GABLE ENLISTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 230, 29 September 1942, Page 2

GABLE ENLISTS

WANTS TO BE GUNNER

FROM SCREEN TO SERVICE

(0.C.) SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16.

Clark Gable, one of Hollywood's top flight film stars, was sworn into the United States Army as a buck private, and immediately afterwards the 41-year-oid actor boarded a train for the army air force officer candidates' training school at Miami, Florida, where he had been assigned. Without a word to his studio, Gable had appeared before recruiting officers the previous day and announced his intention of enlisting in the army as a 50 dollar a month buck private. With him was Andrew J. Mclntyre, studio cameraman and a friend of long standing. They took their physical and other examinations together.

Announcement of the actor's enlistment was greeted with considerable surprise at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's studios, where he had been a ranking star for more than a decade. Rumours were current in the film city that the actor had been offered an army commission as a major in the air corps. This -was denied by Gable, who said that when he entered the service it would be as a private, and 'he was as good as his word. His wife, Carole Lombard, lost her life in the crash of an air liner on a Nevada mountain peak last February.

Gable, who sacrificed a weekly salary variously estimated from 3500 dollars to 7500 dollars weekly as a film actor, said he wanted to be a machine gunner in the air force, as his age precluded him from becoming a pilot. He wanted to be where the fighting was tough, he said, and desired to forget the tragic memories of Hollywood.

The actor solemnly took the oath as an army private in a locked and guarded room at the Federal building in Los Angeles. 24 hours after he had surprised all Hollywood by announcing his enlistment. The oath was administered by Colonel Malcolm P. Andruss, recruiting officer. Time and place of the ceremony was purpose'y withheld so as to avoid crowds.

Leaving the room as just another soldier in Uncle Sam's army of millions, Gable commented: "This is the most serious act of my life. To fight for my country is the greatest privilege I have ever received. I shall do my best to be worthy of the uniform."

Despite the elaborate precautions, hundreds of women, mainlv employes in the big Government building, thronged the corridor outside the room where the film star became a soldier. Gable's close friend, Andrew Mclntyre, the studio cameraman, was inducted into the service with the actor. The pair travelled in a private compartment to Miami, with the actor in charge. "That is good," commented Gable when the two were given their transportation and travelling orders. "Here I am in the service only half an hour, and already I'm in charge of a two man army." He reiterated that his main ambition was to become an aerial gunner. He was not interested in becoming a commissioned officer.