They Seek Him Here, They Seek Him There

Leslie Howard and Edmund Breon in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Produced by Alexander Korda and London Films. Distributed by United Artists. Directed by Harold Young. Released in the UK December 23, 1934 and in the US February 7, 1935.

Leslie Howard and Edmund Breon in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

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A Very Hungarian Affair

Baroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosalie Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy, born in 1865, was the daughter of aristocrat Baron Felix Orczy, a Hungarian-Jewish musician and composer, who left his homeland in 1868 with his young family after their home was vandalized by peasants. They eventually settled in London. Baron Orczy wanted his daughter to study music but she opted for art school instead. This is where she met her husband, Montagu Barstow. Orczy wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel herself in just five weeks but could not find a publisher for the book. So, together with her husband, she wrote a play based on the book which was produced for the stage in 1903. The novel was then published in 1905.

Enter Alexander Korda who was born in 1893 in what is now Hungary and who had formed his own production company, London Films. It was Korda who originally put The Scarlet Pimpernel on film. Korda had actually wanted Charles Laughton for the title role, but by that time the public already had an idea of what Sir Percy Blakeney looked like and it wasn't Charles Laughton.

And this leads us to our star, Leslie Howard. Howard was born Leslie Howard Steiner to a British mother, Lilian (née Blumberg), and a Hungarian-Jewish father, Ferdinand Steiner. Although born in England, Howard did live for a time in Vienna, Austria, where his father wanted the family to experience the richness of the cultural innovation and intellectual brilliance happening there. That experience is said to have influenced Howard for the rest of his life.

Leslie Howard and Walter Rilla
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

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The Scarlet Pimpernel

Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Produced by Alexander Korda and London Films. Distributed by United Artists. Released in the UK December 23, 1934 and in the US February 7, 1935.

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

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Adoring Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman in Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1939.

Ok, I just had to add this one because it strikes me that I would look at him just like that if he was sitting next to me.

[Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman in
Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1939]

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Beginnings and Endings

Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman, Edna Best, Ann E. Todd, Cecil Kellaway and John Halliday in Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1939.

This was Ingrid Bergman's introduction to Hollywood and except for Gone With The Wind released later the same year, Leslie Howard's last. The plane in which he was a passenger would be shot down by a Luftwaffe fighter pilot over the Bay of Biscay on June 1, 1943, before he could return to the United States.

Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1939

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Al Sack, Violinist

Leslie Howard, Ann E. Todd and Ingrid Bergman in Intermezzo: A Love Story, Produced by David O. Selznick, 1939.

In this scene where you see Leslie Howard playing the violin you are actually seeing the left hand of Al Sack, a violinist who bore a striking resemblance to Leslie Howard, from a distance. It is hard to imagine that Mr. Sack could kneel in back of Leslie Howard, reach his arm around him, and still look authentic. Sack did teach Mr. Howard the proper posture and bowing technique, but the finger movements are all his. Al Sack also appears in the long shots where it seems that Leslie Howard is playing the violin from a standing position.

Intermezzo: A Love Story, 1939

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The Southeast Missourian

From The Southeast Missourian, September 1, 1937:

Star Chasing.

Leslie Howard is a hard fellow to keep track of. Absentminded, maybe. He wanders off the set between takes, and half an hour later frantic searchers find him on another stage or maybe just strolling alone on the back lot.

'Tay Garnett, directing Stand-in, has had quite a time restraining the restless Mr. Howard. The other day, after a take, several burly fellows took him in custody before he had a chance to get away.

With the gentleness due a star, they tied him up and clapped leg irons on him. Garnett finally placed him on probation. He gave him a cowbell. Howard was ordered to bong the cowbell whenever he went on a stroll.

It wasn't any time at all before a scene was ready for shooting -- but no Howard. Pretty soon they heard the cowbell, though, in a distant corner of the sound stage and high up in the catwalks. Garnett and his searchers converged on the sound. They found only a bell -- a bell and a string.

They traced the string over rafters right back to the lighted set where Stand-in was supposed to be shooting.

There sat Mr. Howard, yanking at the string and being plaintively indignant about the absence of director Garnett.

The Southeast Missourian, September 1, 1937

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