Gossip Friday: What You Need is a Good Story

From September 1941:

Maybe you assume that Clark Gable is one of those lucky actors in that he always seems to get good roles. I suspected a method to it all. Clark works hard to get them–and then works hard with them. Of course, he has the advantage of a strong personality. With half a chance, his role assumes proportions of charm and force it probably never had on paper. But drawing on that personality too often is dynamite. Let me quote Gable:

“What’s the most important thing a star can do to hold his popularity? That’s easy. Just see to it that he has the good fortune to land strong roles in strong pictures. Believe me, the story’s the thing in the movies. The greatest actor in Hollywood could look like vaudeville’s biggest ham if put in a poor picture. Given a good film, an actor can climb to the top and stay there as long as equally strong roles are forthcoming. When a player’s stories begin to slip, it’s a sure sign that his pictures are going to do likewise. And that means that his popularity will soon do a nosedive, too.

Many are the stars who have had the bad luck to hit a string of poor pictures. The end of their careers immediately is predicted, as their popularity dwindles. Sometimes the player can rise from such a fall, with a sudden shift to good stories, and sometimes the string of bad ones has lost him his following permanently.

If there’s anything more important to an actor’s success than his story, you name it. I can’t imagine it.”