Medford mail tribune., February 26, 1961, Image 43

Did Clark Gable Live Up to
MM's Expectations?
(Continued from page 5 )
Clark Gable came into the life of Marilyn
Monroe when she was seven years old.
"I was fascinated by Jean Harlow. I had
white hair I was a real towhead and she
was the first grown-up lady I had ever seen
who had white hair like mine. I cut her
picture out of a magazine, and on the back
of it was the picture of a man. I pasted his
picture in a scrapbook just his picture.
There was nothing else in the book. It was
Clark Gable."
Marilyn was a very lonesome little girl,
and she was imaginative and idealistic, too.
A child like this, with no father of her own,
is apt to substitute a "father image" a
sympathetic teacher, a kind neighbor, some
one who seems to possess the qualities of
the idealized father she never had.
With Marilyn, this ideal was in the man
grinning with such careless dash from the
pages of that magazine And then he was a
shadow on the screen. In Clark Gable, the
little girl saw all the strength, masculinity,
and charm of any child's, ideal parent.
Screen shadow he may have been, but
Clark Gable was much more real to this
little girl than just a movie fan's "crush"
and he continued to be as real to her
through the movie years to come. "Mutiny
on the Bounty" was the first. Later there
was "Gone with the Wind." Marilyn saw
that epic over and over.
After Marilyn Monroe had become a star
herself, she once told a reporter about
Gable's influence on her childhood years,
but she had no idea whether Clark ever
read the story. Even then, she had not met
him. While she was making movies at 20th
Century-Fox, he was at MGM. Neither
moved in Hollywood's party circles.
"Once he signed a deal with 20th Century-Fox
for a couple of pictures," Marilyn
recalls. "I went to Darryl Zanuck and asked
him couldn't I please be assigned to a Gable
picture. But nothing came of it."
At Last They Meet
The time finally came when Marilyn met
Clark Gable face to face. It was at a party
given at Romanoff's restaurant in honor of
the opening of her movie, "The Seven Year
Itch." Marilyn was with a group of people
when somebody tapped her on the shoulder
and the unmistakable voice asked, "Miss
Monroe, may I have this dance?"
Marilyn wheeled. Gable stood there grin
ningnot Rhett Butler or Fletcher Chris
tian now, but Clark Gable himself.
"I nearly collapsed. I'm sure I must have
turned the color of my red chiffon dress.
I don't remember what I said or if I
said anything. But I remember thinking,
wouldn't he be surprised to know how I
really feel about him?" .
They danced. It was a very casual meet
ing. There were no others until last year
when, in discussing "The Misfits," which
was being written by Arthur Miller and in
which Marilyn was to star, it became ob
vious that the leading male character was
developing in such a way that it could be
played by only one star Clark Gable.
Even after Gable had read the script,
conveyed his excitement and enthusiasm
about it to Miller and director John Huston,
and agreed to play the role, he and Marilyn
didn't actually meet until they arrived in
Reno, Nev., to begin the picture.
Then he came over to her. "I don't know
why this hasn't happened before! 'our play
ing together. It's really overdue." He laughed
as Marilyn told him about her meeting with
Zanuck when she begged to be cast in a
Clark Gable picture. "We'll make up for it
this time," he promised her.
He Was All 'King'
. "He was everything I had expected him
to be. They called him the 'King,' you know,
and he was like that he had a quality that
commanded respect and admiration. I never
saw anyone who had such an effect on
everyone with whom he worked. The crew
loved Clark. And he had that magnificent
masculinity. But my biggest surprise was
when we started our work together. That's
when I realized what a real actor he was.
That's when I became aware of his tre
mendous sensitivity. But, of course, that
was what attracted me in the first place.
"Kay Gable and I became very close. She
used to come out to the set and call to me,
'Hey, how did Our Man do today?'
"I'd laugh. 'Our Man? I must say you are
generous, Kay.' And it was a joke between
us always. 'Our Man!'
"There are so many things I'll never for
get about Clark Gable. Little things, inci
dents, moments. His unfailing politeness. He
was one of the greatest gentlemen I have
known. He had concern for everyone.
"I had gone direct to 'The Misfits' from
another picture. I was exhausted. I fought
illness most of the time I was working on
the picture. I had to go into the hospital for
a couple of days. 'Rest yourself,' he'd say.
'Do 1'ke I do take it easy.'
"Ke had a great interest and feeling for
other actors. We talked about them. About
Marlon Brando, for instance. I've always
felt Brando had a Gable quality in his
maleness, yet had complete individuality,
too. Clark believed, too, that Brando was
the finest young actor of our day.
"Clark saw a rough cut of 'The Misfits'
on the next-to-last day of shooting. Ho was
so happy and thrilled. I hadn't been able
to go, and he was so excited as he told me
how well it had turned out. He told me that
he thought it was the best thing I had ever
done and that it was the best thing he had
done since Rhett Butler."
Marilyn Monroe remembers one more
thing. It was the last day of shooting.
Gable, whose last role was one of his most
strenuous, had done something which Mari
lyn considered "valiant."
She walked over to him. "Do you know
something?" she said. "You're my hero.
And I never had a hero before."
Family Weekly, February 26, 1961
PROTECTION AT HOME
That crumpled fender he was so jovial about reminded him
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panies. You can buy one now and get
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He's listed in the Yellow Pages under
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r f f?Tt MUM 1 1
MAT! MUM
INSURANCI
STATE FARMTHE CAREFUL BUYER'S HOME INSURANCE
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