Theatre - Miscellaneous

"Long runs in the theatre should be abolished." A Quite Remarkable Father, pg. 5

speaking of the notices Howard received for his performance in John Galsworthy's Escape: 

"The critics must have had a very good dinner" A Quite Remarkable Father, pg. 144

After This Side Idolatry flopped in London, although Howard received praise: "You know really, I simply cannot understand what has happened to the theatre over there [London] lately. They absolutely refuse to patronize anything that is serious. Revues, musical comedies, thrillers, and, above all, farces, seem to flourish like nothing you have ever seen. But when it comes to a drama of genuine merit—they just don't want to see it." "Leslie Howard Didn't Want To Come Back," Modern Screen, March, 1934

excerpt from Leslie Howard's Lucky Coin:

Howard returns alone to New York to appear in The Cardboard Lover with Laurette Taylor. 

"We rehearsed for a long while, then the play had its tryout in Great Neck, Long Island.

"Sadly enough, it was a failure, or shall I call it a flop, as you say in America?

"Oh, I can laugh at the experience now, but frankly I was heartbroken. I'd taken the last money we had to make the trip, anticipating that my previous success would herald a new and greater triumph. And I admit I was a disillusioned, discouraged, very thin and very hungry young actor out of work when the thing blew up.

"I came back to New York and hid away in a shabby, little room on a side street, wondering why I'd ever come from England on so thin a chance. I was terribly lonely. I walked the streets for hours, gazing into shop windows to take my mind off the disappointment which stayed with me like a nightmare.

"I was sitting disconsolately on the side of my bed one morning trying to figure out whom I could see next about getting a job, when the little envelope arrived, with the gold piece, from Ruth. I slipped it into my pocket and started out—really to buy some breakfast.

"At the corner of Broadway and Forty-Sixth Street, I ran into an acquaintance, a fellow I'd met while doing the rounds of theatrical offices.

"'Haven't you heard the news?' he shouted at me with great enthusiasm. 'Miller's going to try Her Cardboard Lover again—this time with Jeanne Eagels. Better hike up there and make a try for the part.'

"I rushed over to Gilbert Miller's office and was greeted with open arms. They'd been looking all over town for me. And there I had been, sitting in a shabby, little side-street room wondering where I'd find a job."

"Leslie Howard's Lucky Coin," Photoplay, March, 1934

"A certain part of the theater, which has been dying for the past 100 years, did die a natural death and that was the part that went into talking pictures. The public would rather see a bad movie than a bad play because it is so much cheaper. Those at the head of the motion picture industry still find it hard to believe that the public wants anything in the way of motion pictures that is worth while. Despite talking pictures the theatre is still able to exist as a living, breathing organization." "Calls 12 Good Plays Enough for New York," The New York Times, January 22, 1930


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