Programming Note

[Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (1931)]

A Free Soul to air on TCM Sunday, January 15, 2017, at 9:00 AM PST [Please check your local listings]

Never The Twain Shall Meet

[Leslie Howard and Conchita Montenegro
in Never the Twain Shall Meet, 1931]

[For those following my blog by email, this is my only scheduled post for the week and will be posted to Facebook in sections.]

The next Leslie Howard film to be shown on TCM (Monday, July 25, 11:00am PST) will be the 1931 MGM remake of Never the Twain Shall Meet with Conchita Montenegro. The Peter B. Kyne novel of the same

Programming Note - Rare Viewing Event

[Leslie Howard and Conchita Montenegro in
Never the Twain Shall Meet, 1931]

Never the Twain Shall Meet to air on TCM on Monday, July 25, at 11:00 AM PST [Please check your local listings]

This film is one of Leslie Howard's earliest ventures into talking films. The film is rarely shown and very hard to find on DVD. Never the Twain Shall Meet was produced and distributed by MGM. It was filmed on location in Tahiti. The south seas, Polynesian theme was very popular with movie goers at the time. Although the film isn't one of Howard's best, his performance was excellent as usual. The New York Times review stated "Mr. Howard comes through with another of his specimens of finished acting, investing his character with humor and

Acting vs. Horses

This week I have talked about Leslie Howard's dislike of acting vs. his love for horses. I am not one of those fortunate people who have spent my life around horses, but I know some who have. And those who have will tell you that people can learn a lot from horses. Horses challenge those who care for them to be better people. And horses are unpredictable. And, of course, horses are beautiful. All these qualities are opposite to Howard's feelings on acting.

Leslie Howard may not have liked acting, but just as he loved the beauty, challenge and unpredictability of horses, I love the beauty of his performances. I wish that Mr. Howard could have appreciated that his acting, for a great many people, was the same as his quiet talk to the horse that needed soothing.

Watching Leslie Howard on the screen is a beautiful thing. Just look at his eyes and you will see his despair after he kills Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) to protect the woman he loves (Norma Shearer) in A Free Soul (1931). Or feel his resignation with every movement of his hands when he realizes his wife, Cee (Myrna Loy), is manipulating him with sex, not love, to get his money in The Animal Kingdom (1932). See the shock and hurt on his face when Mildred Rogers (Bette Davis) screams the words he feared but always expected to hear, "a cripple, A Cripple, A CRIPPLE," in Of Human Bondage (1934). And then, in just the turning of his head, see his surprise and then disappointment when he realizes that Scarlet (Vivien Leigh) would strip him of all his dignity without a second thought in Gone With The Wind (1939).

I wish that Leslie Howard could have enjoyed acting the way he enjoyed horses. I wish that he had found acting a challenge. I wish that acting for him had not been so predictable and boring. And I wish that Mr. Howard had realized the beauty in his performances and how much they meant to his fans then and how much they would still be enjoyed nearly 100 years later by people like me. I wish that Leslie Howard had realized that in his acting there was artistry.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

[Leslie Howard by Reginald G. Eves]

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Too Tall for Leslie

Rehearsals began for The Animal Kingdom in November 1931. The play was to appear at the Broadhurst Theatre beginning in January, 1932. Leslie, the co-producer, was set to play Tom Collier and Bill Gargan had secured the part of his butler friend, "Red" Regan.

Katharine Hepburn had been cast in the part of Daisy Sage, Tom Collier's bohemian girlfriend. Hepburn only lasted through six days of rehearsal, though. According to Hepburn's biography, Me: Stories of My Life, she blamed Howard for her demise stating that she was too tall for him and that he was afraid she would run away with the play. In fact, Hepburn was at least three inches shorter than Howard and anyone who has studied Howard would know that he wouldn't care who emerged as the bigger star. As a matter of fact, the play's co-producer, Gilbert Miller, and the playwright, Philip Barry, thought Hepburn all wrong for the part. Even Bill Gargan noted that she was too inexperienced for the role which called for a passive femininity. A year later her performance in The Lake was panned by all the New York critics. Dorothy Parker wrote in The New Yorker that "she ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." [from Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor by Estel Eforgan]

Katharine didn't seem to hold a grudge though, as seen in the photo below.

[Leslie Howard and Katharine Hepburn
leaving a private screening at Jessie Lasky's
beach home in Santa Monica, May 12, 1933]

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A Free Soul

[Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer
in A Free Soul, 1931]

Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul, Produced and Distributed by MGM, Precode 1931. Best Actor Nomination and Win: Lionel Barrymore. Best Actress Nomination: Norma Shearer. Best Directing Nomination: Clarence Brown.

A Free Soul went into the Guinness Book for the longest take in a movie at 14 minutes. Many believe it was this scene that was responsible for Lionel Barrymore's Best Actor win that year. The film also made Clark Gable a star. It seems the audience liked to see him push Norma Shearer around. The studio reportedly received thousands of letters asking to see more of "the guy who slapped Norma Shearer."

Lobby Cards

What is a lobby card?

Everyone knows what a movie poster is. You have seen them in theatre window displays and movie house lobbies to advertise upcoming and currently running films.

But what is a lobby card? A lobby card is an 11 x 14 or 8 x 10 inch (landscape orientated) "poster" printed on heavy stock featuring a scene from the film advertised designed for display in a theatre's lobby or foyer with the intention of promoting the movie and are highly collectible. In the UK they are referred to as "Front of House" cards which may also refer to 8 x 10 inch cards or black and white stills.

They briefly summarize the movie in a series of captioned scenes. Usually there are 8 cards in a set, however there are also sets that have more or fewer cards, depending on the film's budget. The number of cards in a set can vary from as few as three to as many as 22 or more.

Lobby cards first appeared in the early 1910's. During the silent-era lobby cards were often nothing more than black and white or duotone stills which were eventually replaced by hand-tinted scenes and in the 1920's by full-color lobby cards.

Studios stopped producing lobby card sets for the American market sometime in the mid-1980's. After the mid-1980's, the only lobby card sets produced were for international releases.

[Lobby Card for Devotion, 1931]

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A Little Flat in the Temple

"'Do you feel all right, my darling?' Mrs. Harrington came into the library and stood behind her son's chair. As she looked down at his head she wondered if there were any torture to equal the torture of a mother when she realizes that her son is thinking about some woman who, ten to one, will make him wretched if he marries her." ~ from A Little Flat in the Temple by Pamela Wynne

I haven't held an actual physical book in years because I read everything on my Nook, but I learned about this book which was the basis for one of my favorite Leslie Howard movies, Devotion.

It has been out of print for eons and I could only find it on Amazon, but I just had to read it. It has that smell and feel of an old library book that has been held and poured over by hundreds of girls, all of whom probably read it under the covers at night hoping their mothers wouldn't find it and take it away. It is pretty racy for 1930.

Leslie Howard and Ann Harding in Devotion, Produced and Distributed by RKO, Directed by Robert Milton, Precode 1931

[Leslie Howard and Ann Harding
in Devotion, 1931]

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Marion Davies, Producer

Leslie Howard and Marion Davies in Five and Ten, Precode 1931.

Leslie Howard was just beginning his film career when Marion Davies saw him perform on stage in Berkeley Square, a role he reprised in a film of the same name the following year. Davies' company, Cosmopolitan Pictures, which operated out of MGM, was producing the film and Davies requested Howard for the part of Berry Rhodes. MGM Production Head, Irving G. Thalberg, had wanted another newcomer, Clark Gable, to play the part but Davies insisted on Howard stating that Clark Gable did not have the sophistication that the role required.

Rehearsals were held at Hearst Castle (Davies was Hearst's mistress) where Howard frequently went skinny dipping in the pool leading to rumors of a Howard/Davies romance.

[Leslie Howard and Marion Davies
in Five and Ten, 1931]

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