Murray Hill

According to Leslie Ruth Howard in her book A Quite Remarkable Father, Murray Hill was a play her father worked on for many years and which went through continual revision including the following titles: Higginbotham, Tweedie, Tweedie Gets Married, The Man From Crumbles, A Farce In Three Acts, Collecting Cousins, Tell Me the Truth and Elizabeth Sleeps Out.

Murray Hill, according to Ronald Howard, was named for a "respectable locality of seedy retirement in New York where the action takes place—the principal characters were three maiden ladies who lived, concealed from the world, behind the shutters of an ancient, 'brownstone' house. Totally divorced from contemporary time, they existed oblivious of 'speakeasies', short skirts or 'The Charleston'."

Leslie Howard played in the Boston production until at least September 3 when the show was scheduled to end its tryout there, but Howard may have been there even longer. The play continued in Boston (until at least 9 October 1927) even after the company—organized for the New York production—left for try-outs in Wilmington, at the Shubert Playhouse on September 16th and 17th, and Philadelphia, at the Adelphi Theatre on September 24th. The play was originally scheduled to be shown at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York on September 19 according to newspaper notices, but actually played at the Bijou beginning on September 29.

Murray Hill* by Leslie Howard
Copley Square Theatre†, Boston
Author • Staged by Leslie Howard
Rôle: Wrigley
Total Performances by Howard: unknown • The play ran for a total of 10 weeks
8/13/1927 - 9/3/1927 (date New York production left Boston)

*OCLC WorldCat Entry Murray Hill
*OCLC WorldCat Entry Murray Hill
*BAnQ Entry Murray Hill
ref: Miscellaneous Notices Pre-New York
ref: New York Times • "New Plays in the Provinces" 08/21/1927
†Copley Square Theatre, 188 Dartmouth Street, later entrance at 461 Stuart Street

Murray Hill* by Leslie Howard
Bijou Theatre, New York
Author • Staged by Leslie Howard
Rôle: Wrigley
Total Performances: 28
9/29/1927 - c. 10/1927

*OCLC WorldCat Entry Murray Hill
*OCLC WorldCat Entry Murray Hill
*BAnQ Entry Murray Hill
ref: Eforgan, p. 74 and Theatre and Film Work Index
ref: Howard, L. ed. with R. Howard, pp. 101-106
ref: Howard, L. R., pp. 95, 119, 126, 137-9, 141, 171
ref: Howard, R., Plays Index
ref: IBDb.com Leslie Howard Page
ref: IBDb.com Murray Hill
ref: Inafferrabile Leslie Howard, Theatre - Murray Hill • Includes company and cast information, reviews and photos
ref: Miscellaneous Notices Post-New York
ref: Leslie Howard brought Murray Hill to his radio show, Leslie Howard's Matinée, which aired over the CBS networks on February 9, 1936. Lurene Tuttle, who appeared with Howard in the radio production, had appeared in the play when it was presented as Elizabeth Sleeps Out at the President Theatre in Los Angeles in 1930. Following are notices regarding the radio show: St. Louis Post-Dispatch 02/09/1936, The Cincinnati Enquirer 02/09/1936, The Hammond Times 02/12/36
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Misc. Article • "Playwright Actors" 10/09/1927
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Caricature of Leslie Howard 10/09/1927
ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Review A. Pollock 09/30/1927
ref: Enquirer, Cincinnati Review 10/09/1927
ref: New York Times Review J. B. Atkinson • "The Play" 09/30/1927
ref: New York Times Biography of a Play • "An Actor Turns Playwright" 10/02/1927
ref: Pittsburgh Press Mini Review 10/09/1927
ref: Program in PDF
ref: Publicity Addendum to Murray Hill Play Book with suggestions on how to advertise when producing the play
ref: Wearing, p. 603

See also Collecting Cousins • Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne May 1928
See also Tell Me the Truth • London 1928 - 64 performances
See also Elizabeth Sleeps Out • London 1934; New York 1936 - 44 performances; Many other repertory productions

Read Leslie Howard's story about his experience directing and starring in his play Murray Hill: "One Man Theatre"

[Play]

[Program from a 1936-1941 Federal Theatre production]

[Murray Hill at the Adelphi,
The Philadelphia Enquirer, 24 September 1927]

[Leslie Howard by Hane T. Hentdrix*, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 9 October 1927]

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