Evening Star Newspaper, December 13, 1931, Page 93

THE SUNDAY STAR, / WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 13, 1931, b Woman Picture Fans Have Decided That Clark Gable Is the “‘Star of the Year,” and Here We Have His Real Hollywood Story. Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in a love scene. BY DAN THOM AS. VERY now and then the moving pic~ tures present a breatbless world with a young man whom they tag the “Great Lover.” The man who has the quality that Elinor Glyn discovered in Clara Bow ean cut just as wide a swath in movieland as the woman. &creenland has lad plenty of them, from the late lamented Valentino through Buddy Rogers down to Rudy Vallee. Usually these “great lovers” go over big with the woman fans, but leave their various hus- bands or boy friends more or less cold. The male moviegoer generally grits his teeth aud- ibly at the sight of the he-vamp All of which leads up to a discussion of ©Clark Gable. Gable is the newest of the screen's “great lovers.” Women writers have pulled out their finest adjectives for him. They have said, not only that he has “It,” but that he also has “menace”’—which seems to make it more en- thralling, somehow, BUT what has he himself to say about it? Chiefly, that “it's all a lot of hooey.” “I don't know where these women get that stuff that they write about me, Clark de- clared. “I know that I never have said any- thing which would give them grounds for their stories. Women crazy about me? Boy, if they only knew the truth!” There you have two sides to the story—and both are correct. The fan mail which he gets every day proves that girls will gladly pass up & lunch or two in order to see Gable in a picture. 1t also is correct to say that no actor since Valentino has created such a furore among the feminine theatergoers of the Nation. But is it Clark Gable they are wild over? ©Or is it the camera’s version of Clark Gable? This young man is not new to the theater world by any means. He spent a number of years on the legitimate stage before coming into pictures a year ago. But in all those years, there never was a mention made of him a8 a “great lover.” “Since coming into pictures I have made Jove to exactly six women,” Gable admits. “One of them, my wife, I have loved be- cause I am in love with her. The other five I have loved because I have been paid a rather good-sized salary for doing so. They are the girls whom I have played opposite in pictures —Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Madge Evans and Dorothy Jordan.” CLARK is quite aware that feminine screen audiences have gone quite mad about him. His fan mail proves that without a doubt. But, like a man coming out of a fog, he still is wondering just what it is all about He regards himself as the same man who struggled for success behind the footlights and who couldn't get even one little tumble from film moguls when he tried so hard to crash into pictures a few years ago. To change so suddenly from that to the idol of all women was a blow from which he hasn't yvet quite recovered. But he is honestly unaware that the women who know him personally suddenly have come to regard him in the same light. Of course, many of them have told him so to his face— and have made him to embarrassed that he doesn’t know whether they have suddenly gone crazy or whether they are kidding him. And he doesn’t much care. All he wants is to get away rfom them. Gable has been married three times—twice to his present wife, Ria Langham, a non-pro- fessional. His first wife divorced him in Cali- fornia in March, 1928. A year later—Ilacking three days—he married Miss Langham in New York Having no idea that he ever would return to Hollywood, since he had once tried and failed to crash the movie portals, he didn't bother about the year required by California laws to make a divorce decree final. There- forc, when his film success and more or less permanent residence in Hollywood became as- sured last Spring, the two were married again just to make sure that everything was in legal shipshape Mrs. Gable, however, will not enter into her husbsnd’s professional life in any manner whatever. She refuses to be photographed with him. Nor will she have any pictures taken of herself, knowing that if she did they soon would be plastered in magazines and newspapers all over the country. “Clark is the one the public is interested in —not me,” is her only explanation. “It's all a lot of hooey” . BEFORE the talkies ascended the throne, Gable spent a year in Hollywood playing in various legitimate shows. He put in a good dezal of his spare time trying to get a job in pictures, but met with no success whatever, He couldn’t even get work as an extra. A year ago he again returned to Los Angeles to play one of the leading roles in “The Last Mile.” A newspaper critic praised him to the skies, and personally advised several execu- tives to put the young actor under contract. Unfortunately, and some of them realize it now, most of them weren't very attentive, Only Irving Thalberg listened. As a result his studio possesses a valuable property today. e t—— | NEWEST OF THE SCREEN’S “GREAT LOVERS” Clark Gable makes love to Greta Garbo. - says Clark Gable, newest and most popular of screenland’s “great lovers.” Since making his debut in pictures, Gable has worked almost constantly, having acted in as many as three pictures simultaneously. Hav- ing once discovered what a valuable asset he was, the studio decided to make the best of &. If there wasn't a part for him in ¥ picture, one was written in, Everything was done to get him on the screen as often as possible. As a result, ne has become established as a veteran actor in one short year. During the rush to get him on the screen, Gable was cast opposite Joan Crawford in three pictures, “Dance Fools, Dance”; “Laugh- Ing Sinners” and “Possessed.” He made what might be considered his greatest hit in “A Pree Soul” oprosite Norma Shearer, He was cast with Greta Garbo in “Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise.” “Sporting Blood” brought him and Madge Evans together. And in his latest film, “Hell Divers,” he has one little love scene with Dorothy Jordan. “Hell Divers,” incidentally, is his favorite film for the very reason that he has only one love scene. It’s a man’s picture throughout—and Gable is ¢ man's man. His chief interests outside of his work are hunting and fishing. He likes to get out into the mountains, and it is almost impossible to persuade him to talk at all about his popu~ larity among the women. Nor is Clark the same man off the screen that he is on. Like so many others in Holly- wood, he has a screen personality which out- shines by a considerable margin his real Iife personality. Many of his screen roles have given him a perfect opportunity to assume a self-assured- ness, an indifference and a demand for com- plete submission—none of which are apparent in real life. Off the screen Clark is regular, likeable—and not so different from hundreds of other men. Nor does he pretend or want to be. Again, perhaps there is a reason for his dis« belief that women are crazy about him. Some have gushed over him, to be sure. But almost invariably they have been girls who formed their first impressions from seeing him on the screen and refused to recognize a difference in the camera Gable and the real Gable. HE women with whom he has had the most intimate associations since coming into pic- tures have been the five he has played with before the cameras. Not one of them has “gushed.” All of them like him tremendously and all regard him as a fine actor, a regular fellow and a nice person to work with. He is just Clark Gable, the real man-—not the super- man they later see on the screen, If you really want to know about the “great lover,” ask Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Madge Evans, Greta Garbo or Dorothy Jordan —five sane girls to whom he has made love. Every one of them will tell you that he is one of the finest fellows she knows, but she won't mention any of that cave man or great lover business. There is only one thing to fear in connection with Gable. If he continues to be the great lover, some people may start referring to him as a second Valentino. That not only would be fatal to his career, but unjust as well. There never has been and never will be an- other Valentino, despite the efforts of movie moguls to create one. Rudy followed in no- body’s footsteps, and nobody will follow in his. Nor does Gable have to. HE is a distinct personality within himself, about as far removed from Valentino as he is from Will Rogers. Were Rudy alive and at the height of his popularity today, Clark still would be enjoying his present success because that success belongs to him, and nobody else. In fact, that success is the very best proof that can be offered that he is totally different from Valentino. Nobody likes imitations. They want the original or nothing. There was one Ru- dolph Valentino. There is one Clark Gable, And there never will be another of either. Incidentally, it happens that one of the best places to hear the praises of Clark Gable sung is on the M-G-M lot, where he works. The girls who work there are among the strongest boosters the young man has, Go talk with them and you will hear all about him . that he’s wonderful, brutal, handsome, kind, cave-manish X heaven’s gift to womankind. And when the people a star works with rave about him that way, you can rest assured that he’s out of the ordinary. But you can’t get him to talk much about him- self. He isn't the bragging kind. “Rabbits Is Rabbits™ CANNED rabbit meat is canned rabbit meat and under no circumstances is it canned chicken a la king, the Federal Food and Drug Administration wants its clearly understood. Reports have reached the Federal office that certain rabbit interests in the East have ad- vertised in their prospectus that they intend to market rabbit as chicken, which is in direct violation of the law. A warning has been is- sued to the advertisers that they will be prosecued if the law is violated in the brand- ing of their product. Of course, if the canned goods are not for fnterstate shipment the Federal law does not rule, but State laws are strict, also, and State inspectors will no doubt step in where Federal {nspectors fear to tremd.