Leslie Howard’s Hamlet
In one of my previous posts, Leslie Howard’s Hamlet Praised, I reproduced a review published in The Lewiston Daily Sun of November 17, 1936.
Here I give you the links to other documents related to Leslie Howard’s Hamlet. I think these documents are worth reading; Leslie Howard’s production deserves more attention than it generally receives, being often and quite hastily dismissed as a failure. It wasn’t. The production was favourably reviewed in Boston and Philadelphia, and after the “limited engagement” at the Imperial Theatre (though the production was flourishing at the box-office, Leslie was annoyed with the unhappy situation and closed the play in December 1936), the long tour around the United States was a great success.
Just a note, to point out–quite ironically, if you allow me–that one of the most severe judgements (a venomous one, though mitigated in a subsequent article) was expressed by John Mason Brown, the same critic who, in an article published in 1935 (Leslie Howard’s Skill as an Actor), had urged Leslie Howard to “enlarge his field”, wondering “why a man who ought to make an interesting Hamlet, who could play the luckless king who is known to the stage as either Richard II or Richard of Bordeaux, and Galworthy’s Falder, and any number of other parts should have elected to be so unadventurous in moulding his career as an actor”.
I won’t venture any hypotheses on why the New York critics tried to sank Leslie’s production, though I certainly have my ideas. However, Hamlet remained one of Leslie’s greatest loves and ambitions till the end of his life. The pages his son Ronald wrote about the project of a film version and the preparation of Leslie’s lectures on Hamlet during the fateful tour in Portugal and Spain, are deeply moving, and we cannot but regret that his projects remained incomplete.
Leslie Howard talks about his production
- Hamlet… 1936 by Leslie Howard, originally published in the Stage magazine, November 1936, then reproduced in the programme. Also published in Trivial Fond Records, 1982
Photo Galleries
- Stage photos and portraits of Leslie Howard as Hamlet
- Cast photos
- Sketches of Stewart Chaney’s costumes and settings
Playbills and Programmes (pdf files)
Reviews and Articles (work in progress: many other documents will be added)
- October 20, 1936 (Boston tryout): “Leslie Howard in Hamlet“, Boston Globe
- October 20, 1936 (Boston tryout):”Leslie Howard as the Great Dane,” by E.F.M., NY Times
- October 20, 1936 (Boston tryout): “Leslie Howard Offers a Sensitive and Delicate Hamlet, With Real Humor“, The Harvard Crimson
- October 27, 1936 (Philadelphia tryout): “Leslie Howard Plays Hamlet,” by Linton Martin, Philadelphia Inquirer
- November 1, 1936 (Philadelphia tryout): “Mr. Howard’s Uninhibited Interpretation,” by Linton Martin, Philadelphia Inquirer
- November 11, 1936: “Leslie Howard Brings to Town the Second of the Season’s Hamlets,” by Brooks Atkinson, NY Times
- November 11, 1936: “Leslie Howard’s Hamlet Presented at the Imperial,” by John Mason Brown, NY Post
- November 12, 1936: “Broadway’s Two Hamlets Battle at the Box Office,” by Wilella Waldorf, NY Sun
- November 14, 1936: “The Two Hamlets,” by Richard Lockridge, NY Sun
- November 14, 1936: “A Disappointing Hamlet“, The Times
- November 14, 1936: “Critics Cross Swords over 2 Hamlets on Broadway“, Oakland Tribune
- November 17, 1936: “Leslie Howard’s Hamlet Praised”, The Lewiston Daily Sun
- November 19, 1936: “Talk About Women” by Jane Corby, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
- November 19, 1936: “Man About Manhattan”, syndicated column by George Tucker, Associated Press
- November 21, 1936: “A New Yorker at Large”, syndicated column by Jack Stinnett, Associated Press
- November 21, 1936: “Everybody’s Doing It–So Why Not Mr. Dick Watts?” by Richard Watts, Jr., The Pittsburgh Press
- November 21, 1937: “Fire and Ember” by Florence Fisher Parry, The Pittsburgh Press
- November 21, 1936: “Rival Hamlets: Howard, Gielgud“, Literary Digest
- November 22, 1936: “Critics Pan Howard As Hamlet,” by Burns Mantle, Buffalo Courier-Express
- November 22, 1936: “Broadway Is Given ‘Gentle Hamlet’ By Leslie Howard” by George Ross, Port Arthur News
- November 23, 1936: “My New York“, syndicated column by James Aswell, Central Press Association
- November 23, 1936: “Howard’s Hamlet,” Time
- November 24, 1936: “Leslie Howard’s Hamlet” by A.W.T., The New Masses
- November 26, 1936: “Broadway Nights“, syndicated column by Clark Kinnaird, King Feature Syndicate (Hearst Corporation)
- November 26, 1936: “Leslie Howard’s Dane,” The Stage
- December 1st, 1936: “Hamlet on the New York Stage: Modern Interpretations“, The Times
- December 5, 1936: “Notes to Correspondents,” by Richard Lockridge, NY Sun
- December 12, 1936: “Leslie Howard’s Hamlet When Seen a Second Time,” by John Mason Brown, The NY Sun
- January 13, 1937: “Review Given of Howard’s Hamlet,” The Campus of Allegheny College
- January 17, 1937: “Leslie Howard: He Realizes a Life’s Ambition in His Production of ‘Hamlet’” by Florence Fisher Perry, The Pittsburgh Press
- January 21, 1937: “Shakespeare Returns To American Stage This Season in All His Majesty” by Leslie Eichel, Central Press Columnist, The Times from Hammond, Indiana
- January 24, 1937: “Howard’s Style of ‘Hamlet’ Nets Him Much Praise” by Alice Pardoe West, The Ogden Standard Examiner
- January 24, 1937: “Glamour Again!” by Florence Fisher Parry – The Pittsburgh Press
- January 29, 1937: “Star Justify His ‘Hamlet‘”, The Ogden Standard Examiner
- January 30, 1937: “Hamlet Long in Its Making” – The Ogden Standard Examiner
- February 24, 1937: “The Howard Hamlet” by A.S.D., The Stanford Daily
Other Links
- “Leslie Howard Hamlet” (1937) by Eugene Camille Fitsch (1892-1972), lithography, 15″ x 11.5″
- “Leslie Howard in the title role of Hamlet” (ca. 1936) by William Auerbach-Levy (1889-1964), drawing, Museum of the City of New York
Ginevra Di Verduno
Many many thanks for this invaluable information! I have read everything with great attention (and great irritation as well:-), It is such a pity that there are no visual or audio records of Leslie’s Hamlet. I know Gielgud’s Hamlet well, and though I find his voice very rich in modulations and higly expressive, his Hamlet relishes too much his own misfortunes, which acquire for him a cosmic scale, to be a human being.To me the most human British Hamlet was Paul Scofield. And I suppose it could have been Leslie as well.
Thank you so much for your comment. I can imagine your irritation, it’s probably the same I felt when reading some of the reviews. Anyway, I’ll add more documents, in the next future. I’m especially interested in pre- and post-New York reviews, and in serious analyses rather than in the very subjective and questionable comparisons most reviewers provided. Any suggestions will be welcome!