Powers, John Robert
- Yanek Mieczkowski
Extract
Powers, John Robert (14 September 1896–19 July 1977), modeling agency executive, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, the son of John Richard Powers and Margaret Sheridan, farmers. Powers graduated from Easton Academy and briefly attended Lafayette College. Then he struck out for New York City, where he aspired to a career in acting. He managed to land small parts in silent films and with theatrical stock companies, and he worked for two years as an understudy and stage manager for Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. But Powers’s thespian efforts met with a tepid reaction from both associates and audiences. As he recalled, “I never had my entrances greeted by a burst of applause. Producers and audiences alike were unimpressed. Kindly producers told me that I was wasting my talents; the rest told me bluntly that I was wasting their time” ( ...
