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]

My Chronology of Leslie Howard's Life

[Leslie Howard with his children, Doodie and Wink,
at their home Stowe Maries, at Dorking in Surrey c. 1939]

I have now been working on my "Chronology of Leslie Howard's Life" for months and have just made it halfway through his professional life—to 1930, where his movie career now begins. This is monumental for me. I cannot tell you how difficult it has been to put the pieces of Howard's life together in a meaningful sequence. I have outlined the reasons this is so arduous in a note which can only be viewed by clicking the link in the Chronology, or by clicking here. I am not going to rehash all those reasons in this post, but I will talk about the most primary among them.

I Know What It's Like to Be in Human Bondage, Continued

[Leslie Howard with his daughter Leslie Ruth "Doodie," c. 1926]

"He was not a great party-lover, which also endeared him to his children, and most parties, when I was small, found him sneaking up to my room like a conspirator and again dozing off on my bed. He was usually found out; someone would miss him, and my poor mother then had to play the villain and come searching for him. Suddenly, her voice would be heard

I Know What It's Like to Be in Human Bondage, Continued

[Leslie Howard with his children, Ronald and Leslie Ruth, c. 1930]

In August 1934, Gladys Hall interviewed Leslie Howard for Motion Picture Magazine. I do not know if Ms Hall realized before the interview began that Howard was at that moment so preoccupied with thoughts of his children, but she definitely knew it afterward. In one of the longest interviews Howard ever gave, he talks exclusively about his feelings on

I Know What It's Like to Be in Human Bondage

[Leslie Howard with his son and daughter, Ronald "Wink"
and Leslie Ruth "Doodie," in one of the last pictures they
took together before the start of WWII]

Following is an excerpt from an interview with Gladys Hall for Motion Picture Magazine printed in the August, 1934, issue:

I was reminded, as he talked, of a little incident Bette Davis told me about him when they were working on Of Human Bondage together. She said that Leslie was standing just off

Don't Expect A Happy Ending

The Petrified Forest (1936), which will be shown this Friday on TCM, was a product of Warner Bros. Warner's was frequently on the cutting edge of what movie audiences wanted to see. They produced the first talkies, the first horror films in color, and Warners was the studio to later become known for film noir, a movement in film that reflected society's angst and conflicts and is shot in low light and shadows, with pessimistic stories about shady characters and not so happy endings.

The Petrified Forest is considered by movie historians to be a precursor to film noir. The film itself is named after an area in the Arizona desert known for its fossilized trees, conjuring up a picture of the death and

Leslie Howard, The Early Years - Part Five

Leslie Ruth Howard, Leslie Howard's daughter, recounts in her book, A Quite Remarkable Father, that Leslie and Ruth then spent some time together at Mayfield, in Sussex. Leslie's regiment had moved there in preparation to deploy to France for the buildup prior to the Battle of the Somme. Ms Howard states that her father shipped out to France and was there for a time, returning at least once on leave. She remembers in detail a story told to her of how her grandmother, while walking down a London street with her mother and not expecting her father back from the Front, heard a voice call out to Ruth. Turning to look, her grandmother saw a khaki figure covered in mud and told her daughter-in-law, "I think that soldier called to you, Ruth dear." Ruth recognized Leslie and ran to him (much like Melanie runs to Ashley in Gone With The Wind) and embraced him while crying out, "Oh darling! Never mind my suit–thank God you're home!"

Ms Howard goes on to state that after returning to France, it seems Leslie's nerves gave out and Leslie was sent home with "a case of severe shell shock." According to Estel Eforgan in her book, Leslie relinquished his commission on May 18, 1916, having no record of ever seeing action in France. She states that "from the few records that are left, April and May 1916 were relatively quiet times." However, one of the largest and longest battles, the Battle of Verdun, was being waged in northeastern France and since Ms Eforgan can produce no record at all it may be possible the records are incomplete and that Mr. Howard saw action there. Leslie Ruth must have remembered her father's service in WWI based on stories she heard from her family and it is hard for me to imagine her parents and her grandmother fabricating a story of Leslie's war service for the benefit of a child. She later recounted that her father suffered from night terrors especially when traveling in sleeping compartments on trains because of his experience during the war. We will never know for sure. However, because his life was eventually cut short by the German Luftwaffe during WWII, what does it matter? He fought in the war, even if as a civilian, and he died because of it.

Although Leslie and Ruth were living with his family during his recovery, Leslie knew that he must find a way to support the two of them if he wanted to be independent of his father. Ruth was working for the War Office but her pay would not support the two of them. Frank wanted him to return to clerking for Cox, but that suggestion fell on deaf ears. Lilian suggested Leslie try the theatre, she was convinced his future lay there, and so Leslie knocked on the doors of agent after agent after agent day after day after day until finally he knocked on the door of Mr. Ackerman May.

[Leslie Howard, 1924]

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email

Dear Brutus

Leslie Howard was not only an accomplished writer, producer, director and actor on film and in the theater, he appeared on the radio as well.

Here is a show he did for The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour, also known as The Rudy Vallee Show, for the NBC Blue Network, June 27, 1935. The show stars Leslie and his daughter, Leslie Ruth, aged 10. This episode is an encore to a show father and daughter did six weeks earlier which received an unprecedented outpouring of requests for a repeat from fans who missed the original episode and heard about it from their friends. It was the first time in the history of the show that a performance was repeated. The Howards' success led to their being featured on the cover of Radio Guide, February 22, 1936. Leslie had to be convinced to allow his daughter to appear with him on the cover.

[Leslie Howard and his daughter, Leslie Ruth,
appear on the cover of Radio Guide]
Radio Guide, February 22, 1936

Howard was a shy man and although he was happy about the success of the show and the acclaim his daughter received for her performance he often felt exploited by his own fame and he was wary of the sudden attention that was being focused on his daughter.

Leslie and Leslie Ruth are performing a short scene, "The Enchanted Forest," from James M. Barrie's, Dear Brutus. They are performing before a live studio audience. I have added photos taken the day they appeared. I have edited the original program to only the Howards' appearance and to add Leslie Ruth's brief interview which actually appeared at the end of the show. The complete show is available at: Fleishmann's Yeast Hour/Rudy Vallee Full Show, Dear Brutus, June 27, 1935. (Joe Louis appears at the end of the show.) The audio is very good except for a bit of static during the audience applause.

The Rudy Vallee Show, Dear Brutus, June 27, 1935

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, everyone! Hope you are all having a splendid time.

[Leslie Howard with his daughter, Leslie Ruth "Doodie" Howard,
and his son, Ronald "Winkie" Howard, enjoying themselves on the
beach in Bermuda, 1935]

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email

About Merle Oberon

Leslie Howard once quipped that he "didn't chase women but...couldn't be bothered to run away." During his career he had affairs with several of his leading ladies. But, according to Leslie Howard's daughter, Leslie Ruth "Doodie" Howard, her father fell passionately in love with Merle Oberon while filming The Scarlet Pimpernel during the summer of 1934.

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon, 1935]

Their relationship must have lasted for some time. The two were seen together all over London. Howard's behavior become rather embarrassing to his friends and associates, with several of them even asking him to tone it down. But the affair continued as they both returned to the States after completion of the film. Howard appeared devoted to Oberon. Apparently, he was considering leaving his family for Oberon, at her insistence. When Howard's wife, Ruth Martin Howard, became aware of this she flew to New York with the children in tow to confront Howard and remind him of his family responsibilities.

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon holding hands, 1934]

"Doodie" remembers that, at the tender age of ten years old, she was left alone with Oberon to "bond," in a step-motherly sort of way. She recalls that she must have been a real horror because Oberon told Howard that she didn't like his daughter. Howard adored "Doodie" (as evidenced in the many photographs he took of and with her throughout their lives) and the way she remembers it, Howard promptly ended his affair with Oberon.

Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

However, in January, 1935, after Howard began work in The Petrified Forest, Oberon appeared in New York ready for a showdown. Within a few days of her arrival, Howard was in the hospital too ill to report to work. Oberon had apparently triggered an attack of nerves and Howard developed boils. Not a very romantic ailment and not one for which Oberon was willing to administer aid. She took off and left Howard to repair his boils and the wounds he had caused to his family. He never again made the mistake of falling for one of his leading ladies. (He did have a long-term relationship with Violette Cunnington, but Cunnington was French and made it easy for Howard by, in the words of his son, agreeing to a "French solution," meaning no divorce.)

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email