I Went to Clark Gable's House!

[augusta]

During a working vacation, I stumbled upon Clark Gable's birthplace in Cadiz, Ohio. The town is charming. One of the bigger towns in the area, there are plenty of Victorian houses to ooh and aah over. His birthplace was torn down, but they built a replica of it in the lot next door. On his original birthplace lot is a tasteful monument telling you you ain't at Clark Gable's house and you ain't ever gonna be.

Surprisingly I didn't really think of it as "just a replica" when I toured it. They had a ton of Gable stuff in there! A pair of his pajamas! (Yellow in color.) The baby his last wife, Kay, was carrying when Gable died was a boy named John Clark Gable, and he has been in touch with the birthplace and donated items.

His (1954, I believe) Cadillac is in the garage. The tour guide, a most hospitable lady, earned the salary I hope she was getting by the plethora of information she shared. They had some cool stuff in their gift shop, a bit of Gone with the Wind items.

They do support the claim of the woman who says she is the daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young.

There was a separate small house that had rooms you could rent for the night named after movie stars. I enjoyed the entire place so much, but I didn't realize the best was yet to come. In the back yard, they had footprints with autographs in cement of all of the 'Gone with the Wind' celebrities that have stopped in over the years. Butterfly McQueen. Fred "Tarleton" Crane. The real Bonnie Blue Butler. "Charles Hamilton" (oh, I know his name ...) - Rand Brooks! That's it. The person that played Beau Wilkes. I think they are all passed away now. Even Cammie King (Bonnie Butler) died a year or two ago. I don't know about the person who played Beau Wilkes.

They have tried to get Olivia deHavilland to come to the house, but the cost was prohibitive for their budget. She woulda, tho. Anyway, it was one of those little places that you don't even know if you wanna stop at and it ends up being a memory to treasure.

[DJ]

Isn't it amazing that Olivia and her sister, Joan, are both still living? Good genes, those.

There're pobably plenty of such "movie star" birthplace attractions across the nation-- two notable ones are the Ava Gardner museum in Smithfield, NC, and the Judy Garland house and museum in Grand Rapids, MN. The Garland museum has the carriage (among other memorabilia) used in the Emerald City arrival scene from "The Wizard of Oz." It once belonged to Abraham Lincoln! The frock coat that Frank Morgan wore as Professor Marvel was discovered to have author L. Frank Baum's label in it. When that was discovered, it was considered an exceedingly good omen ... I'd say.

I encourage anyone who's passing through/near Memphis to visit Graceland. It's so close to the way it was when Elvis was still living-- a true house museum. Also, incredible displays of costumes, scripts, and other assorted memorabilia. Plus, vintage autos and The Lisa Marie (private plane).

[augusta]

DJ - Wow! I've gotta go see Judy Garland's house. Thanks for sharing about it.

I picked up a pamphlet on Ava Gardner's house but never stopped to see it yet.

Ahhh...Graceland! I've never seen it and would really enjoy it. I do have an old video of Priscilla Presley taking you thru the whole house that's pretty good. But not like being there, I'm sure.

Red Skelton's birthplace I think is open to the public. I think it's in the Midwest.

Dean Martin's hometown was Steubenville, Ohio. He used to mention that all the time when he performed. His house has been torn down and, tho the high school he attended is still there, he dropped out in something like the 10th grade. The only things they have about him there are on the outside wall of a Kroger store, they have a gorgeous mural of him. (Steubenville is 'the city of murals' and they have like over 20 of their history here and there.) And one week in June they have Dean Martin Days where impressionists come to town, you can probably get a t-shirt, and Deana Martin (his daughter) sings.

The Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, NY is WONDERFUL! I think I posted some pictures of it a while back on here. They change the exhibits from time to time. At Lucy's birthplace there is no house. It's a vacant lot. But they have a sign up on it that says it was her birthplace. They also have a "Little Theatre" named after her there. They were selling her henna rinse in the gift shop when I was there. It was what she had left when she died. It was real 'spensive. I think $100 for a small vial and, I dunno, maybe $250 for a bigger vial.

[Allen]

Very cool Augusta. I have also been to the museum. It is about 45 minutes from me. It is truly amazing. I am even closer to Steubenville, I do a good deal of my shopping there, and my mother lives there, but I can't say I have ever been to the Dean Martin Festival.