We haven't had a genuine screen "find" since Robert
Taylor began making the ladies hearts beat just a little faster. That is we hadn�t until Tyrone Power came along this year, in Lloyd's of London. To say that he created an enormous amount of interest is to put it mildly. When he followed this by a fine piece of work in the brilliant romantic comedy, Love is News, even the critics sat up and exclaimed, "This young man has not something!" He has --and he showed it by scoring yet another triumph, also with Loretta young, in Cafe Metropole.
Tyrone has since finished Lovely to Look At, opposite Sonja Henie, and he has the leading role with Don Ameche and Alice Faye in In Old Chicago, a most important picture on which a tremendous amount of money has been spent.
As you can see, therefore, this young man who has caught the public fancy is being kept very busy.
What sort of a man is Tyrone Power? You doubtless want to know. He's young and good looking. He is six foot tall, has dark brown hair and luminous brown eyes. He is 23. He's essentially masculine, a romantic type, who has not prototype either here or in America. That is why he is a safe bet.
FAMOUS SON OF A FAMOUS FATHER
You may remember his father who bore the same name. Tyrone Senior was one of the best character actors in Hollywood. Possibly you saw him in the Big Trail and many other important pictures. He died some years ago, bu this son will perpetuate the name by becoming even more famous than his famous father.
Tyrone Junior is the third of his family to bear that name. The first was his great-grandfather, so called after county Tyrone, the homeland of the Power family. This boy was born on May 5, 1914, at 5:30 i n the afternoon in Cincinnati. When Tyrone was between two and three months of age, his parents were signed under contract to Famous Players and worked in silent pictures in and about New York. When the baby was a year old, they were transferred to Hollywood under contract to Selig pictures.
Mr. Power then returned to New York to appear in the Broadway stage production of Chu Chin Chow .
By that time the American Expeditionary Forces had landed in France. Mrs. Power provided a home for herself and for Tyrone Junior and his young sister, secured a dependable nurse for them and entered into the work of the American Red Cross. Realizing the need for entertainment in the various campuses, Mrs. Power got busy.
She formed a little stock company and for the duration of the war and through the demobilization period, she staged plays variety shows and concerts for soldiers in recreation halls and huts Meanwhile little Tyrone, a delicate child, played on the sands of Cormado beach, gaining health in the sunshine with his young sister, Anne.
Born in the atmosphere of the theatre, Tyrone had early ambitions of the stage and was always asking when he and
Ann "would be growed up enough" to appear on the stage. It was a red-letter day in his life when, at the age of seven, he was assigned the role of Pablo, a neophyte of the Franciscan padres. It was his first role in any theatre.
The first production is which Tyrone appeared as a professional was the Merchant of Venice , in which he played and old man, friend of the Doge of Venice, portrayed by his father. In that play young Tyrone nearly met his death.
Fritz Lieber, playing the title role, had to gesticulate with a huge knife. One evening it slipped from his grasp and, flying across the stage with terrific force, missed the boy's cheek by only an eighth of an inch.
It struck the scenery at his back and embedded itself right up to the hilt. That was Tyrone Power Junior's introduction to the stage!
Mr. Power was then engaged to go to Hollywood to play the starring role in The Miracle Man . The boy went to Hollywood with him as he had been promised a small part. Work on the film was well under way when Mr. Power was taken ill on the set. He made no complaint and worked until midnight, when he collapsed. Tyrone was called and took him home. At four o'clock that morning--December 30, 1931--Power died in his son's arms.
The small part that Tyrone was promised in The Miracle Man did not materialize. He began to hunt for work. He did the offices and e agents' sanctums. He had no luck. When he was called in, it was generally because some veteran wanted to exchange reminiscences of is father.
After trying for nearly two years to get by the casting offices, Tyrone decided to go to New York. en route he stopped at Chicago to see some old friends. The Exhibition was in full swing and he was engaged for the circuit Theatre production. He ventured into radio and landed, happily, on the same programme as Don Ameche, another popular favourite of to-day.
GROOMED FOR STARDOM
Towards the end of 1934, which proved a memorable year for Tyrone, he was engaged to play the part of Freddie in Romance in Chicago. After that play finished, he found he was achieving a little recognition. He did a lot of understudying.
When summer came round, Tyrone went to a summer stock company at West Falmouth. In his pocked was contract to play Benvolio in Katharine Cornells' production of Romeo and Juliet in New York in the autumn,
After the run of Romeo and Juliet he played the part of de Pouhenget in St. Joan at the Martin Beck Theater, New York. By this time 20th Century-fox had made a test of Tyrone. It was screened by Darryl F. Zanuck in Hollywood. With his remarkable flair for visualizing players he has in mind for the future, the producer signed Tyrone to a seven-year contract.
He played a small part in Girls' Dormitory and a slightly more important role in Ladies in Love . Then came Lloyd's of London and Tyrone became a star overnight.
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