CLEVER BOYS NEEDED

Southland Times, Issue 24240, 25 September 1940, Page 8

CLEVER BOYS NEEDED

NEW OPENINGS FOR YOUNG STARS

BILLY LEE SCORES IN “THE BISCUIT EATER”

Clever boys will be seen in many featured roles in the near future. There has recently been a big demand for talented youngsters between nine and 13, and the demand will become greater. The reason for this change in conditions is a shift in story cycles and the large number of impending scripts which demand the services of first-class boy actors, writes a Hollywood correspondent. Most of Hollywood’s young stars of recent years are now too old and, consequently, talent scouts are searching the country for boys of the required ages.

The best discovery in Hollywood this year has been nine-year-old Billy Lee. The youngster is, of course, no newcomer to the screen. He made his debut at the age of four and he has appeared in a number of pictures since then, but Hollywood never thought of him as anything but a nice little boy until Paramount revealed his talent as an emotional actor in “The Biscuit Eater.”

Billy was very lucky to get the chance to act in this simple story about the deep affection of a Ititle boy for his dog. When Jack Moss, a Paramount producer, undertook to film “The Biscuit Easter,” he decided to let Lonnie Leroy, once the famous Baby Leroy, make a come-back in the star role. But in his first scene the youngster fell in a creek, caught a bad cold and for weeks was an invalid.

The picture could not be held up. Billy Lee was the only actor of the required size available at the time and, in desperation, the studio ordered his dispatch to Georgia to play the role. The results were previewed at the Westwood Village Theatre and more than a score of major personalities were there. The picture unfolded and the audience alternately laughed and choked. Then came the climax, the death scene of the dog. All were impressed with the pathos of that windup scene—and it was Billy Lee’s all

the way. Hollywood woke up to the fact that Billy was not only a nice little boy, but a sensitive actor as well.