October, 1932 - Clark Gable's had a great couple of years. After starting out as an extra and stage actor Clark Gable has become one of MGM's hottest properties. His latest film Red Dust stars Gable along with Jean Harlow in a Far East romance. 

So, how did this meteoric rise occur? It wasn't only his charming  good looks that sealed the deal. Credit must be given to MGM who, realizing they may have someone special, made a strong effort to sell the actor to the viewing public.

Gable appeared in over ten films in 1931 alone and had the huge benefit of being paired with some of the most talented leading ladies in all of Hollywood. Among them were Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, and Joan Crawford.

The combination of MGM's effort along with a tremendous cast of leading ladies has truly sent Clark Gable to the top of the ranks of Hollywood leading men.

October, 1932 - Talented actor Paul Muni seemingly had proved his worth to Fox with his 1929 debut in The Valiant as well as later that year with a seven character portrayal in Seven Faces. However, Fox decided to let the actor go where he appeared next in the Broadway hit Counselor-at-Law. 

It was after his Broadway success that Director Howard Hawks decided to cast Muni as the lead in the Warner classic gangster film Scarface, loosely based on real-life gangster Al Capone. The film and Muni's performance were loved by audiences.

Later that same year Paul Muni again starred for Warner Brothers in the acclaimed hit I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang based on the harrowing autobiographical experiences of Robert E. Burns.

Fox's loss was a huge gain for Warner Brothers and for actor Paul Muni who now had a contract that allowed him to approve his own material.

Former Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller has become the sixth actor to play the legendary character Tarzan. MGM signed the gold medal winning swimmer offering him a starting salary of $250.00 a week.

Unlike Edgar Rice Burroughs' original hero Lord Greystoke, a courteous and refined gentleman, Weissmuller's Tarzan is played with little or no actual dialogue. Using single syllable's and a few grunts, MGM is content to let the athletes physical prowess do his talking for him.

Weissmuller's first picture as Tarzan was titled Tarzan and the Ape Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and co-starring Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane. The film proved to be a big hit with audiences prompting MGM to sign him for a series of seven Tarzan films.
 

June, 1931 - In two short years, Clara Bow has gone from being voted America's most popular female star to being released from her contract with Paramount Pictures. Her scandal-ridden private life has ultimately led to a sad and sudden fall from grace. 

Clara's image as the "It Girl" (it, referring to sex appeal) was continually enhanced by her various and multiple off-screen romances with leading men such as Gilbert Roland, Gary Cooper, John Gilbert, John Wayne, Bela Lugosi, and Director Victor Fleming.

Add to these affairs the pay off of a doctor's wife for "alienation of affections," a large Lake Tahoe gambling debt, a court case involving a former secretary charged with embezzlement who testified to Clara's liking of booze, drugs, and gigolos and you have the recipe for career disaster thus causing Paramount to release her.

Tragically, as a result of her fragile emotional health and a case of shattered nerves, Clara Bow ended up spending some time in a sanatorium. After a period of recovery she made two films for the Fox Film Corporation. Although they were successful, she choose to retire from acting, married cowboy actor Rex Bell, and had two sons.

However, there was no happy ending for the “It Girl”. After a suicide attempt, and increasingly bizarre behavior she was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and again spent some time institutionalized. She lived the remaining years of her life modestly and under the care of a nurse.
 

May, 1931 - Warner Brothers, fresh off the success of their gangster film Little Caesar starring Edward G. Robinson, has found a new star capable of effectively carrying both a gun and a film. James Cagney, a former vaudeville song-and-dance man, provided a dynamic performance as hoodlum Tom Powers in the Warner production of Public Enemy. 

Originally slated to play the second lead to Edward Woods, it took only a few views of the daily rushes for Director William Wellman to realize Cagney was the better choice to play the snarling lead in this fast-paced portrait of the rise and fall of a vicious criminal.

Public Enemy, along with Little Caesar (1930) and Scarface (1932) opened the door to a whole new genre – the gangster film. This film made James Cagney a star and turned the grapefruit into an unlikely, but unforgettable, weapon. The final scene carries with it the perfect example for the old saying "crime does not pay."

October, 1930 - In 1930 director Raoul Walsh used fourteen cameramen and a 70-mm wide-screen filming process for the epic western The Big Trail. The films leading man, as suggested by John Ford, was a former prop star named Marion Michael Morrison. 

It was director Walsh that renamed this young aspiring actor John Wayne. For the next nine years John Wayne worked in a series of low-budget movies (mostly B westerns). It wasn't until 1939 and the movie Stagecoach that the 'Duke' returned to mainstream movies and becoming a Hollywood film legend.

The film The Big Trail proved to be financially unsuccessful. This was a result of being the first wide-screen release made during a time when movie theaters were unwilling to make the costly changeover to wide-screen due to the effects of the Great Depression.

However, in 2006 the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry deeming it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

September, 1930 - In September of 1930 the rights to the long-running Florenz Ziegfeld Broadway musical comedy Whoopee! were sold to Samuel Goldwyn. The film version was cast with saucer-eyed film newcomer and singing comedian Eddie Cantor along with the rest of the original Broadway cast. 

Whoopee! was made into a lavishly produced film in glorious Technicolor that also featured standout dance numbers showcasing the Goldwyn Girls that were choreographed by Busby Berkeley whose Hollywood career was launched by this film. If you look closely enough, you can spot Betty Grable, Ann Southern, and Virginia Bruce among the Goldwyn Girls.  

In the history of musicals, Whoopee! had a visual look that was years ahead of its time and was only a preview of what was to come from the great Warner Brothers musicals of the 1930s.