TYRONE POWER’S FATHER LOOKS AHEAD

Southland Times, Issue 24039, 1 February 1940, Page 5

TYRONE POWER’S FATHER LOOKS AHEAD

“Mrs Power and I have a little son,” Tyrone Power wrote, “and naturally all our hopes are centered in him. And when he grows in years, the art of the motion picture will do much for his education.” The Tyrone Power doing the writing—and a nice bit of prophecy it turned out to be—was the father of the present Tyrone Power. The date was 1915, and the reason for writing was that the elder Power, a great matinee idol of the stage, had just agreed that movies were all right and had a future. The “little son” recently came across the above quotation in the Picture Play Weekly of October 16, 1915. The prophecy of the elder Power should have stopped with the portion just quoted, but that is never the way with interviews. When posterity comes upon them, the sage words of a previous generation have a tendency to look a little silly, a little pathetic, mildly ironic in the light of present events.

Mr Power had gone on to say—after the bit about the movies educating his son—“He will have educational ad- i vantages that I never had. His mindl will be broadened without the vexa-

tions of extensive travel.” (To date Power junior has made more than ten trans-continental trips, toured South America and travelled through much 'of Europe, experiencing vexations in the form of too-ardent autograph huntlers that his father never dreamed of.) “He will have learned at an early age the wonderful story of the bee and other secrets of nature; his imagination will have been cultivated by visits to motion picture dramas of higher class; without imagination a human being is nothing . . . Pictures will bring higher I thoughts and fancies; tend to refine’ment and gentleness.” Just how much gentleness and refinement the offspring for whom the elder Power had such hopes got out of playing the title role in “Jesse James” might be questioned. As for the bees, Tyrone junior had no more chance than any one else to see Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee” in the movies. If he saw any other, he doesn’t recall it. Power senior went on: “I confess that for some time I held the atti-

tude of many other well-known actors toward the silent drama. I thought the industry just a flash in the pan. But, with the advancement, the wonderful strides onward and upward, I experienced a change of heart. I was informed that people who never before could afford to see my acting would now be given an opportunity, for the prices for the silent drama are not so high. I was informed that pic-ture-play audiences were exacting and as appreciative and as pliant as those who frequent the legitimate theatres, and I have been studying the audiences. I believe that my art will not suffer, and that I am, in a humble way, contributing to the enjoyment of the masses when I try to do my best in picture-playland. “I do not think I shall return to the spoken drama. In the. motion-picture art one has his evenings at home with the family, and there are no long railroad journeys to make or trunks to continually pack and unpack. I repeat, the motion pictures have a great future, and I hope to become more and more strongly identified with that future.” At any rate, the name of Tyrone Power has become pretty strongly identified with the movies. The present wearer of it is just making his thirteenth appearance in a starring role in “Day-Time Wife.” Last year he was starred in a mere £2,000,000 worth of motion pictures. And, all in all, the “little son” of twenty-five years ago has fulfilled the hopes that were centered on him—and on the movies.