{Ohio} Akron, Where Clark Gable Caught the Acting Bug
In 1918, Clark Gable grew bored with farm life in rural Palmyra and was intrigued by the rubber tire boom happening in nearby Akron. Against his father’s wishes, he dropped out of school and headed there to start anew.
Clark worked as an office clerk in the Firestone plant before moving to the Miller Tire and Rubber Company. He rented a room from a couple on Steiner Avenue, a short walk from work.
Here’s what Steiner Avenue looks like today…not exactly an area we felt safe hanging out in for a long period of time:
One night after work at the factory, Clark went to The Akron Music Hall and saw a performance of The Bird of Paradise. It was that night that changed the course of his entire life. Seeing that performance was all it took for Clark to want to be an actor. Persistent Clark started running errands for the company, sweeping the stage–anything he could do to be a part of the company. He finally appeared on stage for the very first time as a spear-carrier in one night’s performance.
The Akron Music Hall was a beautiful building that stood on East Exchange Street in Downtown Akron.
Sadly, this stately building, the site of Clark’s first acting job, was wrecked down in 1929 and in its place was built the local newspaper offices, now the Akron-Beacon-Journal.
Pictures of the building today:
Soon after, the theater company left town and so Clark had to join his father on an oil rigging job in Oklahoma. He never would return to his home state of Ohio.
That concludes my trip to Ohio! Thank you everyone for your support!
3 Comments
Karen Larson
Many years ago my grandfather told me he had worked with Clark Gable at Miller Tire and Rubber in Akron. He remembered him as being a bit full of himself because all the women were swooning over him. I am not surprised about my grandfather’s opinion as he himself was very shy.
Douglas E. Palmer
There is a Family Myth, that my father George Phillip Palmer, was a childhood friend of Clark Gable and had planned to go to Hollywood with him in the early 1)920s, but my Father met my Mother and he stayed in Zanesville, Ohio where he got married in 1923! In addition, he knew Clark Gable when he went to Kent State University and later in a factory in Southeast Ohio! Please see if their path crossed because my father was in born in Beaver, Pa. April 3, 1900, Allegheny, Pa. in 1910, Eastliverpool, Ohio in 1918, Eastliverpool, Ohio in 1920 and Zanesville, Ohio in 1921 where he married my Mother in 1923! My Father’s migration pattern was from Beaver, Pa. to Allegheny, Pa. ton Columbiana, Ohio to EastLiverpool, to Steubenville, where he worked in the Steel Factory and finally to Zanesville, Ohio! Thank you for your assistance I either finding the connections with facts or completely dispell this Myth!
Eilene Moore
FANTASTIC SYNOPSIS. THANKS SO MUCH! <3