The snide remark "Now there's a face for radio" didn't apply to tall, dark and handsome Dutch Reagan. The radio sportscaster had been working for several years in Iowa markets when, at the urging of a friend who saw his potential, he took a screen test at Warner Brothers. (He stunned executives by high-tailing out of a meeting because he needed to get back to Des Moines to cover a game.) Impressed, Warner Brothers signed him to a $200 week contract and offered him his first role within days of arriving in Hollywood, playing radio announcer Andy McCaine who, after standing up to corruption, gets himself embroiled in a murder. But, Warner brass told him, he had to change his name: "Dutch" was no good for a movie star. Only his given name, Ronald Reagan, was fit for the marquee. While the plot's perfunctory, even the most stout-hearted liberal will melt a little at the lithe, crooked-grinned charm the 26-year old Reagan injected into his debut appearance. And don't worry - you're allowed to smile when McCaine's boss chews him out by scolding "Don't bring politics into your program again!"

By Violet LeVoit