Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

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Bunker, thirteen, and Joan, twelve, both the children ot ex-husband Adolph Spreckles. Ill, recently deceased. She must take infinite pains to see to it that there is no chance of an impression that the baby is getting extra favor. Bunker and Joan adore their baby brother, and soon after his birth practically demanded that they be allowed to play with the infant, even “take care" of him. Kay. realizing their affection was genuine, finally conceded and scheduled one hour, beginning 5 P.M.. which Joan and Bunker could spend entirely with him. Bunker christened it the “social hour" and it soon became just that. Friends of the family dropped in at five just to watch Joan and Bunker play with the baby. John Clark loves music, he loves to have Kay pick him up and dance with him. This baby is never happier than when he is in his mother's arms, moving in rhythm to the songs from the record-player. Dancing with John, during her frequent visits, was one of the real joys of the late Marilyn Monroe “who used to look forward to it as much as the baby.” And there are other warm and wonderful joys of being a baby. Kay tells her son bedtime stories just as mothers — and fathers — have been telling them for centuries. But she says. “I think he knows they’re just stories — every once in a while he giggles.” Yet. John Clark Gable is not treated like gold. Kay trains and tutors him every day. He will know howT to eat his food and dress himself properly long before most boys his age. And he will be brought up in the Catholic Church — one of his father’s most fervent wishes. Pa bought the crib One of John Clark’s favorite attractions is a mobile that hangs over his crib. A host of delicate angels are suspended from the ceiling and as they gently float above him, a music box tinkles a hymn. The crib is an antique, more than 120 years old. four-posted and made of solid maple. Gable himself discovered it in a second-hand store, shortly before his death. Beside the crib is a large picture of Gable as a boy, aged twelve. Next to that is the photo of Gable, a favorite of Kay’s, taken during his long and remarkable reign as “The King” at M-G-M Studios. (This is the picture to which John looked for approval when he made his first journey on his own two feet.) John Clark will grow up in the home his father worked hard to build. It is situated on twenty-two acres in Encino. California. The land is given over to fruit orchards, facilities for riding horses, stands of tall trees and a big patch of country meadow. When Gable died, everyone thought Kay would sell the ranch. "I couldn’t,” Kay explains. “Clark loved this place and was never completely relaxed anywhere else. He had turned down many offers when he was alive and once told me that he never wyanted to sell the ranch at all.” The house in which the Gable family lives is sided with great white clapboard p and white stone, done in Early American. It is a house that radiates comforts, not luxuries. Excepting its great size, it looks like any other American home of that style. Yet those who visit it invariably come away speaking of “its warm, quiet atmosphere and understated elegance.” A new wing, carefully designed by Clark and Kay, was just about to be added when Gable passed away. The wring was built — just the way Clark planned it. For John Clark, the ranch is the whole world. It is a world that his father loved — it scorns pomp, and every nook and cranny reflects the simple dignity of the man who made it. Some day John will know every tree, every animal. He’ll climb for his apples even if it means he has to tear a hole in his blue jeans and skin his knees. And he'll have an ally in Bunker — who already shows a keen understanding of Gable’s “no bunk" philosophy. Bunker adored his famous step-father and he has been left with a boyish but intelligent aversion to pretense — especially of material things that are so often too important in the lives of the young rich. And so when a family friend remarked that little John certainly had a closetful of costly toys to enjoy. Bunker considered the remark for a moment, in silence, then politely said, “I guess so. But now let’s get him into blue jeans.” To this thirteenyear-old. the blue jeans were a symbol of unpretentiousness, the link with the reality of the earth and the trees and the sky that does a boy more good than the most expensive toy made. ft was Bunker, too. who in the months that followed took on the responsibility for introducing John to the world outside. So that now. at twenty months, he is already following in his father’s footsteps. This winter, at last, he will take a trip to the nearby snow-covered mountains near the San Fernando Valley, ride a toboggan, build a snowman, make snowballs and perhaps even learn to ski. “John already enjoys the things his father knew were the real pleasures of life." Kay points out. Last August the family took its first real vacation since Clark’s death. I hey flew to Honolulu. And though Kay doesn't believe in over-exposing the baby to the public. she does realize that the many who admired her late husband couldn’t help but be curious about his son — his only child. So she took John out into the Hawaiian sun, walked with him on the beach. But her greatest joy came from the occasional total stranger who stopped to admire the lovely child without realizing who he was. “Nothing could have made Kay happier.” reported a friend, “than to learn that John was quite acceptable as the average little boy and not only because he was Clark Gable’s son.” It was Clark’s old wish again, that “my son be known for what he is as a boy and a man. and not as Clark Gable. Jr.” PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CREDITS Pgs 17-19: Stager-Globe; pg 21: Trindl-Topix; pg 22: Pix; pgs 24-25: United Air Lines; pgs 26-27: PIP; pgs 28-29: Kobrin-Globe; pgs 37-39: Sorci-PIP; pgs 40-41: Birnback; pg 45: Roddy McDouall; pg 47t Stager-Globe; pgs 48-49: Daniels-Black Star; pg 53: Hoyden-Vista. And yet — she wouldn't be a woman if she didn’t take delight in her child’s remarkable resemblance to the man she loved. Lately John’s hair seems to have turned lighter, a fact which prompted friends to remark to Kay that he is beginning to look like her. Her answer is always a good-natured, “Oh heavens, no!” Actually, John will always resemble his father. He has extra length in his legs to promise height, he has remarkably broad shoulders and a long, sturdy torso, a decidedly masculine tint to his complexion and a smile that just barely hints at the wonderful, lopsided grin with which his father enchanted women the world over. In a word — John Gable is the son of Clark Gable. And what lies ahead for him? “I have done my best to teach Bunker and Joan to stand alone.” said Kay. “I will do as much for John. Clark wouldn’t want it any other way.” There are those who feel that it is time for Kay to be thinking less in terms of what Clark would have wanted — and more of remarriage. She is a stunningly beautiful woman — and the whole question of eventual remarriage is of great concern to her friends. Others insist that: “In her own way. Kay’s life has an air of classic completion as a woman — classic because she has fini'hed one life and now looks forward with great enthusiasm to another, that of bringing up her children." Rule for a happy marriage Kay herself has said. “One of the reason^ our marriage was a success was because neither Clark nor I would allow the past to determine our lives. We lived for the present, and from it we derived our strength and hope for the future." Kay possesses an extraordinary intelligence: she has a quick, ever-searching mind. She never wastes words, always means what she says, never retreats, has the courage of her beliefs as a woman and a parent. It is a kind of self-sufficiency, remarkable because — unlike other selfconfident women — Kay is also deeply compassionate. One report, however, reveals that for now and for some time to come. Kay has chosen not to think of marrying again. And Kay’s own words give credence to this view: “Nothing is more important in my life at the moment than bringing up my children. They fill my days to overflowing. I am fortunate to have them.” If Kay Gable is fortunate, how much more blessed are her children in having such a mother! She has done a marvelous job of raising them — better than most women could do even with a husband’s help. She has reared Bunker and Joan warmly and well, after her divorce from their own father, and again after the final separation of his death. But the most remarkable job of all is the one she is doing with John Clark. With a smile. Always with a smile! She smiles when she sprinkles her conversation with “my baby” and with detailed descriptions of his latest exploit. But her smile is warmest of all the times she is so impressed by one of John Clark’s baby antics that she bursts out. “Oh, if only Clark were here to see his son do that!” — Tony Wall