Ronald Sinclair

Born Richard Arthur Hould in Dundee, New Zealand, in 1924, like alot of actors, he changed his birth name to something that was less ethnic and more generic.

As a child actor he had a fairly busy career, appearing in 16 films between his first film in 1936, "Beloved Enemy," and his last film in 1942, "Desperate Journey." Though, he had one more acting role, as an adult, in 1967, "The Big Catch," like a lot of child actors, he dropped out of acting, when he became an adult. But he did not totally drop out of films, becoming a film editor and film producer, as an adult.

He appeared opposite Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier in "That Hamilton Woman," opposite Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff in "Tower of London," and Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry." Plus appearing as young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 version of "The Christmas Carol," and the "Five Little Peppers" series of films, but . . .

J. Douglas Williamson III
(Let us not forget the III) probably, his most memorable role, was his only uncredited performance as the foresaid J. Douglas Williamson III in "They Made Me a Criminal," where he played a 12-year-old (he was about 14 at the time) military school cadet, who is engaged by the Dead End Kids in a game of strip poker. By which means, they not only deprive him of all his clothes, excluding only his underwear, which he is seen wearing at the end of the scene, but also of a movie camera, which they then trade for a pair of boxing gloves for John Garfield's character.

Disturbing?!
Hollywood of the '30's was divided into two eras. The pre-Code era, where almost everything could be seen in a film, and was, and the post-Code era, which had more restrictions on what could be seen in a film. And while strip poker could be talked about in the pre-Code "It Happened One Night" and seen in the pre-code (?)"Anything Goes" aka "Tops Is the Limit," it was one of the things that was banned from post-Code films. Yet, here we have a rather explicit and extensive strip poker scene in the post-Code, "They Made Me a Criminal."

What may be equally disturbing, to some, is that while most strip poker games in films are co-educational, involving both males and females, this is one of the few same sex strip poker games seen in a film. Indeed, the only other all-male strip poker game, I am aware of, is the all-male strip poker game in "Anything Goes" aka "Tops Is the Limit." This gives an aura of homoeroticism, either deliberately or indeliberately, to the game. That, again, was something that was not to be seen or talked about in post-Code films.

Of course, it does not help, that the Dead End Kids win by cheating. Nor does it help that the characters, if not the actors, are underaged.