Tyrone Power yanked a handerkerchief from his picket and mopped a very wet forehead. Might have been his first screen test (which, by the way, took a flying belly-flop into the nearest waste basket), he was that jittery. All the reporters and cameramen in town turned out to see Ty take the oath of private in the Marines. “Not camera shy?” friends heckled form the sidelines. Ty pushed a damp hunk of hair back and grinned, “I’ve never done this scene before.” And what a scene it turned out to be. For weeks he’d been throwing dumbbells around, practicing push-ups, taking long, hard swims all to get himself in top form (‘s if he’d have to practice). No Sergeant was going to let him off K.P. just cause he had melting brown eyes. Ty was determined to be the best darned private they’d ever seen at the San Diego base, and it didn’t take ‘em long to find that Pvt. Power, honor man in his platoon, was not only a helluva swell Joe, but officer material. So he got a furlough before reporting to Quantico for O.C.S. A handful of days with Annabella, swimming in the mornings, packing stuff away and having friends in for dinner.

Then came the goodbye-goodbye to the studio mob, the glorious house that was being closed for the duration, and-Annabella. When Ty climbed aboard the train it seemed so like another time, when, as a kid of 18 he’d set out for N.Y. praying for the break H’wood hadn’t given him. Ty had landed in L.A. 17 years of boy, lugging a cheap, imitation leather suitcase, but with a clear shining look in his eyes that meant “Move over, you birds on top of the ladder.” And Ty meant business, but not the kind the studio gave him. Ty found no on any ladder had much cause to move over on his account. So he climbed into the day coach after a year of the royal run around, determined not to get the same brush-off on Broadway. Now he had the same determination to make good, no matter how tough O.C.S. And it was, plenty. Ty worked like a dog, but says those bars on his shoulder mean a lot more because of it, and don’t’ think he’s not proud of those medals on his chest for bayonet skill and sharp shooting. He’s about the proudest Marine in that whole wonderful Corps.