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Show STAGE SCREEN RADIO By VIRGINIA VALE (Released by Western Newspaper Union. 'TMIE most extensive na-A na-A tion-wide talent search ever conducted for a motion picture role is under way; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has sent scouts out to assemble candidates for the boy role of "Jody" for the filming of "The Yearling." The boy selected se-lected will appear with Spencer Spen-cer Tracy in Sidney Franklin's Frank-lin's production of the novel, a story of early days in Florida. Flor-ida. The role calls for a boy between be-tween the ages of ten and twelve, of slight build, from four and one-half to five feet tall. It's the chance of a lifetime life-time for some lucky lad. If Ronald Reagan hadn't accompanied accom-panied the Chicago Cubs to their training camp on Catalina island he woudn't be a rapidly rising movie star today. After leaving college If h Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Reagan. ! he got a job writing a sports column col-umn for a newspaper. That led to radio, and he became a sports announcer an-nouncer for a large network. While covering the Cubs' spring training trip he was introduced to Warner Brothers' casting director, I and his voice and appearance made j such an impression that he was given a screen test, and then a contract. con-tract. His newest assignment is "An Angel From Texas," in which his bride, Jane Wyman, and Eddie Albert Al-bert appear with him. Incidentally, Jane won't part with her wedding ring for an instant. But you won't see it in this picture; she had to tuck it under her belt so that it wouldn't show. It's among the extras In Hollywood Holly-wood that you hear the most dra-j dra-j matic stories, but few of them equal the true tale of what happened to Dona Dix, who's now an extra on the Warner lot. (She's in the new Reagan picture, but you probably won't notice her.) A few years ago she left the New York stage and took a boat to Hollywood. When the ship stopped at Panama she bought some lottery tickets. She won $52,000. She promptly abandoned her career, ca-reer, and devoted herself to enjoying enjoy-ing her wealth. But one bad investment invest-ment followed another, and the money disappeared. Today she's an extra and glad of it! Florence Gill, who created the Donular "Clara Cluck" in the Walt Disney cartoons, 1 publicly confessed on the "It Hap-, Hap-, pened in Hollywood" Holly-wood" program recently re-cently that it was , all the result of bad I luck or so she ' thought at the time the bad luck came j along. She was ' studying for an op- eratic career when fe, fa t a long illness Wajt Disney caused her to retire from singing. When she recovered she worked on her barnyard imitation, imi-tation, Disney heard her, .and promptly put "Clara Cluck" on the ' screen. , Arthur Lake, the "Dagwood" of the CBS "Blondie" series in which , Penny Singleton plays opposite him, couldn't possibly escape being an i actor. His parents were circus acrobats. ac-robats. His cradle was a dressing room trunk. And he went on the stage as soon as he could walk, switched to the movies, and now holds his own with the most popular popu-lar radio stars. ODDS ASD ENDS . . . Warner Brothert' Director Vincent Sherman md John Garfield could put on a pretty pret-ty good boxing exhibition ; they're both former Golden Gloves fighler$ . . . Claudette Colbert fca.i a League of Nations Na-tions dog kennel a French poodle, an English setter, a dachshund and a Welsh terrier . . . Wendy Barrie, who's been appearing in those "Saint" pictures, pic-tures, made a lusty protest when the script called for her death at the end of "The Saint Takes Over" just refused re-fused to die, because a series like that means work for ones . . . Charles Laugh-ton Laugh-ton has been teaching his wife to drive |