Gossip Friday: A Rolling Stone

From January 1932:

One of the screen’s greatest matinee idols–and he wants to be a rolling stone.

Sitting on the set, Clark Gable admitted to me he still can’t believe his good fortune–fortune that has enabled him, in one year to play opposite Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo and now Marion Davies.

The strange part of it is, he doesn’t want to go on with this glamorous life indefinitely. What he really wants, he confesses, is $200,000 and a chance to travel in the out-of-the-way places of the world.

“I signed my 5-year contract against the advice of my agent and even my wife,” he told me. “My object was to get enough to retire on. And I was willing to devote five years of my life to it. Maybe I won’t last that long on the screen. I’m not a great actor and I never will be. But I believe I know my business. You can’t work for 10 years with veteran stage stars and not absorb something.”

Already, Clark is laying his plans for the future. “I own two cars, which I paid cash for,” he explained to me. “I rent my apartment–but for six months, not a year. I don’t even own my furniture. I’m saving my money.”

The actor, who has set film fans agog the world over, doesn’t know much about social life. Marion Davies has introduced him to most of the stars he has met.

But he is a purposeful man, one who is likely to realize his ambitions. If he still desires it, you can look to see him a rolling stone in 1936.

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This was a common comment from him early in his career–that he probably won’t make it long and he’ll retire. What do you think folks, will he make it to 1936???