Leslie on the Radio: New Findings
The Radio page of this blog is still a work in progress. Since I have created it, I have found several new pieces of information and discovered new broadcasts I knew nothing about.
In 1932, Leslie Howard appeared on a Sunday broadcast sponsored by Yardley and Co. This is a description of the broadcast published in Radio Guide, for the week of February 14-20, before Leslie became the protagonist:
The London String Quartet, one of the outstanding chamber music organizations of the world, Beatrice Hereford. international monologist, and Katherine Bacon, distinguished English pianist, will all be heard this Sunday on the first of a series of programs to be presented over an NBC network each Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The series is sponsored by Yardley and Co. Ltd.
Mischa Levitski, celebrated American pianist, will appear on the program the following week and every second week subsequently.
Miss Hereford was one of the first American actresses to popularize her form of entertainment. She writes her own monologues. and her portraits of a New England seamstress, a book-keeper, a Boston shop-girl, a fussy old lady, and scores of others have brought her success in the theater and on the concert platform.
Leslie Howard in “Silver Screen”, July 1932
Leslie’s appearances on the Yardley program I have found in newspapers and magazines are the following:
- 27 March, 2:00–Leslie Howard, monologist;
- 10 April, 2:05–Leslie Howard, actor; Mischa Levitski, piano
- 17 April, 2:00–Leslie Howard, actor; London String Quartet
- 24 April, 2:00–Leslie Howard, actor; London String Quartet
- 1st May, 2:00–Leslie Howard, actor; London String Quartet
- 8 May, 2:00–Leslie Howard, actor; London String Quartet
Another exciting discovery were the Leslie Howard’s Sunday Matinées, a series of radio dramatizations broadcast on the WCAU-WABC-CBS channel in 1936. I was able to reconstruct the full schedule:
- January 5: Her Cardboard Lover by Jacques Deval
- January 12: The Admirable Crichton by James M. Barrie
- January 19: (postponed because the network broadcast the address by President Roosevelt at dedication of Theodore Roosevelt Memorial)
- January 26: There’s Always Juliet by John Van Druten with Anne Grey
- February 2: The Guardsman by Ferenc Molnar
- February 9: Murray Hill by Leslie Howard
- February 16: Journey’s End by R.C. Sheriff
- February 23: Springtime for Henry by Benn W. Levy
- March 1: (postponed because of Leslie’s illness)
- March 8: a radio version of The Scarlet Pimpernel
- March 15: a radio version of Raffles
- March 22: Just Suppose by E.A. Thomas
- March 29: The Second Man by S.N. Behrman
I could not find recordings of these broadcasts anywhere, but I am not despairing. Miracles sometimes happen.
Ginevra Di Verduno
Thanks for the post! I’ll start looking for them too!
Thank you so much for your comment. I’m not so active at present, but I’m trying to update my blogs as often as I can. 2014 has been a horrible year for me 😩
Although currently there seem to be no recordings of these radio programs on the Web, let us hope they will appear sooner or later. There were only very few films with Leslie available in Internet two years ago, whereas now one can find and watch all of them except “The Lady is Willing”..
P.S. Sorry to hear that the year has been horrible for you, It has been awful for me either, but Leslie’s films and your wonderful blogs have helped me immensely to survive it. Many thanks!
Thank you for another unique discovery. What a treat it would be to hear one of the screen’s great voices in passages from those many memorable dramas.