Programming Note

[Leslie Howard and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (1939)]

Gone With The Wind to air on TCM Thursday, February 9, at 9:00 PM PST [Please check your local listings]

Programming Note

[Leslie Howard and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (1939)]

Gone With The Wind to air on SundanceTV Thursday, November 24, at 10:00 AM PST [Please check your local listings]

Leslie Howard, Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland star in the top grossing movie of all time, Gone With The Wind. Produced by David O. Selznick, Directed by Victor Fleming and Screenplay by Sidney Howard, this film was delayed for two years while Selznick negotiated with MGM for Clark Gable and conducted an extensive "American Idol" type search for Scarlett O'Hara.

Top Awards:

Best Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Director - Victor Fleming
Best Actress - Vivien Leigh
Best Adapted Screenplay - Sidney Howard
Best Supporting Actress - Hattie McDaniel

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A Most Unappreciated Man

[Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind, 1939]

Leslie Howard definitely did not want the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind (1939). Howard thought Ashley to be "a dreadful milk-sop, totally spineless and negative." He found the character "unsure and vacillating, uncertain as a moth fluttering between lamps—the done-to instead of the doing man, torn between the opposing polarities of two

Monsieur Beaucaire

Today's show is Monsieur Beaucaire, a short novel written by Booth Tarkington (29 July 1869 - 19 May 1946) adapted into a radio play. It differs from the novel. Monsieur Beaucaire was produced for Lux Radio Theater and aired on CBS Radio Network June 21, 1937. It stars Leslie Howard, Elissa Landi, Pedro de Cordoba and Dennis Greene with an introduction by Cecil B. DeMille, Producer.

[Cecil B. DeMille always the showman, dressed in
jodhpurs, as producer of the CBS Radio Theatre, 1937]

Monsieur Beaucaire is in reality the Duke de Orleans, played by Leslie Howard, who wants to marry for love. His cousin, King Louis XV of France, had the Duke imprisoned for refusing to submit to his arranged marriage. He has escaped to England and has fallen in love with Lady Mary. The story follows his efforts to win her love. Howard was fluent in many languages, including French, and does a very good job with his French accent.

Also appearing on the show is Ray Jones, a photographer for Paramount in the 1930's. He gives a very interesting explanation of how still photography is used in film. If you are like me and watch your favorite movies over and over again until you know every scene, you may have wondered, as I have, why there are so many photos of movie scenes (production stills) that never appeared in the movie itself. This segment will answer your questions.

Evelyn Keyes appears in a commercial for Lux Soap. You will remember her as Suellen O'Hara, Scarlett's sister, in Gone With The Wind (1939). At the time of this broadcast she had just been "discovered" by Cecil B. DeMille. If you are a fan of Gone With The Wind, you may remember that the production had been delayed many times. However, David O. Selznick used the delays to create a buzz for his film by advertising his search for Scarlett, holding casting calls all over the country (sort of like American Idol). The search for Scarlett always reminded me of the search for Cinderella. As Evelyn is leaving the studio, DeMille says what I think is, "Goodnight, Scarlett." It could have been, "Goodnight, starlet." I'm not sure. But I am sure that in 1937, Evelyn Keyes would have been salivating over the part of Scarlett, just like a million other girls.

[Evelyn Keyes, 20 November 1916 - 4 July 2008]

At the end of the show the announcer tells the audience that next week's guest will be Amelia Earhart who is at that time in Java. Earhart has promised to appear on the show in two weeks if she is late from her flight around the world. Of course, we now know that Earhart never makes it back.

[Amelia Earhart, c. 1935]

At the end of the show Howard discusses his plans for the near future. He never made either of the two movies he talks about. There was a sequel made to The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935), but Howard did not reprise his role. Bonnie Prince Charlie was made in 1948, after Howard's death, and starred David Niven. Howard did film Stand-in (1937) with Humphrey Bogart and Joan Blondell and then went on to film It's Love I'm After (1937) with Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, a film which can be seen in July on TCM.

[Leslie Howard and Elissa Landi are being introduced to CBS radio
audiences by Cecil B. DeMille for the Lux Radio Theatre
production of Monsieur Beaucaire, June 21, 1937]

[Leslie Howard and Elissa Landi in the Lux Radio Theatre

production of Monsieur Beaucaire, June 21, 1937]

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Programming Note

[Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer on
the set of Romeo and Juliet, 1936]

Romeo and Juliet to air on TCM on Thursday, June 30, at 12:15 AM PST [Please check your local listings]

Adapted from the play by Shakespeare, Leslie Howard appears in this film from 1936 directed by George Cukor and co-starring Norma Shearer as Juliet. The screenplay is by Talbot Jennings. The supporting cast includes John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, Edna Mae Oliver and Andy Devine.

The New York Times selected the film as one of the "Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made."

On the night of the Los Angeles premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre Norma Shearer's husband and the producer of the film, Irving Thalberg, died at the age of 37. Of course, the show still went on.

The picture received four Academy Award nominations:

Best Picture - Irving Thalberg

Best Actress - Norma Shearer

Best Supporting Actor - Basil Rathbone

Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope and Edwin B. Willis

[Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in
Gone With The Wind, 1939]

Gone With The Wind to air on TCM Friday, July 1, at 6:15 PM PST [Please check your local listings]

Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland star in the top grossing movie of all time, Gone With The Wind. Produced by David O. Selznick, Directed by Victor Fleming and Screenplay by Sidney Howard, this film was delayed for two years while Selznick negotiated with MGM for Clark Gable and conducted an extensive "American Idol" type search for Scarlett O'Hara.

Top Awards:

Best Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Director - Victor Fleming
Best Actress - Vivien Leigh
Best Adapted Screenplay - Sidney Howard
Best Supporting Actress - Hattie McDaniel

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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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More Inward Bound

Outward Bound (1930) was Leslie Howard's first "talkie." By this time he already had an extensive background in the theatre, having authored, acted in and directed his own productions many times. He had also appeared in many silent films.

It's hard to figure out why Howard ever acted at all. He never felt himself suited to the profession and he didn't seem to enjoy the process. He once wrote:

"First of all, let me admit that I am one of those unfortunate persons to whom any kind of public appearance is an embarrassment...from the moment when...I got my first job on the stage and sheepishly daubed my face with greasepaint, I had an inner conviction that this was the most embarrassing occupation in the world. And this belief, far from being modified by experience, I find only to be intensified by the years."

His real love was writing. But he considered himself to be lazy, unable to apply himself in that solitary confinement required by the writer. His friends and family, however, asserted that he was far from lazy.

After appearing in Gone With The Wind, he returned to England somewhat disillusioned and angry. And he actually feared that England might not win the war against Germany. But Howard would do his best to see a different outcome. He worked tirelessly creating films to bolster his countrymen's spirits and determination. Howard also appeared on radio broadcasts heard in America and traveled throughout Europe attempting to bolster the support of England's allies. It was on such a trip that his civilian aircraft was shot down by Nazis over the Bay of Biscay.

Unfortunately, Howard would never be able to experience the joy that so many others felt when the enemies of peace were eventually vanquished. Ronald Howard, Leslie Howard's son, in speaking of his father's short time on earth in Leslie Howard: Trivial Fond Records said "that was his destiny, to end his life incomplete, as if on the penultimate note of an unfinished concerto."

[Leslie Howard in a publicity photo
for Outward Bound, 1930]

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That Kiss

That kiss was a magical thing,
My heart did fly and the angels did sing
Oh oh oh....

~ That Kiss by Tiffany Alvord

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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A Little Romance

I have often asked myself what it was about Leslie Howard that got me to notice him and why I stay so hooked.

If I believed in reincarnation I would surmise that I had met him in a previous life because he is very personal to me. We all have those people we see up on the big screen, or even the small screen, that we feel a connection to. Well, I feel that connection to him.

But then again, it may be the roles he played. Maybe I just like men who are walking tragedies. You know, those men who need the love of a good woman, with me being the good woman. Hmmm, is that it?

I think more likely, though, it is the way he loved the women in his films. You can see that he adored women, he exalted women. The way he held his female stars, especially while dancing, shows how tender and caring he was. And when he kissed a woman, he held her so close he sometimes lost his balance while enveloping her. You can see him balance himself against the wall as he falls forward while kissing Vivien Leigh in the Paddock Scene in Gone With The Wind. And the way he seems to naturally hold and kiss the hands of all his female actors--it's so gentle, so loving.

Leslie Howard once said, "What the actor is in private life, he is to a large extent on the stage, because he cannot conceal himself and his true personality from his audience." But where some people associate Leslie Howard with his roles, I associate him with the feeling he conveys, the need and the availability for love and connection. He may have been a man always falling in love, not realizing what he was getting in to, in the movies and out, but he was always falling in love. But as Hilary Lynn noted in Photoplay, August, 1933, Howard exhibits "more of a frail tenderness, of worshipful adoration, than of engulfing passion." Lynn goes on to say that "Howard's screen wooing indicates clearly that it's the woman herself who matters to him--not the fact of being in love, nor the fleeting pleasure of making love." Leslie Howard always conveyed, in comedy or drama, that women made the world livable and women made living worthwhile. I kind of like that.

[Leslie Howard, c. 1934]

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See You Monday

It's the weekend everybody. Have a good one! I'm outta here.

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In Appreciation of a Kinder, Gentler Man

In the February 8, 1935, edition of the The New York Times Andre Sennwald reviews The Scarlet Pimpernel.

The New York Times Review, by Andre Sennwald, February 8, 1935

Sennwald says of Howard's performance, he "minces so expertly, plays the fool so well, that not even Chauvelin, the deadliest of the Pimpernel's foes, suspects this simpering dandy to be the bravest and shrewdest gentleman in all the world." Mr. Sennwald goes on to state "that Leslie Howard's newest performance is also his best" and that "Mr. Howard is the Pimpernel himself."

This brings to mind the criticism I have seen of Leslie Howard over the years. Not Sir Percy Blakeney, but Leslie Howard. Some people seem to think that Mr. Howard is the fop he played in The Scarlet Pimpernel. And, likewise, there are those who see him as the abused and put-upon figure Philip Carey from Of Human Bondage. Many people also choose to think he is actually the weak and indecisive Ashley Wilkes he portrayed in Gone With The Wind.

Honestly, I have never read Gone With The Wind. It is on my Bucket List. However, my view of Ashley Wilkes isn't as simple as labeling him indecisive, ineffectual, a milquetoast, lacking in honor, or wimpy. But that discussion is for another post at another time.

The fact that movie watchers seem to want to paint the man Leslie Howard with the same brush as they do his characters Blakeney, Carey and Wilkes merely proves what a fine actor he was. Howard was one of the few British actors who returned to England at the onset of WWII. And Howard and his family probably lost upwards of $40 million in box office receipts from Gone With The Wind for that decision. Many of the British producers, directors and actors who worked in Hollywood at that time decided to just ride out the war in their comfy Beverly Hills homes and they didn't even have as much to lose as Mr. Howard.

Leslie Howard gave up his life, not just for his country, but for all of humanity. He knew what he was fighting for and he was worried that it could get him killed. But he did it anyway. He didn't die as a soldier, but as a civilian in a civilian aircraft shot down by the Nazis. But he could have been considered a soldier for what was right. And all soldiers are not cut from the same mold. They aren't all macho or naturally aggressive. But they are all brave. And they are all heroes.

[Leslie Howard, c. 1935]

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Reticence

Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, 1939.

Leslie Howard said of his role, "I hate the damn part. I'm not nearly beautiful or young enough for Ashley, and it makes me sick being fixed up to look attractive." Howard did not attend the opening in Atlanta as he had hurried back to London to help in the war effort. By doing this, he forfeited all his royalties from the film. He was disgusted by the price being charged in England to see the film because England was already at war with Germany. His sister said later that the family never saw the movie because of Howard's strong feelings about it. It was his last Hollywood movie.

Gone With The Wind, 1939

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