Aspirations

Three years ago, handsome, curly-haired Fred McClung, 29-year-old pastor of the Highland Park Church of Christ at Fort Worth, Texas, encountered a sore temptation. During the Fort Worth "Frontier Centennial" he met smart little Showman Billy Rose, who told him he would do well in the movies. When Producer Jesse L. Lasky's Gateway to Hollywood contest set up its sideshow in Fort Worth fortnight ago, star-rapt Parson McClung thought he saw his chance. So did Lasky's talent scouts, who put him down as the best prospect/- they had found in many a Texas mile.

Pastor McClung's congregation was unsympathetic, kept his phone buzzing with spirited protests. Milder than most was the understatement of red-faced, elderly Elder R. V. Castles: "A preacher would be lowering his aspirations if he sought to become a movie star." Parson McClung took counsel with himself, finally told his flock he would stay with it. Said he tearfully: "I never intended to do anything wrong. . . . The opportunity would have given me much leisure time to do church work. I . . . thought it was the proper thing to do, especially when I would start at a salary ranging from $125 to $1,000 a week." Last Sunday Preacher McClung took his mind off might-have-beens by starting a revival. His subject: "Little Things."

/- Michael O'Daniel, son of Texas' Governor Wilbert Lee ("Pass the Biscuits, Pappy") O'Daniel, did not wait for a contest, went to Hollywood last fortnight, landed a Paramount contract (TIME, Aug. 14). His Pappy has still not decided whether to let him take it.

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