From childhood Tyrone Power was dedicated to the stage. At seventeen he began his acting career under the guidance of his father. When Tyrone Power, Sr. was called to Hollywood to star in the talkie version of the "Miracle Man", the boy accompanied him. Before the picture was completed Tyrone Power, the elder, died in his son's arms. Then the boy began his futile search for work in the studios.

Today Tyrone Power is a star of the first magnitude after little over a year on the screen.

Hardship and obscurity are behind him. Difficulties have become tenderly treasured memories--symbols of a boy's indomitable ambition and hopes.

But in those first moths of futile Hollywood job-hunting--a scant five years--it was difficult to maintain unbending courage. So many promises were made him. So very few kept.

He grew older quickly in those days--far wiser than his eighteen years. Tyrone lived meagerly, frugally. He had five dollar a week allowance, made him by an old family friend, an attorney who since then has been amply repaid.

The boy carefully budgeted that tiny sum--so much for rent; so much for food. He lived in cellars and in attic rooms; slept on cots in tool sheds and garages.

Today, he remembers innumerable stories of those poverty-laden days. They are gently amusing in retrospect. There was that room he rented from an ancient landlady which turned out to include his three meals. A large avocado orchard in the rear of the house solved the embarrassing food problem. When the good woman went to market, Tyrone would gather a whole supply of the fruit--buy a quart of milk, and for the entire day he would feast gloriously. Avocados and mild for breakfast, for lunch for diner! What it lacked in variety, it made up in nourishment. Amazingly enough he still relishes the combination.

Occasionally, the break in his fortunes seemed imminent. RKO tested him,. Contracts seemed always on the point of being signed. But nothing really ever happened.

Finally, Universal placed him under contract for three months, and during that time he appeared as a cadet in "Tom Brown of Culver." But it was no more than a bit--he was lost in the crowd.

Plans made for a series of pictures which were to feature not only Tyrone, but several other sons of famous fathers, went a glimmering. At the end of six months Tyrone was no further than at the beginning. And he was minus a job again.

At this time, he fortunately met Eddie Fisher, associate director of the Santa Barbara Community Theatre. Tyrone was asked to join this group of players. It was experience and something to do. Tyrone accepted. Later on he was set to directing at the munificent salary of fifty dollars a month. That job lasted from October, 1933, until July of 1934. Regularly during this period, Tyrone made excursions into Hollywood, on a still hunt for that ever-elusive opportunity.

Late in August of that year, he finally admitted defeat. There seemed nothing for him in pictures. [Perhaps New York and the spoken drama would be more kindly to him.

And so with 20 dollars in his ;pocket, his mother's blessing and a ticket to Broadway, Tyrone left Hollywood, vowing never to return until he was a success on the stage.

For more than two years he had taken the buffeting of Hollywood; for two years sought the coy jade called success. In New York, perhaps his luck would change.

Enroute East, he stopped off in Chicago to see friends. The Century of Progress Exposition was then in full swing. Among the attractions was a company which was showing the visiting world how movies are made in Hollywood. Tyrone was offered a job. He grabbed it. It was a chance to increase his capital.

But the venture wasn't a flourishing one. The production was being kicked around in courts, and the actors didn't know from week to week who was their paymaster. The result was sparse and scarce checks for the players.

To eke out his scant earnings, Tyrone sought radio work. Occasionally he got a job. He landed on one program with Don Ameche, with whom he has since played in Love is News and In Old Chicago. Incidentally, both Don and Tyrone made scores of tests for the role of Jonathan Blake in LLOYDS OF LONDON with Tyrone winning the coveted role, the role which first magnetized the world's attention to him.

Tyrone had one lucky break while in Chicago. He was engaged for the part of Freddy in Romance, then playing in Chicago with the brilliant Eugene Leontovich starred. It ran eight weeks and when the show finally closed, Tyrone, while no richer n cash, was enriched by some exceptionally fine experience.

He turned again to the radio. Earning a dollar here and five dollars there; appearing in dramatic plays and sketches on the air. None of these ventures were lucrative. But they enabled him to live.

Strangely enough, it was a radio assignment which gave him a push to New York. One Sunday morning he was called by an excited studio manger and order red to report immediately to the station. One of the staff had been taken ill. Tyrone dressed hastily. Here, at last, was his chance to break into big time on the air.

Arrived at the station, keyed to a high pitch, he asked for the script. The manager pointed to a Sunday paper. Tyrone looked at him--puzzled. "I don't understand," he said. "You're the funny paper man. You're going to read the comics to the kiddies," was the reply.

Tyrone received ten dollars for the chore. But when the door of the radio station closed behind him, he stood in the street, and made his decision. "I'm sure there's something better in life for me than reading comics to the kiddies," he said to himself.

And that afternoon he took the bus to New York. He arrived in a blinding rainstorm--cold, hungry, bedraggled--with exactly two one dollar bills in his pocket. Fortunately Michael Strange, the former wife of John Barrymore, was an old family friend. She gave Tyrone a comfortable sleeping room, rent free!

To this day, Tyrone insists that his desire to see Katharine Cornell in Flowers of the Forrest was not only because he reverenced her artistry, but on a hunch that if he did this, his Destiny would catch up with him.

He didn't have the money to spend on a theatre ticket, so he went to Stanley Gilkey, the manager of Miss Cornell's company, to ask for a pass.

In the meanwhile, Helen Mencken, whom he had met during the Shakespearean season in Chicago, had phoned Guthrie McClintic, the producer-husband of the star, and asked that when young Tyrone came to see him to be sure and grant him an interview. She insisted the youngster had talent--lots of it--and that in him Mr. McCliontic would undoubtedly discover a new star.

Tyrone saw the show, met Mr. McClintic, and that night went home jubilantly with two scripts under his arm. He was to read them and return next day to McClintic's office

The boy was so excited that he sat up until dawn writing his mother and sister of his thrilling and lucky experience.

The following morning McClintic assigned him to understudy two players, one of them, Burgess Meredith, the leading man.

Tyrone did not appear in either role during the season--both gentlemen, unfortunately, continued in the best of health. But he spent his time in observing and absorbing the work of all the players, and the technique of the stars.

when the Cornell season closed, Tyrone went to a summer stock company at West Falmouth, Mass. In his pocket was a contract to play the role of Benvolio, friend of Romeo, in Katharine Cornell’s production of ROMEO AND JULIET, scheduled for Fall opening.

Long before Tyrone returned to Broadway for this engagement, the Hollywood scouts were on is heels. The talent they had failed to discern on the Coast, they now discovered in a summer stock company.

But Tyrone Power felt that he was not yet ready for Hollywood and its demands. He wanted to come back ready, matured, certain of himself. And so he waited, and refused offers.

The tryout of Romeo and Juliet was held in Baltimore. Mrs. Power was there to see her boy in his very first Broadway production--a proud mother, a mother with eyes a shine with tears.

Tyrone held up his part; he gave excellent support to the more experienced players, matched them in timing and technique--and never let them down. He had set himself a standard f accomplishment!

After the run of Romeo and Juliet, Tyrone was again engaged by Miss Cornell for St. Joan, her next New York production.

This was February, 1936. By now 20th Century Fox ad made two testes of Tyrone. The boy was ready for Hollywood--for stardom on the screen!

Darryl F. Zanuck, with his uncanny ability to fathom latent talent, signed Tyrone to a seven year contract.

A day before his 22nd birthday--on May 4th--he arrived in Hollywood! But no one at that time suspected how swift would be his success, nor how meteoric his rise.

Not that he started his career on a high note. Cast for one of the leading roles in SING BABY, SING, with Alice Faye and Adolphe Menjou, it was discovered after 10 days of shooting, that his knowledge of the camera was too meager, and his training in pictures too slight, to permit him to carry the burden of this role. He was removed from the production and Michael Whalen was substituted.

His authentic screen debut was made with Simone Simon in Girl's Dormitory. It was a minor role; he appeared only briefly i the latter part of the picture. Long before the production was released, those on the inside--technicians, cameramen, studio workers and publicity executives--were certain that Tyrone Power would go far and go fast. He had a finesse, a certain delightful and boyish quality which was rare and precious on the screen. That priceless ingredient of natural charm was Tyrone's in abundance.

Their belief was substantiated by a flood of inquiries the moment the picture appeared on the screens of the country. Five hundred letters were received by the studio the first week, asking for the identity of the boy.

Tyrone Power was an actor! Quickly LLOYDS OF LONDON, LADIES IN LOVE, LOVE IS A NEWS, CAFE METROPOLE, THIN ICE and the recent IN OLD CHICAGO, established him as one of the outstanding young stars in Hollywood confirmed those early prophecies.

Here was the first real competition that Robert Taylor had had for the worship of a nation!

Whatever Tyrone Power did, whatever he thought, was suddenly news. His romantic association with Sonja Henie, the skating champion, decorated the front pages of the press everywhere. An avalanche of interviewers descended on him. Not only his background intrigued them but also his plans for the future.

Currently, perhaps, the most interesting thing about Tyrone, aside from his success, is his devotion to Janet Gaynor.

It is my personal belief that Janet has the inside track to Tyrone's heart.

Certainly he admires the petite star more than any woman he has ever met. There have been other girls in his life since adolescence. Since his high school dancing days, he has had periods of devotion to this or that young charmer. But nothing as emotionally adult as this.

He admires Janet tremendously. He says of her: "she had an objective and achieved it. She is one of the most remarkable girls I have ever known. She is not only an interesting and attractive person, but she has a grand sense of humor. Marriage?" he parries, "that's in the future. After all, I have really only begun as an actor!"

Tyrone Power is an even six feet--slim, dark distinguished. He has a captivating little boy shyness which safeguards his modesty and protects him against dangerous adulation. Success, he reminds you, isn't all a bed of roses. It carries responsibilities and burdens. "And frequently," he declares, "I believe life was a lot easier when I was living in a walk-up apartment, above a second-hand furniture store, in New York."

At 24 Tyrone has achieved eminence. His future is an open road, unmarred by obstacles. He is graduating into a fine and splendid manhood.

And his earned success is his victory!

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