Howard Meets Davis - Part One

[Leslie Howard on the set for Of Human Bondage, 1934]

Leslie Howard's initial experience with Bette Davis was one of disinterest and disapproval.

Howard was in England during the summer of 1933. Having completed Columbia's first film there, The Lady Is Willing (1934), Howard moved on to the Talbot Jennings play This Side Idolatry set in 1592 London with Howard acting as Shakespeare. According to Howard's daughter,
Leslie Ruth, Howard was fraught with anxiety in the weeks leading up to the opening of the play. His "part was long, the staging was complicated, and the play was difficult to pull together."(1) Howard retired to his country house, Stowe Maries, and did not even appear for the dress rehearsal. But Howard pulled it all together for opening night and although the play, which ran at the Lyric Theatre in London, failed miserably in just a few weeks, Howard received positive reviews.(2)

Howard was being pressed to return to Hollywood and had turned down a chance to do a film with Greta Garbo which made headlines.(1) Howard's contract with RKO left him obligated to do one more film but he had the right to approve the story. Wanting to remain at home in England for Christmas Howard came up with a plan. Calculating that no studio would be able to purchase the rights to Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, Howard said he would return to Hollywood only to make that film. Much to his surprise and dismay Pandro S. Berman accomplished the feat. Howard had no choice but to return to America.

To be continued...

(1) Howard, Leslie Ruth. A Quite Remarkable Father: A Biography of Leslie Howard. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1959
(2) The Times, October 20, 1933; Daily Mirror, October 20, 1933; The Yorkshire Post, October 20, 1933; Literary Digest, November 25, 1933

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