HOLLYWOOD: Damascus Road

The idea sounds like a far-out gag from one of his own movies, but Comedy Director Frank (It Happened One Night) Capra insists that this time he is playing it straight. After years of research he is anxious to get started filming the life of St. Paul, and he has already picked his leading man: Frank Sinatra. “I’ll admit that at first Sinatra seems a little offbeat for the role,” says Capra. “When I first mentioned it to him, I think he was shocked. But there’s no doubt about his acting ability, or his depth of feeling, and when you remember what kind of man St. Paul was when he started out —he started out as a heel, you know—it doesn’t sound so farfetched.”