Clark Gable as Parnell

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19455, 14 October 1937, Page 13

Clark Gable as Parnell

JUST how long was Parnell's beard, and when did he begin to wear it? Clark Gable, in “Parnell,” wears just a thin black moustache and “sideboards,” which vary from time to time, and from side to side. It has been suggested in England that Gable was denuded of beard in the interests of the box-office. This is denied by his producers. After consulting with the Clerk of the House of Commons as to procedure, and conducting long researches into the illustrated periodicals of the ’eighties, the producers discovered that from 1880 to 1885, when most of the action in the film takes place, Parnell wore no beard. It was apparently not until the last six years of his life that the Irish leader developed the full black beard worn by Wyndham Goldie in the play. Gladstone, Davitt, I-lealy, Redmond, the O’Gorman, Mahon, and, of course, Captain O’Shea are among the other political figures in a picture which holds the interest throughout.