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Show STAGEvSCREEN-ASIO By INEZ GERHARD WHEN RONNIE ALCORN was 13 he was sent to reform school; he says it was the first time he slept in a clean bed or had enough to eat. That was in 1932. It was his ambition - to produce motion pictures pic-tures "Johnny Holiday", made at that same reform school, is his first ... : ". I '; s - RONNIE ALCORN one, and he plans eight more, for United Artists release. His story is fantastic, that of an underprivileged under-privileged boy born to be a success (he had made his first million by the time he was 30) who took plenty of hard knocks on the way to achieving it. He has a second ambition am-bition to help as many underprivileged under-privileged boys as possible; he has already done a terrific job at it. We're always hearing about movie stars who dash from one set to another on a bicycle, when working work-ing in two pictures. And about radio performers who leap from studio to studio in taxis. But Kent Smith has out-done them all. For a week he commuted daily by plane between Hollywood and San Francisco, to do a stage role and finish a picture. His latest is "My Foolish Heart." Vera Vague may sound dumb as a man-chasing comedienne on the air at present on Jimmy Jim-my Durante's program on NBC but away from the radio Vera, otherwise Barbara Jo Allen, Al-len, can talk for hours about orchids, her two hothouses, and the third one she's building. During the Christmas holidays her white orchids retailed in New York for $25 apiece. Not bad! Those 'occasional off-key solos by "Dexter." represent real artistic artis-tic hardship for Sam Edwards, who plays the role. He started his career ca-reer as 8 singer, and has to battle his professional training when he makes those tuneless squeaks. Teresa Wright invited her husband, hus-band, Niven Busch, to visit her on the set when she did some torrid love scenes with Marlon Brando for "The Men". He stalked out, blushing. But Robert Cummings' wife was present when he made love scenes with Lizabeth Scott and Diana Lynn for "Paid in Full," time after time, and nobody was the least bit embarrassed by the routine. Judy Holliday was so good in the play "Born Yesterday" that it was hard to imagine anyone else in the screen version, but during the three years of disagreement over terms it looked as if any one of eight other actresses would get the role. And how they all wanted it! But after Harry Cohn, of Columbia, Co-lumbia, saw her in "Adam's Rib" he gave her the contract she wanted. want-ed. Jan Sterling was one of the disappointed dis-appointed eight. However, she has signed a new Paramount contract, and in her first picture, "Union Station", plays a gangster's girl, a role said to be like the one she'd have had in "Born Yesterday". Mercedes McCambridge is another an-other actress who can have just about anything she wants in Hollywood. Radio and stage experience ex-perience prepared her for her screen debut in "All the Ring's Men", in which she gives a sensational performance. If Gertrude Berg ever decides to turn talent scout, she can point out that the following stars all played roles on "The Goldbergs" before they became names John Garfield, Gar-field, Paul Stewart, Joseph Cotten. Marjorie Main. Richard Widmark, Van Heflin. Shirley Booth. Martin Gabel and Sam Wanamaker. And a lot of others, too numerous to mention. ODDS AND ENDS ... It looks as if Steve Cochran would be the screen's next bad man with the ladies; in "Storm Signal" he beats up Ginger Rogers and Doris Day . . . The United States supreme court will be asked to strike down motion picture censorship as a violation of the Constitution . . . Julia Faye. Hedy Lamarr's slave in "Samson and Delilah", has had plenty of experience in slave roles; she'd played 10 different ones, the first in 1917. |