This is a story inspired by one press photo of Tyrone Power and Ida Lupino standing at an NBC radio microphone, taken in February, 1939.
The year 1939 is frequently mentioned as the best ever for Hollywood films, with legendary films such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, along with many other classics, released. That same year, Tyrone Power and Jeannette MacDonald were voted "King and Queen of the Movies" by readers of syndicated columnist Ed Sullivan's column. For Power, it had been a quick rise to movie superstardom over the previous three years at 20th Century-Fox.
At the same time, radio, despite being a relatively new entertainment medium, had become huge business with gigantic audiences. Hollywood jumped aboard by the second half to the 1930s and was eagerly exposing its stars over the airwaves to publicize their own productions. In that vein, Tyrone Power was given his own radio program in late 1937: Hollywood Playhouse. The show was a 30-minute dramatic anthology series, airing Sunday night at 9 P.M. Eastern time on NBC, and sponsored by Woodbury Soap.
In early 1939, though, Power abruptly left the program. The press caption on this Feb. 5 photo of Power with his last guest star, Ida Lupino, said:
"Movie King Says Farewell to Radio
"Hollywood, Calif. — Sacrificing approximately $5000 per week for his work on radio programs, movie king Tyrone Power yesterday said goodbye to the radio because theater managers complained that his programs on the air were drawing crowds from the moving pictures. Ty’s boss, Darryl Zanuck, vice president of 20th Century-Fox, complied with requests of the theater men by convincing the film king to confine his activities to the screen.
"Photo shows Tyrone Power and actress Ida Lupino at the Hollywood NBC studio yesterday when Power made his last appearance on the air for the Woodbury Co."
Power's departure was announced only four days before his final appearance. At that time, some press reports suggested it was the first sign that Hollywood was about to sever its relationship with the radio industry. A couple of the more sensational headlines: "Tyrone Off Air in Screen War Against Radio" (New York Daily News, Feb. 2, 1939) and "Finish War Looms Between Movie Industry and Radio Business" (Stockton Daily Evening Record, Feb. 2, 1939).
Zanuck's quotes in these and other articles at the time certainly fed the impression of a looming battle. He said:
"We have no quarrel with radio, but there is great validity in the insistence of theater exhibitors who contend they are being severely injured because the airlanes are so crowded with screen personalities.
"Not only the theaters but the stars themselves are endangered because it is so difficult to get adequate material for these air programs, especially when they must present something new every week. Film companies spend thousands of dollars and months of time preparing for the single appearance on the screen of any one of their stars. By its very nature, radio cannot exercise such care for the protection of a player.
"The screen and radio can continue to help each other when they cooperate for mutual benefit, but the situation today is such that unless stern measures are taken both must suffer." (United Press, Feb. 1, 1939)
Despite this statement, most entertainment reporters and columnists remained skeptical about any substantial change in cooperation between the two industries. The same article that quoted Zanuck above quickly mentioned that the Power's fellow 20th Century-Fox star Don Ameche would continue his Sunday night radio appearances on the Chase & Sanborn Hour.
"Power, while far outranking Ameche as a box office draw, has played a poor second fiddle to his colleague among radio audiences. Power's program, according to the latest Crosley rating, is 15.1, while Ameche, [Edgar] Bergen and company are rated at 46."
The Associated Press wrote that "little support was forthcoming elsewhere in Hollywood for the 20th Century-Fox head's opinion that radio hurts movie actors at the box office." Anonymous quotes from radio people poked at Zanuck, pointing out that "Mr. Power's radio rating has never been particularly high," and contradicting Zanuck's story by claiming that "Mr. Power quit the program in an argument over an introduction of a commercial announcement between acts of his play." (Buffalo News, Feb. 2, 1939)
The day after Power's final program aired, radio columnist Hugh Doddridge added some details to this last claim.
"During rehearsals for his broadcast of January 29, Power got into quite a beef with the agency producer over the policy of handling 'commercials'. Power served notice that should the sponsor continue to demand that the broadcast be broken up in the middle with an announcement, he would quit. The commercial announcement, nevertheless, was spotted as usual. Power, in quite a huff, called it quits!" (Highland Park News-Herald, Feb. 6, 1939)
Doddridge added that Zanuck took advantage of this dispute for publicity. The sure sign that nothing would change between Hollywood and radio was that the replacement for Power would be fellow movie star Charles Boyer.
As for Power's final appearance on Hollywood Playhouse, where the photograph that started this story was taken, New York Daily News columnist Ben Gross wrote: "Tyrone Power and Ida Lupino appeared in a very conventional and mechanical skit, 'And Ensuing Complications'. It isn't surprising that Zanuck has ordered Ty off the air, if juvenile stuff like this is the best material available."
Unfortunately, we cannot listen to this show and decide about its quality for ourselves. According to Wikipedia and its sources, no broadcasts of the Hollywood Playhouse during Power's tenure are known to exist in radio collections.
Zanuck did not keep Tyrone Power off the air for very long. One show that is still available is Power's appearance on The Screen Guild Theater on Jan. 7, 1940, less than year after the incidents just described. He played alongside Humphrey Bogart and Joan Bennett in an adaptation of The Petrified Forest. Listen here.
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