Her Cardboard Lover

[Leslie Howard and Jeanne Eagels
in Her Cardboard Lover]

In early 1927 Leslie Howard began rehearsals for Her Cardboard Lover which was to open at the Empire Theatre in NYC on 21 March 1927. Howard's part was André Sallicel, a "romantic and penniless young ass who falls desperately in love with a wealthy woman from Paris." Howard was not the star of the show, he didn't even receive billing. The star
was Jeanne Eagels, playing the part of Simone, a wealthy woman from Paris who hires Sallicel (Howard) to pretend he is her lover in order to discourage her ex-husband from pursuing her.

Jeanne Eagels was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who got her big break on Broadway in the 1922 production of Rain based on the short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Eagels had an early history of drinking and taking drugs which may have caused the mood swings she displayed. Eagels died of drug and alcohol overdose in 1929 when she was just 39.

During rehearsals of Her Cardboard Lover, Eagels was difficult to please, demanding (even having the name of the play changed from The Cardboard Lover to Her Cardboard Lover), was often late, showed up drunk and fired actor after actor if they failed to win her approval. Her bad behavior was being talked about in the theater community. Eagels even attempted to direct Howard's performance, telling him how to play his part so as not to take the attention off her. She was Howard's worst nightmare and they fought often, with Howard walking out of rehearsals twice.(2) After a particularly gruesome argument, however, Howard changed his attitude and began to follow all her instructions, changing his performance into what Eagels wanted and expected.

Then came opening night. Howard played the part of André Sallicel. And he played the part exactly as he had always intended. The audience was mesmerized, and so was Eagels. One of the things that made Eagels great on stage was that she didn't just hear her queues, she really listened to her fellow actors' speeches. And now, because Howard was giving a performance she hadn't heard before, she couldn't deliver. One critic stated: "Miss Eagels lacks the style of scintillant comedy; and her conception of Simone in the current piece must be less than satisfying to herself."(1) At the end of the performance Howard left the stage and went straight to his dressing room, leaving Eagels to take all the applause alone. But the audience wasn't roaring for Eagels, it was roaring and calling for Howard. Howard ignored the calls along with Eagels insistent knocking on his door and her voice telling him, "Leslie, darling, it's you they're calling for."

One reviewer even wrote:

I do not wish to suggest that it was the gala audience who boorishly intruded on Miss Eagels' ovations by yelling for her leading man. The whole audience's response to his airy and adroit performance was audibly unanimous, but the mischievous shouting for him by name may have come from a mere handful. Why, if only those actors who had been ousted from the cast during rehearsals, because Miss Eagels did not approve of them, had managed to get seats, they could have worked the entire demonstration unaided.(5)

Did Leslie Howard treat all his out of work fellow thespians to a night at the theater? No. But it would have been a great story. Howard actually received rave reviews and even a mention in Variety basically stating that a new star had been born. Her Cardboard Lover would be Howard's breakout performance.


(1) Atkinson, J. Brooks. "The Play." The New York Times. 22 March 1927
(2) Colvin, Ian. Flight 777: The Mystery of Leslie Howard. Pen & Sword Aviation, 2013 ISBN 978-1-78159-016-4
(3) Howard, Leslie, ed. by Ronald Howard. Trivial Fond Records. London: William Kimber & Co Ltd, 1982 ISBN 978-0-7183-0418-8
(4) Howard, Leslie Ruth. A Quite Remarkable Father: The Biography of Leslie Howard. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co, 1959
(5) Woollcott, Alexander. Review. Sunday World. 22 March 1927


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