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Show PETULA CLARK: Her Struggle aNma Imy wallet are in a Aira (‘Thanks to Soft Skin’) ° FTER 10 years in showbusiness, Petula Clark wantedto call it quits. The rigors of the profession force many would-be stars to do that. But Petula’s case was unusual— after all, she was only 17 then. “] just wasn’t getting along with people,” she recalls. “Because I was in showbusiness since childhood, I thought I knew everything. I was becoming snobbish. I suddenly discovered that I knew nothing—nothing about love, about real relationships. I wanted out.” The fact is that Petula (et, to her friends), who burst onto the American music scene with the smash rock-’n’roll hit, “Downtown,” never really wanted in. “I was sort of pushed into a career in the first place,” she says. “I was seven years old when my father heard me singing around the house. He thought the radio was on. Right then and there he decided that I was going to be a professional] singer. He never even consulted with me!” Pet can’t remember much of her childhood except performing in front of an audience. The teens were no better. “J missed a lot of things. I wasn’t allowed to go on dates except when boy friends were picked for me.” Then came the first hint of rebellion. “I really wanted to quit, but myfather kept after me to go on. So I compromised byat least starting to go out and live my own life.” By this time, Pet was making movies for Britain’s Rank Company. “By the time I was 22, I already had made 20 movies—all terrible—and then I knew I had enough. So I quit Rank and left home. I suppose I over- reacted by going in for fast cars, but they made mefeel independent and free.” What moneyPet had saved soon ran out, and she had to turn back to the only thing she knew—singing. She cut aae of recerds which were moderately successful in known here. The records did get her ined to perform in other countries, though—and, indirectly, got her a husband,too. “I was working in France,” Pet remembers, “when I met Claude Wolff, who was a public-relations man, and we married 18 months later.” More than anyone else, Claude is responsible for turning Pet into an international star. “Claude gave my career direction,” Pet admits, “I lose confidence easily, but Claude has enough for both of us. That’s one of the advantages of our marriage. There are others, too—Barbara, 7, and Kathryn, 6.” With Claude directing her career, Fet now finds herself 5 re NEa op d Sd KI se y coat ¢ ma : : aera i cee Now Available: : 3 Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, Ex. Large. . Extra size Panty and Girdle Sizes 30-44. (0 WRITE FOR FREE DIET-STYLE BOOKLET 50 Aiton aad Norrie Washes tike a hanky. Available at your favorite store. back in the movies. She’s now getting star billing in bs such big-budget films as “Finian’s Rainbow” and “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.” When youtalk with her about her children, some hint % of the old bitterness toward show business comes out. “I keep my career separate from my home life,” Pet says stiffly. “I won't even mention it in front of them, They’ll not go through the same things I did.” And thatincludes a lifelong struggle to avoid stardom. —PEER J. OPPENHEIMER [] WRITE FOR STORE NEAREST YOUR HOME Real-Form Girdle Company, Dept. F-1, 358 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10001 10 Family Weekly, March 2, 1969 |