POWER AND GLORY
Seasoned Actor Takes a Timely Inventory
By Howard Thompson

Although hospitalized here, Tyrone Power has three professional irons in the fire simultaneously. The recent local premiere of "The Long Gray Line" brought fresh dramatic laurels to his lengthy film career. A brand new independent production company, his brainchild, is currently under way on the coast. And depending on the duration of a bout with jaundice, he is expected, on February 23, on Broadway to rejoin the Katharine Cornell company, after an absence of eighteen years, as co-star of Christopher Fry's "The Dark is Light Enough."

A visit to the hospital disclosed the actor bedded down and sporting a luxuriant nineteenth century bear. "I'm afraid I'm pooped," he confessed with a wan smile, offering a firm handclasp and a chair.

Asked about the notices on the play before its recent shutdown in Washington, Power hesitated. "It's odd and interesting. The reviews everywhere have been cleft down the middle. Either they hate it like hell, or glow. This applies to the play and to me, not to Miss Cornell," he added gallantly. "Personally I like it that way. I�ve been an overnight hero too many times in my life."

"As for 'The Long Gray Line,' he continued, "who wouldn't be pleased at those reviews? The other night in Washington General and Mrs. Ridgway came backstage to say they'd liked it. I could tell by the way his face crinkled that he was reviewing his West Point career, too."

"Actually, Jack Ford and I have wanted to work together for a long time. Last year, after eleven years, Jack phoned to say he'd found the right story. I told him, 'Fine, when do we start?' and he said, 'hell, don't you even want to know what the story is?'" Grinning reminiscently, Power bolstered the pillows with a backward thump.

On His Own

"About this new company, Copa Production," he went on pensively, "I decided when my Fox contract was drawing to a close to use fall, winter and spring for the theatre, summer for pictures. From a film viewpoint, I felt it was wrong simply to cut off whatever audience I might have built up over the years. When I made 'Mississippi Gambler' at Universal, I was impressed with our director, Ted Richmond, a guy who came up the hard way and knows the value of a dollar."

"We have out first project going now, with Van Heflin, a Western called 'The Calico Pony' Coming up, after the play ends and I can deliver the body, we have 'The Stalk,' a modern spy/suspense piece set in Rio, a background I've always wanted to shoot in color. First, thought, we�ll do 'Lorenzo the Magnificent' in Italy. Columbia is underwriting all three financially, and they'll release them, of course."

"Now, for the first time, I'm faced with decision on castings, properties, costs and so on. Whatever mistakes or wise choices I make will be entirely my own. Sure, I had ideas during all those years at Fox, just no okay. There is this, too: in a large studio, you can begin to feel all wrapped in cotton. Everything is done for you. I've enjoyed monetary advantages, true, but all my subsequent contracts and adjustments were based on my original 1936 contract. I simply had to close my eyes and plunge ahead. No, I don't look back with regret."

"Fox did a lot for me, and I like to think it's reasonably mutual." Power's eyes twinkled, "Let's face it though, I have done an awful lot of stuff that's a monument to public patience."

Acid Tests

"Sure, I've had my black moments, like anyone else. Take the war. I was out for four years. When I returned, a new crop of faces had moved in. I didn't know what to expect. Then I came back to 'The Razor's Edge' with such high hoes. I loved the book and liked 'Larry' as an individual. I even thought we had a few things in common. It just didn't come off. Later, when I landed a good, strong part like 'Nightmare Alley,' at my insistence, the picture didn't make a dime. Another role I liked was 'Blood and Sand,' a picture people remember somehow. Take the other morning. The hotel waiter who brought me breakfast, a Spaniard, stared jabbering away like mad about it."

Noting the visitor's glance, Power courteously handed over an upright leather folio from the bedside table. Enclosed were a watch and some candid snapshots of his two young daughters by his estranged wife, Linda Christian.

"I've taken a house here for the play, so we three can have some time together," he said slowly. "Romina, the older one, already knows her way around the studios and the theater. Not the baby. She�s only 3. This is silly, I suppose," Power mused, stretching out comfortable and lightening the bedding around his chin, "but I can't wait to get her reaction to the theatre. Especially when I open the stage door, take her by the hand and lead her inside."

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New York [date unknown] Tyrone Power is expected to return to roadway this season opposite Katharine Cornell in Christopher Fry's "The Dark is Light Enough." Mr. Power was reported yesterday to have signed his contracts, but this could not be officially confirmed. His last Broadway appearance was with Judith Anderson in "John Brown's Body." Rehearsals of the Fry play will get under way next month under the direction of Guthrie McClintic and the show will open Nov. 24 in Buffalo.

New York Herald Tribune
October 5, 1954
Bert McCord
Power and Miss Cornell Co-Star; She Gave Him Start

Tyrone Power, who is now definite as Katharine Cornell's leading Man in "The Dark is Light Enough," was given his start in the theater twenty years ago by the actress/manager with whom he is to be co-starred. Mr. Power was engaged by Miss Cornell as an understudy in John Van Druten's "The Flower's of the Forest." He also had a bit part in her "Romeo and Juliet" on Broadway and when the show went on tour, he succeeded John Embery as Benvolio. And in Miss Cornell's production of "Saint Joan," in 1936, Mr. Power played Bertrand de Poulengy.

Mr. Power's most recent stage appearance was in "John Brown�s Body," with which he remained for two seasons in New York and on tour. Before that, he had left Hollywood and film stardom to take the title role in the London producti9n of "Mister Roberts."

Under Guthrie McClintic's direction, "The Dark is Light Enough" will go into rehearsal early next month and will have its American premiere Nov. 24 at the Erianger Theater in Buffalo where Miss Cornell lived during her childhood. The Christopher Fry play will remain on tour for eleven weeks before it comes to New York during the first week in February. It is being represented by Miss Cornell and Robert L. Ste[?].

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Newspaper Notice, December 20, 1954

Feb. 9 has been designated as the Broadway opening date for "The Dark Is Light Enough," Christopher Fry's verse play starring Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power. No house yet. In "Put Them All Together," starring Fay Bainter, her son, Reg Venable, will be on the payroll as understudy. He will cover Arthur Storch, who happens to portray Miss Bainter in the comedy. Reg has acted on the rustic circuit, but hasn't made his formal stage debut here.

Newspaper Notice, January 3, 1955

The delayed presentation of "Once Upon a Tailor" is now promised to arrived here at the week of April 11. Oscar Karwelis will head the cast of Baruch Lumet's folk comedy to be produced by Roger Stevens and George Boroff. Joseph Antony, who is appearing in "Anastasia," is expected to be able to direct Mr. Lumet's play. If so, there will be no out-of-town tour.

Mr. Stevens who retired yesterday from a trip to Washington, noted that the impending "Dark Is Light Enough" was doing terrific business there for the fortnight�s stand, which ends next Saturday night. Mr. Stevens is the co-sponsor of the Katharine Cornell/Tyrone Power starring vehicle.

Newspaper Notice[date unknown]
The premiere of "The Dark is Light Enough" at the ANTA Theatre is now definite for Feb. 23. Previously scheduled for Wednesday night, the opening of Christopher Fry's drama, starring Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power had to be postponed because Mr. Power was suffering from hepatitis. Since Sunday he has been a patient at the LeRoy Hospital. He will be discharged next Wednesday, it was reported. Only tickets stamped "Opening Night" will be accepted on Feb. 23. Others will have to be exchanged.

Born in Cincinnati, the third Tyrone attended the Schuster Martin School of Dramatic Art, run by his mother, former actress Patia Emma Reaume. His first professional stage engagement was in 1931, in The Merchant of Venice, and later he played in his father�s Shakespearean repertory in New York. When he was 21, he began his association with Katharine Cornell, then doing "Flowers of the Forest." He understudied Burgess Meredith. He was Miss Cornell in her Romeo and Juliet and also Saint Joan before Hollywood interrupted his stage career for "Lloyd's of London." He resumed recently for Mister Roberts (in London) and "John Brown's Body" last year and now rejoins Miss Cornell for the new Christopher Fry play.

January 5, 1955
Theatre Benefit Will Assist Blind
Feb. 11 Performance of "The Dark is Light Enough" to Help Recordings Work

The performance "The Dark is Light Enough" with Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power in the leading roles, on Feb. 11 at the ANTA Theatre has been taken over to raise funds for Recording for the Blind, Inc.

Joseph Verner Reed is benefit chairman and Mrs. Burke Gillespie and Mrs. Forest Baldwin Van Avery are vice chairmen. Among those also furthering the success of the event are Mrs. Blaine Littell and Mrs. Alfred de Liagre Jr., members of the beneficiary's board. They have been holding meetings at the Sherry-Netherland.

The beneficiary, a non-profit organization, provides recorded textbooks, reference books and other material to blind persons who request this service. Students and veterans are among those who make use of the organization to overcome their handicaps and to obtain the necessary training to enable them to participate in the business and professional worlds.

Recording for the Blind, Inc., now in its fourth year, has established eight recording centers in the country. These are in New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Ariz., Louisville, Ky., Athens, GA., and Oak Ridge, Ten. At these centers, volunteer readers produce recorded books on regular schedules. These books are sent immediately to the blind persons needing them, and later become permanent acquisition of the libraries for the blind throughout the country.

Tickets for the performance may be obtained from Miss Fanshawe at 136 East Sixty-fourth Street.

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Washington, DC, February 5, 1955
Tyrone Power's Illness Delays Opening Here

Tyrone Power has been stricken with an apparent attack of jaundice. The ailment will force postponement of the Broadway opening of his latest play, a spokesman said today.

Mr. Power was to have completed tonight the Washington run of "The Dark is Light Enough," in which he is starting with Katharine Cornell. The play had been scheduled to begin in New York next Wednesday.

The spokesman, describing the attack as apparently of jaundice, said Mr. Power would consult a New York physician on the extent of the illness. He said an announcement probably would be made Monday on how long the New York opening will be delayed.

New York Daily News
February 7, 1955
Tyrone Power Ailing ; Fry Play to Postpone

Illness of Tyrone Power, stricken with jaundice in Washington, is expected to "indefinitely" postpone the scheduled Wednesday night premiere at the ANTA Theatre here of Christopher Fry's "The Dark is Light Enough." Power co-stars in the play with Katharine Cornell.

An official announcement of the postponement is expected today from producers Katharine Cornell and Roger Stevens. Any lengthy postponement of the production might even mean cancellation as the previous commitments by Power and Miss Cornell originally limited the run of the play to May 7 only.

Power's illness first became evident in Washington on Thursday night. A doctor diagnoses it as jaundice and instructed the actor to immediately go to a hospital. Power insisted upon playing out the week because the attraction was playing t standees even on matinees. The cast and management of "The Dark is Light Enough" were en route by train to New York yesterday afternoon.

Doctors queried yesterday estimated that Power would be hospitalized for at least several days if his illness is a mild case. A serious jaundice condition, which was described as "slow acting," might keep him under medical care for several weeks.

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Newspaper Notice [date unknown] A limited engagement is announced for the Katharine Cornell/Tyrone Power starring vehicle, "The Dark is Light Enough." Arriving Feb. 9 at the ANTA Theater, the Christopher Fry drama is scheduled to remain through May 7 to permit Mr. Power to fulfill a picture commitment...."

Newspaper Notice [date unknown] On Feb. 9 Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power will be at the ANTA Theater in the local debut of Christopher Fry's "The Dark is Light Enough." Mr. Fry, who never has been to this country and who can't be coaxed farther than London from his cottage in the Cotsweld Hills, sent Miss Cornell a cable on the first day of rehearsals, characteristically modest and cryptic "I hope I don't give you too much trouble."

Fry Play Slated to Open February 23
New Tentative Date Set for 'Light Enough' Because of Tyrone Power's Illness
Sam Zolotow

Feb. 23 has been reserved temporarily for the premiere of "The Dark is Light Enough" at the ANTA Theatre. Previsously scheduled for Wednesday night, the opening had to be called off because of the illness of Tyrone Power, who is co-starred with Katharine Cornell in the Christopher Fry drama.

Last week, Mr. Power became sick in Washington with a severe type of jaundice. Despite his condition, he didn�t miss any performances during the tryout engagement there. Upon his arrival here, he immediately was hospitalized under an assumed name.

The management advises that tickets marked "Opening Night" will be accepted at the premiere. Others, from Thursday through Feb. 23, must be exchanged at the box office for later dates.

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Theater News
Power's Illness Postpones Opening of New Fry Play
By Bert McCord

The postponed date for the opening of Christopher Fry�s "The Dark is Light Enough" at the ANTA Theater has been tentatively set for Feb. 23, it was announced yesterday.

The opening, scheduled for Wednesday, was delayed because Tyrone Power, who stars with Katharine Cornell, was stricken with jaundice in Washington.

Mr. Power returned to New York yesterday and entered the LeRoy Hospital at 40 E. 61st St., where his physician said he would have to remain about two weeks. The management of the theater said that tickets marked "Opening Night" will be accepted for the premiere. Others, from Thursday through the opening date, must be exchanged at the box office.

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Newspaper Notice, Feb. 1955
The premiere of "The Dark is Light Enough" at the ANTA Theatre is now definite for February 23. Previously scheduled for Wednesday night, the opening of Christopher Fry's drama, starring Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power had to be postponed because Mr. Power was suffering from hepatitis. Since Sunday he has been a patient at the LeRoy Hospital. He will be discharged next Wednesday, it was reported. Only tickets stamped "Opening Night" will be accepted on February 23. Others will have to be exchanged.

Wednesday, February 23, 1955
FRY'S PLAY BOWS AT ANTA TONIGHT
The Dark is Light Enough Stars Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power
By Sam Zolotow

"The Dark is Light Enough", with such luminaries as Katharine Cornell and Tyrone Power in the vanguard of the company, will be ushered in at 8 o�clock tonight. Welcoming Christopher Fry's verse drama will be the elegantly refurbished ANTA Theatre.

The premiere had to be delayed a fortnight to enable Mr. Power to recover from a severe attack of hepatitis. As a result of the postponement, only tickets stamped "opening night" will be accepted this evening. Tickets bearing today's date must be exchanged for subsequent performances. The engagement is advertised as "limited," meaning it might terminate May 28 or thereabouts.

The joint appearance of Miss Cornell and Mr. Power stacks up as a sentimental occasion. In 1935 he started his local stage career as an understudy in her company of "Flowers of the Forest." A year later he became a Hollywood captive. Not until 1953 could Broadway reclaim him in "John Brown's Body."

In a lengthy pre-Broadway tour, "The Dark is Light Enough," which features Arnold Moss, John Williams and Marian Winters, spent almost eleven weeks visiting ten cities.

Imported from London, where the two leading roles were acted by Dame Edith Evans and James Donald, the script bears the subtitle of "a winter comedy," a designation that allows for a generous sprinkling of melodrama.

Two of Mr. Fry's previous plays, "The Lady's Not for Burning" and "Venus Observed," are classified in his seasonal log as "spring" and "autumn," respectively. To complete the series, the author doubtlessly will have a warm drama coming up next.

Following tradition, Guthrie McClintic, Miss Cornell's husband, has directed "The Dark is Light Enough," sponsored by Miss Cornell and Roger Stevens. Eye-filling scenery and costumes were crated by Oliver Messel, whose dual stint for "House of Flowers" is the cynosure of the musical.

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Newspaper Notice, February 28, 1955
Tyrone Power will make four pictures in arrow after completing his stage engagement with Katharine Cornell in "The Dark is Light Enough."

Ted Richmond, producer and partner of Mr. Power in Copa Productions, said the actor was due in Florence, Italy, June 15 to start "Lorenzo the Magnificent," and in Rio de Janeiro in November to begin "The Stalk." Part of the latter picture also will be made in London.

Mr. Power calls for two films, "The Warrior Saint" and "The World, the Flesh and Father Smith." R. Richmond will go to New York Wednesday to confer with Mr. Power and will proceed from there to London and Italy to complete filming arrangement for "Lorenzo, the Magnificent."

Meanwhile Copa will have completed work on its first Columbia release, "The Calico Pony," starring Van Heflin.

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Theatre Week
Saturday, March 12, 1955
A Nosegay for An Actress
By George Jean Nathan's

Though there may be differences of opinion as to her versatility and relative eminence, it is always a satisfaction to go to the theatre when Katharine Cornell is on its stage. There may be better actresses and they may possibly be appearing in better plays but she somehow represents, and very impressively, as pitiably few other American actresses and they may possibly be appearing in better plays but she somehow represents, and very impressively, as pitiably few other American actresses do the dignity, the dedication, the pride and even the glamour (tupenny word) that have vanished, if indeed they ever were there, from most of their contemporaries. she is the theatre as it was under the proud, protective wing of Charles Frohman and she serves it faithfully and resolutely in the fine old tradition. And still in a day when so many of her even well-heeled sisters keep shuttling back and forth to Hollywood, spread themselves in interviews and books that with a simulation of genial frankness confide intimate revelations about themselves that make them out to be little better than smug bums, and imagine that they endear themselves to their public with stage manners and mannerisms less suitable to an actress than to a delinquent vaudeville trained donkey.

If these remarks on Miss C's dignity, pride, etc., lead you to suspect a certain stuffiness in her and that attending her in the theatre is probably something like a visit with an Amish aunt in interior Pennsylvania, disabuse yourself. She is a stimulating in her own fashion as many of her self-consciously exciting colleagues are not. Unlike many of these others, she doesn't foolishly seek to convey a youth that is gone and in the act make herself ridiculous but, like a lady appreciates that youth or synthetic youth is for song and dance actresses and race horses and that there may be kind of beauty in advancing years that is very real, very tender, and very much more welcome than the kind associated with glistening cheeks (and noses), puppy vitality and eyes that sparkle like industriously carbonated tap water. Miss Cornell is not among those of her sisters who, in dickens' phrase, still aim at youth thought they shot beyond it years ago. And she is all the more lovely for it.

I reviewed her present vehicle, Fry's "The Dark is Light Enough," following a reading of the published script, several weeks ago and , you may recall, reported it to be a sometimes eloquent and witty but defectively dramatized and too tediously prolonged philosophical inquiry into, among other topics, the ethical position of a deserter from the Hungarian ranks during the Hungarian revolution against Austria more than a century ago. I also intimated that the role of the countess in whose house near the Hungarian border the deserter, her former son-in-law, takes refuge would be easy meat for Miss C's talents and would provide her with some moments in which to be impressively pictorial, along with some others in which effectively to demonstrate those attributes of reticent charm, warm gentility and on occasion dramatic �lan which she has demonstrated with a similar effectiveness in the past. The clairvoyance was accurately to the point: the role suits her and she suites it.

It is a pity, however, that Guthrie McClintic, her favorite director, who has otherwise done well with the staging, didn't materially cut her death scene at the end of the evening, since, though she plays it ably, it is so enervatingly protracted and windy that it leads an unthinking audience to believe it is her performance rather than Fry's that has become exhaustingly tiresome and that minimizes the fine effect of her work during the earlier portion of the play, almost equally talky though it often is.

It is this verbosity that will surely militate against the play's popular acceptance, since if there is one thing Americans will not take for long it is talk, however eloquent, whether in the theatre or out of it. The most eloquent of orators, Daniel Webster and William Jennings Bryan, among others, could never, as Norman Thomas has pointed out, win the Presidency. "Not by eloquence," he continues, "did Eisenhower win over Adlai Stevenson." Even in the courtroom, it is the more eloquently garrulous of counsel who usually loses out to his opponent. If it weren't for Shaw�s alleviating horseplay, even the most brilliant of modern dramatic talkers would have died at the local box-office. Fry talks handsomely enough but altogether too much for a local public that has made a best seller of a condensation of even the Bible.

Miss Cornell's leading man is Tyrone Power who plays the role of the controversial deserter much as if it were in a Paul Gregory reader exhibit and who, though the possessor of a good speaking voice, is frequently careless in enunciation, as in such expressions as "nor for the sake of keeping up decent uppearances" and "if all the devil's doubts could be exercised." The rest of her support, notably John Williams, Marian Winters and Christopher Plummer, is commendable. The decor by Oliver Messel is characteristically handsome and the production in general as splendorous as Miss Cornell's habitually are.

Newspaper Notice, March 16, 1955
Before the "The Dark is Light Enough" disbands, Katharine Cornell is eager to have Boston and Philadelphia see the Christopher Fry drama with the original cast. Those two cities are being considered because her co-star, Tyrone Power, is obliged to leave in May to fill a film commitment.

A rumor that the limited engagement at the ANTA Theatre would end on April 23 was denied yesterday by Gertrude Macy, Miss Cornell's general manager. No definite date for the departure has been fixed yet according to Miss Macy, who added that a decision might be forthcoming next week.

Newspaper Notice, March 31, 1955
Tyrone Power Buys Play [A Quiet Place]

Tyrone Power, who is currently appearing in "The Dark is Light Enough" and who apparently, has found Broadway to his liking, as purchased a play in which he plans t star in next season. It is "A Quiet Place," by Julian Claman, dealing with an American couple residing in Amalfi Italy. The actor is negotiating for a producer and director. Las November, Harold Thurman read the script and made it known that he was willing to state it if and when it was ready for Broadway.

Newspaper Notice, April 6, 1955
Tyrone Power Has Choice
Tyrone Power now appearing with Katharine Cornell in "The Dark is Light Enough," apparently has a choice of plays for next season. He has an offer to act the title role in the proposed dramatization of the John P. Marquand novel "Sincerely Willis Wayde," the stage and screen right of which are controlled by Courtney Burr, John Byram and Henry Ginsberg. In addition, Mr. Power is the owner of Julian Claman's play, "A Quiet Place," and Herman Wouk is planning to write a play for the star.

Newspaper Notice, May 6, 1955, NY, NY
".......'The Dark is Light Enough', the Katharine Cornell-Tyrone Power starring vehicle, winds up its tour tomorrow night in Boston....."

THE LEGEND OF THE TYRONES
World Telegram
May 19, 1955

Tyrone Power was first listed on a New York playbill in 1833. Not the one you know, of course, but his great-grandather who was a leading Irish comedian of the early 19th century. And thereby hangs a legend.

Twenty years ago young Ty was ust a budding young actor with his first Broadway job--a priceless challenge for one of such theatrical heritage. Katharine Cornell had given him his big chance as understudy to Burgess Meredith in John Van Druten's "Flowers of the Forest"--at $30 a week. Now a star in his own right, he's back on Broadway with Miss Cornell in "The Dark is Light Enough."

That is but one sentimental cycle Ty has completed in his acting career. Not long ago he played the title role in "Mister Roberts" at London's Drury Lane Theater on the very stage where his great-grandfather rose to fame. Tyrone's father, Frederick Tyrone Power, himself a celebrated Shakespearean actor and a silent film star, ushered his son into the theater at the age of 7.

"The teater is all I've ever known," says Tyrone. "I never had much formal education. I learned by doing." And as the 41-year-old Cincinnatit-born star grows more mature he expersses a desire to spend more time in the legitimate theater. In fact, he already has denied himself of Hollywood contract ties in deference to stage pursuits--true to the tradition of the Tyrones.

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