GREAT SWIMMERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 November 1939, Page 9

GREAT SWIMMERS

AMONG HOLLYWOOD STARS. If Clark Gable had taken up swimming seriously when ho was in his teens, he could have been one of the outstanding champions of all time. So says Johnny Weissmuller, who ought to know what he’s talking about since he was a member of two American Olympic teams and held more records in. swimming than any man in lite history of competition under the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States. Johnny, who plays Tarzan on the screen, was reviewing the swimming potentialities of some of the great names of the screen on a Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer set recently. "Gable is an unusually strong swimmer.” he said. “He has the build. His hands and feet are superb. He's got perfect co-ordination. Right now. with-

out any particular training, lie can hold his own with some pretty good swimmers. "Cary Grant and Randolph Scott arc two of the best swimmers in Holly'wood. 1 do a lot of aquaplaning with them and they're really good. All three of them use the same fast crawl with excellent results. "Among the women stars in Hollywood I believe that MarTreen O'Sullivan, who happens to be Tarzan's mate on the screen, is the best. Maureen’s biggest handicap in open competition would be her slight build, but she lias excellent form and co-ordination. Ginger Rogers, Jeanette MacDonald and Irene Dunne are also tops. Miss Dunne particularly, could have been developed into a champion if she had started training early." Weissmuller, in looking over the list, purposely omitted the name of Buste) Crabbe, who also has appeared on the screen as Tarzan.

“Crabbe, of course, is the best ac-tor-swimmer in Hollywood." said Johnny, “but he was a swimmer before' he took up acting, like myself, and is not t« be compared to other actors "Other topnotchers who work in the studios, but are not actors, include Paul Walsh, who is a sprinter appearing for the Hollywood Athletic Club. Paul was a member of the Olympic team. Jimmy Gilhulla is another. He's a long-distance man. Jimmy works as an ‘extra’ in pictures now and then. Olive Hatch, who still compotes, was a

girl champion. She also works in pictures. The rank and file of Hollywood actors as a whole are pretty good in the water. But. when you talk about swimming as a competition, you think of the Olympics: and. of course, no man can measure up to that standard unless lie spends years training for it.