not evidence that he had ever held it while that shutter was closed. The gun may very well have been a prop supplied by the photographer, publisher or ad agency.
The fact that a gun may have been a prop should always be considered when examining celebrity pictures.

Best, Austin

[Mike Stahle]

[Old and Reliable]

But add to the mix Gary Cooper and Humphrey Bogart. Men dressed well, whether stars of the silver screen or not- so if "unkempt" means a disheveled appearance, all of those greats from yesteryear were "kempt" indeed.. Love the tag line from the song "Putting On The Ritz"-- "Dressed up like a million dollar trooper, tryin' hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super-Dooper?)-- all prove to my mind anyway the truth of Samuel Langhorn Clemen's observation that "Clothes make the man" and a Parker or an Elsie completes the ensemble rather well-

As far as the square back semi-auto with the "Steam Whistle" welded to the muzzle= to paraphrase Forrest Gump-- "Ugly is as ugly does"-- but if such a shotgun gets you a 100 straight at skeet every time, hard to deny the shootability of same-IMO!!

[Researcher]

What does that picture have to do with lever guns? Looks to me like Mr. Gable is holding a 12-gauge over/under. Is that picture at A&F in NYC? Is the man behind the counter Charles Wick?

[Mike Stahle]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

What does that picture have to do with lever guns? Looks to me like Mr. Gable is holding a 12-gauge over/under. Is that picture at A&F in NYC? Is the man behind the counter Charles Wick?

Thanks, fixed

[Old and Reliable]

Hard to know after all these years, Nash B wrote about Charles Wickes working at A&F with Capt. Harold Money in the gun sales area. I can't answer the Hemingway/Parker scenario, I agree with Austin that possibly a Parker was the only shotgun available when the foto was taken. Hemingway mentioned a Model 12 in his "True At First Light"-a post mortem rehash of the second African Safari he (and Mary Welsh H.) took with Phillip Percival- and annotated with a forward from son Patrick Hemingway.

He may also have used a Browning 12 Over-Under and some European/English shotguns, but I have never read of his owning a shooting a Parker-- at least to date.

[Lotsabeagles]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

What does that picture have to do with lever guns? Looks to me like Mr. Gable is holding a 12-gauge over/under. Is that picture at A&F in NYC? Is the man behind the counter Charles Wick?

Dave:

I'm guessing it's from a movie, unless Joan Crawford happened to be at A&F at the same time.

[Drew Hause]

The image with Joan Crawford may have been from "Love on the Run" 1936

Clark Gable and John Barrymore skeet shooting in the Hollywood Hills. Gable looks to have the same Model 11; Barrymore maybe a M21?