Among the top child stars of the 1930s and 1940s was a former stable boy from southern India, the only star with a single name - Sabu. Born Selar Shaik in 1924, he vaulted to stardom in his first film, a British production entitled Elephant Boy (1937). For the next decade he either starred or was featured in several finely crafted adventure films, including the fantasy favorite The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and the definitive version of Rudyard Kiplings perennially popular Jungle Book (1942). Adapting to modern western ways proved remarkably easy due to his above average intelligence and innate...