Marc and I haven’t been doing many afterlife interviews lately, because we’ve been traveling and looking at different kinds of energies. But when a trio of Hollywood legends shows up on your doorstep, you don’t tell them to leave! I didn’t have a clue that they would be visiting that night. And so the story begins…

Diane: Hey Marc, I think that we’ve been talking about doing a post. We’ve covered many topics already. Do you have any ideas?

Marc: Yeah Diane, I have a few. Do you want to head over to the studio?

Diane: Marc grabs my hand and we are away! We head to the studio (a place that Marc has created for us on the astral where we meet up with many of our guests). I can see what looks like moonlight coming onto the set. I’ve never noticed any windows here before. What’s up Marc?

Marc: I like the idea of moonlight.

Diane: Well sure why not! We can create anything that we want, can’t we. Marc, it seems very quiet here. I haven’t felt anyone hanging around me lately, so I’m not sure if we’re doing an interview? I’m open to whatever happens.

I’m hearing “ticker bell chimes”. I see three orbs float into the studio and hover over the chairs. Marc are these our guests?

Marc: Well Diane, you never know do you?

Diane: No not here I don’t. I never know what to expect and that’s what makes this so much fun!

Now the orbs are taking different shapes. They are sitting on the chairs and stretching their ball shapes to oblong and tall. That’s odd. I’m hearing a hissing noise from somewhere. Gosh, Marc, I haven’t a clue who they are so this is a surprise! I’m assuming they are “someone” right Marc?

Marc: Again Diane, you never know do you?

Diane: Ugh okay. I’ll just let them materialize on their own then. I’m seeing Olivia de Havilland and Clark Gable and someone else but not sure yet about who that would be. Well, Olivia and Clark were in “Gone with the Wind” together so that is their connection but who is the third individual? We’ve already done an afterlife interview with my fave actress Vivien Leigh, their co-star in GWTW and I can tell that isn’t her energy.

I think it’s Carole Lombard! Oh yeah, it is. Clark is saying that they are inseparable.

I just saw that Olivia had passed last July at the age of 104. Amazing!

Marc you are going to be playing host again tonight and I’ll copy down what is being said.

Marc: Yeah sure Diane. I’d be honored. Okay so tonight, we have in the studio three legends of Hollywood, Ms. Olivia de Havilland, Mr. Clark Gable, and Ms. Carole Lombard!

Diane: I’m hearing the applause machine that Marc has rigged up and it’s going wild!

Marc: I don’t believe that our guests need any more of an introduction than that because their reputations precede them. Shall I start with some questions?

Diane: Yes Marc! Please do!

Marc: Okay so one of the first questions we ask is why have you come to be interviewed? Is there a story behind that? Olivia? Is it okay if we call you Olivia?

Olivia: Yes Marc, that will be fine. Well to tell you the truth Marc and Diane, I didn’t have a set agenda for coming here tonight. I had run into Clark and Carole and they were saying something about it being the “in” thing to do. I thought I would see what it was all about.

Marc: Okay great.

Diane: Marc, can I just ask Olivia something? Normally we don’t have spirits on the show who have passed recently – just to give them time to acclimate. I’m hoping that you’ve had the time that you need?

Olivia: Thank you Diane, but I’m fine.

Diane: Right okay so I’m getting that someone who lives as long as she did in one physical incarnation has usually had enough time to make amends. I’m hearing not everyone, of course, but Olivia did. So she didn’t need much time to adapt to being back home.

Marc: Clark?

Clark: We heard about these afterlife interviews from Vivien (Leigh) as we still keep in touch. Or at least we see her here and there and she thought that I might enjoy the process. She said that it was nice for her to reminiscence about her physical life as Vivien and so I felt that it might be an interesting experience for Carole and myself. Always have to think about the expansion.

Marc: Okay great! Carole?

Carole: I’m just here because of Clark.

Marc: Okay so the reasons are out of the way. Now obviously Olivia and Clark have a connection as you both starred in one of the biggest films ever produced. What was it like making that film? I hear that it had its ups and downs?

Olivia: Oh dear yes, you can say that again! Clark, did you ever work on any film that was so fraught with drama?

Clark: Well that is Hollywood in a nutshell isn’t it Olivia, but you are right. It was right up there.

Marc: Can you give us some details about that?

Olivia: Well the script was being changed almost every day for one. I think it’s common knowledge about the angst that Vivien and I went through when they changed directors on us. It was a film that many people wanted to have made, but there were clashes of personalities constantly. There was always an explosion happening somewhere. David O. Selznick wasn’t a man who took “no” for an answer and he was what some would term now a “control freak”.

Diane: Okay did I get that right? Olivia is saying that yes that probably isn’t a term she might have used but she does have a great sense of humor. She wants us to know that even though she lived for as long as she did, she wasn’t in mothballs and had fun up till the end.

Marc: Okay anything else? Clark?

Clark: Well I didn’t have a problem with the change of director, so that wasn’t an issue with me. I was part of the cause that brought that about. Victor Fleming was a friend of mine and I felt that he was more in tune with who I was as an actor. What I did have on that shoot was the uncertainty about showing vulnerability. I wasn’t comfortable with that and I wasn’t sure how the public would feel about it. After all, I had the reputation as a rugged “he-man” type of actor. I wasn’t shown displaying these kinds of sentimental emotions.

Diane: So how did you end up feeling about some of the scenes in the movie then? I can remember a scene after your daughter Bonnie Blue dies that you did with Olivia. It was a tear-jerker for sure. It was an intense scene and I thought you did a great job!

Clark: Well thank you, Diane. As I said, I was uncomfortable with it, and thinking about it now, I still am a bit because I was insecure about my acting, I guess.

Diane: I seem to recall some emotional scenes in “The Misfits” with Marilyn Monroe as well?

Clark: Yes but by then I was more secure with myself. Gratefully so as that was my last film. By then, I thought, what the hell did I have to lose?

Marc: Good point. Carole, anything that you want to add here?

Carole: Well I wasn’t in that movie Marc.

Marc: Yes I know but feel free to speak up whenever you want okay? (She just nodded.) So in general, what did you think about the movie? If you both had the chance to star in it again, would you?

Olivia: Oh yes I would Marc. I would have preferred less drama on the whole production. I felt that I truly understood the character of Melanie Hamilton and I was thrilled to have the chance to bring her story to the screen.

Clark: Well I’m not so sure that I would bother with it again to tell you the truth. It did wonders for my career though, I have to admit. I was chosen to do the film because I was the public’s choice. Many people couldn’t see anyone else in the role. That’s very nice, but I would have rather been doing another type of film.

Marc: So you’re saying the theme of the movie wasn’t your cup of tea?

Clark: Yes that’s pretty much what I mean.

Diane: Now Marc, I think that I remember seeing a photo of you with a huge “The Heiress” poster behind you?

Marc: Yeah! Olivia, you were brilliant in that movie. (She won the Oscar.) I dug Monty Clift as well.

Diane: Which brings up another question. What about the Oscars?

Marc: Yeah I get what you are thinking Diane. How important were awards like the Oscars to all of you?

Olivia: Well I enjoyed receiving them for sure. I don’t know about the others? I know that there is too much importance placed on celebrities nowadays. I was a very hard working actress and enjoyed being recognized for my efforts. Especially when I knew that I deserved them, like on “The Heiress”.

Marc: Clark and Carole, anything to add to that?

Clark: Well I think that almost anyone would enjoy receiving recognition as Olivia mentioned for the work that they have done. I think that there is a lot of politics involved with these high-profile awards and oftentimes, the one who won doesn’t deserve it. Sometimes they do. I wasn’t into the politics of it all. I had interests in my life other than acting so it wasn’t my whole life.

Carole: Well I wasn’t around in the physical for too long where I could obtain many statues or rewards. (Carole passed over in a plane crash in January of 1942 at the age of 33 while on a tour for selling war bonds. Her mother was also on the plane.) Like Clarke, I did my work but it wasn’t the end-all for me.

Marc: Carole, you were a great comedienne. Do you think that things in Hollywood were different for you because of that? Olivia and Clarke mostly did dramatic roles.

Carole: Well thank you for that compliment, Marc. I did have a great sense of humor (and she was saying to me that in her personal life, it was often x-rated)! She was laughing as she said that. If you know anything about actors, they will tell you that comedy is harder than drama and they would be right. It’s all about the timing. If you don’t have exemplary timing, then you aren’t going to pull it off.

Diane: I’ve read that though Lucille Ball was one of the best comediennes that we’ve ever had, she wasn’t that way in real life.

Carole: Well that wasn’t me. I had a wicked sense of humor and I was very intelligent if I do say so and that helped me. I wasn’t the dumb blonde that people often thought about when they saw screwball comedies.

Marc: Well we’ve done a few afterlife interviews with actors from the Hollywood heyday and they’ve been pretty much unanimous with their opinions about working for the major studios. I don’t think we’ve found anyone yet who liked working for them have we, Diane?

Diane: Not that I can recall Marc.

Marc: Okay so can we get your opinions?

Olivia: I hated the studios. They were money men, yes men, and they didn’t care about the artists who were working for them. We were all cattle and were just supposed to do what were told. I truly don’t think that they felt we had any intelligence. But back then, it was the only way to do film work and become known for it. The studio system was it.

Diane: Olivia, didn’t you end up suing a studio for something? I think that they suspended you quite a few times for not taking a role. Then they tried to make you work out your contract longer because of it? I think that it’s still called the “de Havilland Law” on the books?

Olivia: Yes Diane, it was something like that.

Diane: Clark how did you feel?

Clark: Well as Olivia said, that was the only show in town. No one liked working under the system, at least not many. Your personal life wasn’t your own. You were living out your life in the land of make-believe but it’s what you had to do to have the career.

Diane: So now I have a question for all of you…even you Marc. I’m the only one here who wasn’t famous. Any regrets about that for any of you? Fame?

Marc: Hell no not for me! That was my main goal in that life.

Olivia: I wasn’t necessarily into fame as much as I wanted to be a good, working actress. I was a very private person, and I didn’t like the press interfering in my life outside of my work.

Clark: Olivia, I don’t think that any of us did, but it was part of the job.

Diane: Didn’t the studios repress many stories about their stars?

Carole: That’s right. They had the papers in their back pockets and those were lined deep with cash and threats. Again, it was politics. You do me a favor and I’ll do one for you. So many stories that were written about us weren’t true but you just had to go along with it. We would sit around at parties with other actors and read aloud the articles. We couldn’t believe most of them. Sometimes they were so ludicrous and some make us want to fight back.

Diane: You didn’t have as much recourse back then as celebrities do now right?

Carole: Not much. Usually, because the people who were paying us were the ones who had the stories printed in the first place. You had to learn to take it all in stride and not let it bother you, but it wasn’t easy. Sometimes the rumor mill was too tough and someone did themselves in because of it. Hollywood was not a place for sensitive people. You had to toughen up if you wanted to survive both mentally and physically.

Clark: Yes many took to alcohol and drugs to survive. (He is saying that he was a drinker.)

Marc: So what have you been doing since you passed out of those physical lives? Anything exciting that you would like to share with our readers?

Olivia: Clark?

Clark: Olivia?

Olivia: Well I am still adjusting just a bit to being back in the non-physical and catching up with those whom I haven’t seen in a while.

Marc: Do you have a career Olivia or are you just taking it easy?

Olivia: No career as of yet Marc.

Diane: Olivia is showing me flowers and a garden so I think that she must be doing something like that. I’m seeing her in what looks to be an English garden and she is pruning roses which she enjoys. I don’t know if she did that when she was Olivia in the physical.

Marc: Okay Clark and Carole?

Diane: They just looked at each other. They are telling me that they like to travel and spend leisure time together. Did Carole go fishing with Clark when they were physical? She must have gone along with Clark on some of his journeys because she is implying that she still does crazy stuff to keep the peace. She is laughing. She said that when she was physical, she was game for pretty much anything with Clark because she didn’t want them to be apart.

Clark is saying to me that they weren’t separated very often, if he could help it when they were married and that they are the same now. They were showing me scenes of them now reading books by a fireplace and just being happy and content. So not sure if that’s what they are actually doing, but that’s their relationship.

Some of the Hollywood couples that we’ve done afterlife interviews with aren’t together like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton but others are like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. So obviously while in spirit, you set up these meetings and see where they take you?

Clark: Yes Diane, that’s pretty much it. If you want to be with someone in a physical life, you are more often than not, going to have several important meeting points set up so that you run into them eventually. Sometimes the first or even second one might not work, but you usually don’t forget the other person even if it doesn’t work out.

Marc: I just wanted to ask Olivia about her partnership on the screen with Errol Flynn. Diane and I did an afterlife interview with Errol and his son. I think that everyone is familiar with your movies and that in real life, there was a spark between you. We don’t delve into personal lives here but is there anything you want to share? (Marc is so funny! We don’t do this but if we did, what would you say?)

Olivia: Well Marc, as you said, there was a spark between Errol and myself but the timing was never right for us. I did enjoy acting with him, even though the roles that I played with him were usually damsels in distress and not very rewarding.

Diane: Olivia is telling me that one of the biggest issues that she had that time around was being able to act in roles with dignity. She said it was very hard to be an intelligent, strong woman who only got roles where men had to come to rescue you. Your fate was often in the hand of male characters and that’s something that she fought.

If you were all alive in the physical now starting over, would you still want to be actors? Olivia and Carole, I think that it’s still hard for women, especially mature women, to get roles.

Carole: Well if I was a mature woman on earth now, I probably wouldn’t be acting. I would be behind the scenes directing or would have some form of controlling what I was doing. If not, I wouldn’t be in the business. I could have seen my life without it all.

Marc: Well I think that Diane is getting tired. I would like to thank our guests for coming to the Bolan-Beaty Boogie show and we wish them…

Diane: Safe travels to wherever they are going from here!

Wait, Marc! I think that Clark wants to say something else about acting now. He is saying that yes, he probably would be if he had the chance but would do more theatre. He agrees that he feels that he and Carole would have bowed out early if they weren’t interested. He was saying that nowadays, you don’t have to spend as much time acting if you don’t want as the money is so good.

Okay, anything else? Marc, I’m not getting anything else.

Marc: Yeah they’ve gone, Diane.

Diane: Well gosh Marc, it was lovely to have them visit. Clark and Carole were showing me scenes from their lives now. You can tell that they don’t care what they are doing as long as they are together. She was saying that it is a lot of energy to keep up with him but she can do it.

Wait Marc I have one more question for them! I want to ask if being over in spirit is what they thought it would be when they were physical or did they even give it much thought?

Olivia is saying that yes she did give it some thought because she was here for so long. She had watched so many people she loved pass over before her. She said that when it was her time, she was more than ready. She said that it gets lonely when most of the people you love have gone. She felt that somehow she wasn’t as suited to the world now. She is saying that she has adapted quickly to her surroundings back in spirit but she still has a ways to go.

Clark is saying that after Carole was killed in the plane crash, he didn’t want to continue living. He never got over it. He said that he was just a former shadow of himself. He had lost most of his will to live and wasn’t ever truly happy after that point. He said that coming back into spirit with Carole waiting for him was the best homecoming that he could have imagined.

Carole is saying that she wasn’t planning on answering this many questions as she was just accompanying Clark! She said that it was a shock for her when she left the physical and she was confused for a bit. She said that she did miss Clark but understood that his focus was still on the physical, at least partly. She watched over him. She said that when they got back together, they were able to see where they expanded from their lives so all was good with them.

They are telling me that in spirit, Carole and Clark do not stay in those personas. Olivia said that she doesn’t either but she still associates herself as Olivia a bit more than the other two as she has recently left.

© Bolan-Beaty Boogie

Check back with Marc and Diane soon as they ponder the “Other 95%”.

November 18, 2020