HAVE A HOBBY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 301, 15 August 1932, Page 2

HAVE A HOBBY

SOME SUGGESTIONS | WHAT CLARK GABLE THINK S ABOUT IT. THE STARS' COURSES. "Everyone should have a hobby, some other interest, in addition to his regular profession or work," says j Clark Gable, the popular Metro-Gold-j wyn-Mayer star. J "Peoptle get stale if they do just one thing all the time, and have no other absorbing interest. A musieian must choose a hobby outside of playr ing, an actor should do something besides act, and-a business man must have another interest besides his business. "A sport or game doesn't always fill the need for a hobby," Clark continues. "Lot of men think that they i are ardent devotees of golf, while actually, their knowledge of the game begins and- ends with a Sunday foursome. The real golf enthusiast is a student of the game. He lcnows every kind of club, its use and abuses. He follows the careers of all the great golfers. Wallace Beery and Aviation.. "It is the same with aviation. There are thousands of amateur aviators — men who would say that the air is their hobby. But Wallace Beery is the only man I know who makes of aviation an actual hobby. His interest doesn't stop with being a pilot, and flying a plane. He spends every leisure aioment making maps and charts, reading hoolcs on the subject, and testing out new devices and gadgets. Besides, he talks aviation every time he opens his mouth, unless someone gets in a word about something else first.

I "It has often been said that busiJ ness men are very uninteresting as j individuals, because they know noth- ' ing except the business in which they | made their success. Hobbies prevent I such a condition. j "It seems to me if a man can | forget his work for a while, for something almost equally interesting, he j will return to his job with' renewed vigour. Any work, no matter how absorbing, grows monotonous after a I time. Variety is certainly the spice j of life, and a good, interesting hobby provides that variety." Gable's Two Hobbies. Clark Gable, whose meteorlc screen j success startled the entire movie- | going world, practises what he prea- ; ches. He really has two hobbies — I hunting and fishing. But they are so [ elosely allied that they might be called : one. "They both mean outdoors, woods ; and views far removed from cities I and people," Clark explains. "When I 1 was a boy, they were my favourite ■ sports. Now, they have developed into real hobbies. Oue of my greatest ' ambitions is to have a really fine collection of hunting and fishing paraphernalia." Clark Gable, in spite of his stage and screen successes, has never liked crowds, eonfusion, and bright lights. In the midst of all the usual hub- I bub of a Hollywood success, he slips I i away as often as possible, either by i himself or with one~of two congenial j fellow hunters and fishermen, for a j few quiet days doing the things he ; likes best to do. "In hunting and fishing, there is quite a difference between the sport , as such, or as a hobby," Clark says. "When a man is conteut with an oecasional hunting or fishing trip, and the usual standard equipment provided by a sporting goods store, it seems to me that he is jnst a sportsman, not a 'hobbyist.' But, when he carefully, and affectionately, collects and hoards his guns and fishing , table, when he reads all the books and magazines he can find on the •subject, when he spends hours planning- trips to unknown places to find a certain kind of game, or a certain trout stream, then, I say, it is more than sport. It has become a real hobby." Clark ean't pass a sporting goods store without first going in "just to look around," and he usually comes | out loaded with parcels. He spends f longs hours oiling and cleaning his jj guns, or worlcing with his pet rods. ' He talks incessantly about rods and ; reels, guns and game. Plans to Fly. "Since I have been worlcing in pictures, I haven't had time for a really satisfactory trip," Clark continues. "i have planned several, but something has always happened to prevent them. What I want to do is to pack into northern Canada or into the High Sierras, and stay there for a couple of months, doing nothing but hunt and fish. Wallace Beery and I plan to fly down into Mexico for some , actual wild game hunting. But a trip like that is not worth while, unless you can stay long enough to enjoy it. "The first thing il'm going to do when I build a pennanent home is to have a room for nothing but hunting and fishing paraphernalia. Even if I haven't time to take the trips I'd like to make, I can at least stand in that room and admire the guns and equipment." The week-ends usually find Clark Gable pushing off into the mountains or deserts, near' Hollywood, guns and fishing rods strapped to his car, wearing an old turtle-necked sweater, and smoking his perpetual pdpe. Not long ago, he went into the desert to spend such a week-end. When guests at the hotel waited and watch'ed for the well known Gable features, an excited Gable, and an equally excited little boy, who had seen Clark's guns and introduced himself immediately upon the actor's arrival, were far away from civilisation, merrily and energetically hunting rabbits.