Leslie Howard: Her Cardboard Lover

The Cardboard Lover* by Jacques Deval
Out-of-Town Tryouts
Adapted by Valerie Wyngate
Rôle: André Sallicel with Laurette Taylor
9/25/26 - c. 10/1926

Leslie Howard began rehearsals on The Cardboard Lover, as it was originally known*, in the late summer of 1926 at the Eltinge Theatre in New York. The play opened in Great Neck at the Great Neck Playhouse on 25 September 1926 and then toured Stamford, Connecticut, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. It was in mid-fall that Gilbert Miller decided not to open the play in New York as was planned. Miller then announced in January, 1927, that he would reopen the play in March with Jeanne Eagels replacing Laurette Taylor. The play went on to be a huge success.

*The play's name change from The Cardboard Lover to Her Cardboard Lover has always been credited to Jeanne Eagels in a somewhat unflattering manner. However, the play was being called Her Cardboard Lover in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as early as opening night at the Great Neck Playhouse, 25 September 1926, while Laurette Taylor was still associated with the play.

*OCLC WorldCat Entry Dans sa Candeur Naïve, Comédie en Trois Actes
*OCLC WorldCat Entry Dans sa Candeur Naïve, Comédie en Trois Actes
ref: Howard, L. R., pp. 109, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121-2, 123, 124, 126
ref: Miscellaneous Notices
ref: Ogden Standard-Examiner • "Percy Hammond's News Letter" 05/23/1926
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle • "Theatre Goings-On" 08/17/1926

Read about Leslie Howard's remembrance of this time period in "Leslie Howard's Lucky Coin."

Her Cardboard Lover* by Jacques Deval
Empire Theatre†, New York
Adapted by Valerie Wyngate and P. G. Wodehouse
Rôle: André Sallicel with Jeanne Eagels
Total Performances: 152
3/21/1927 - c. 8/1927

"The first scene is laid in the Bar of the Baccarat Room at the Pergola in Hendaye. Simone [Jeanne Eagels] is the divorced wife of Tony Lagorce, Stanley Logan, whom she still loves, but dreads to go back to because he makes her so unhappy. André Sallicel [Leslie Howard] is in love with her, but he has no money. He follows her into the gambling room, and loses far more money to her than he has in the world, so to save herself from following her inclinations to return to her faithless husband, who is trying to get her back, she has the brilliant idea of making André pay off his debt to her by being her lover to all appearances, but not in reality, and by always being present when her husband tries to get her to go back. She repents of the bargain many times, but André will not be gotten rid of, which causes great fun through the three acts of the play." C. G. H., Brooklyn Life, 26 March 1927

To read a what George Halasz of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had to say of Leslie Howard's struggle for recognition and what happened on the opening night of Her Cardboard Lover, click here. For my post regarding the incident, click here.

*OCLC WorldCat Entry Her Cardboard Lover
*OCLC WorldCat Entry Dans sa Candeur Naïve, Comédie en Trois Actes
*OCLC WorldCat Entry Dans sa Candeur Naïve, Comédie en Trois Actes
ref: Eforgan, Theatre and Film Work Index
ref: Howard, L. ed. with R. Howard, pp. 57-59, 63-64, 101
ref: Howard, L. R., pp. 126-34, 137, 139, 143
ref: Howard, R., Plays Index
ref: IBDb.com Leslie Howard Page
ref: IBDb.com Her Cardboard Lover
ref: Inafferrabile Leslie Howard, Theatre - Her Cardboard Lover • Includes company and cast information, synopsis and reviews
ref: Brooklyn Life Miscellaneous Notice 03/05/1927
ref: Scranton Republican M. Hayes • "The Drama Here and Elsewhere" 06/20/1927
ref: Brooklyn Life Review C.G.H. 03/26/1927
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Review G. Halasz • "The Curtain Rises" 03/27/1927
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Review A. Pollock • "Plays and Things" 04/03/1927
ref: Courier-Journal Commentary A. Woollcott • "Second Thoughts on First Nights" 03/27-1927
ref: Detroit Free Press Review B. Mantle 03/27/1927
ref: Enquirer, Cincinnati Review F. Schrader 04/03/1927
ref: Ogden Standard-Examiner P. Hammond • "Percy Hammond's Letter" 03/27/1927
ref: Pittsburgh Press Review J. Powers 04/03/1927
ref: New York Times Review J. B. Atkinson • "The Play" 03/22/1927
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Leslie Howard and Jeanne Eagels Sketches in PDF
ref: Museum of the City of New York Her Cardboard Lover Photo Collection
ref: Program in PDF
†Empire Theatre, 1430 Broadway (40th & 41st), New York, NY