![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
If my life were devoted solely to acting, I'd never appear in a film
Happy birthday, Leslie Howard! A hundred and twenty-four years ago you were born Leslie Howard Steiner and I am so very grateful you did not stay a bank clerk. You were one of my formative actors and one of the great hot intellectuals of the screen and you punched Nazis with art and I am glad you are in the zeitgeist for it lately, because that thing where for decades you were remembered mostly for Gone with the Wind (1939) was awkward. You inspired H.P. Lovecraft and Raoul Wallenberg and I wrote a poem out of one of your characters once. I seem to have have written about a highly random assortment of your movies over the years (and I want credit for not compulsively rewriting the post about Pygmalion on the spot, even though it really needs it):
Berkeley Square (1933), dir. Frank Lloyd
Captured! (1933), dir. Roy Del Ruth
The Petrified Forest (1936), dir. Archie Mayo
Stand-In (1937), dir. Tay Garnett
Pygmalion (1938), dir. Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard & David Lean
49th Parallel (1941), dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Pimpernel Smith (1941), dir. Leslie Howard
The First of the Few (1942), dir. Leslie Howard
The Gentle Sex (1943), dir. Leslie Howard
This is not a numerically significant anniversary, so I'm not going to try for some sort of summing-up essay of your influence on my life or my interest in film, although neither is negligible; I am going to post this gif of you eating a banana because I continue to think it's one of the funniest things Tumblr has ever turned up and point out that I think your weird cat-face was beautiful in portraits where you were shot like a romantic hero and in candids where you looked like a terrific nerd and pretty frequently, if you ask me, you counted as both at once. The fact that generations of fans—and not a few lovers—agreed with me will never cease to delight me. You should have played Peter Wimsey. I will fancast that till I die. I have no idea what happened here.
Your memory for a blessing. If you'd never appeared in a film, I'd never have known.
Berkeley Square (1933), dir. Frank Lloyd
Captured! (1933), dir. Roy Del Ruth
The Petrified Forest (1936), dir. Archie Mayo
Stand-In (1937), dir. Tay Garnett
Pygmalion (1938), dir. Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard & David Lean
49th Parallel (1941), dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Pimpernel Smith (1941), dir. Leslie Howard
The First of the Few (1942), dir. Leslie Howard
The Gentle Sex (1943), dir. Leslie Howard
This is not a numerically significant anniversary, so I'm not going to try for some sort of summing-up essay of your influence on my life or my interest in film, although neither is negligible; I am going to post this gif of you eating a banana because I continue to think it's one of the funniest things Tumblr has ever turned up and point out that I think your weird cat-face was beautiful in portraits where you were shot like a romantic hero and in candids where you looked like a terrific nerd and pretty frequently, if you ask me, you counted as both at once. The fact that generations of fans—and not a few lovers—agreed with me will never cease to delight me. You should have played Peter Wimsey. I will fancast that till I die. I have no idea what happened here.
Your memory for a blessing. If you'd never appeared in a film, I'd never have known.
no subject
no subject
Hello! I would have recognized you by the icon, but I appreciate the introduction! I am not yet nuking from orbit because I have a lot of data stored at LJ—if nothing else, I will need to sign the agreement in order to clear out and rehost tons and tons of photos, a process which I am not at all looking forward to—but see here.
no subject
no subject
I need to see some of these movies.
no subject
Next year's his 125th, so I guess I had better start planning.
no subject
As far as I can determine from careful perusal of the evidence, that photograph is an absolutely classic representation of a casual Leslie Howard in the wild. Some things are not fair.
I need to see some of these movies.
I recommend everything mentioned here! Okay, except Gone with the Wind, which Howard himself called a "terrible lot of nonsense—heaven help me if I ever read the book."
no subject
no subject
I was trying to figure out with
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Nine
What happened here
http://www.menstylefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tom-hiddleston-style-icon.jpg
Not quite the same look, but close - shades, short sleeved white shirt, waistcoat.
Re: What happened here
I've thought of him in connection with Howard before! Not so much the visual likeness—he reminds me more of Peter Cushing; it's the cheekbones—but when I try to think of present-day actors with the hot intellectual persona, he and Kate McKinnon head the list. I know Benedict Cumberbatch is supposed to be one, but he really doesn't work for me. (He's so good in comedy. People should let him do more comedy!)
Do you have a presence on Dreamwidth? Chances are that I will no longer be around on LJ except perhaps in some kind of archival fashion soon.
no subject
I don't know what kind of movies he would have made after the war, but I miss them.
The question I am asking everyone at the moment: are you on Dreamwidth? There is a strong chance I will not be around on LJ much longer and I would really like not to lose track of you.
For what it's worth
Re: For what it's worth
Unfortunately, the crosspost links only go back to 2013. Here it is, if you would like to see it.
Are you on Dreamwidth? Chances are increasingly good that I will migrate in more or less permanent fashion soon.
no subject
I am honestly delighted to have made that happen.
But the association only formed because it really does work.
I think those two icons are the oldest I have beyond the default Sovay; they were made for me by
(Who would his Harriet have been?)
no subject
Re: For what it's worth
You are not a bad person for not knowing this, as I don't expect anyone except maybe my wife to read my LJ. Hell, even my girlfriend doesn't read it :)
Re: For what it's worth
Why would I think I was a bad person? Not everyone has the same handles on DW and LJ—if they're on both platforms in the first place—so I always double-check with people.
I'm glad to know where you are.
no subject
I got my Dreamwidth account in 2013 and did not experience the scolding aunt, but if you don't find the platform pleasant or comfortable to interact with, I am not going to push you. There are specific content reasons I am no longer comfortable with LiveJournal. I hope to be able to read your Tolkien posts anyway.
Re: For what it's worth
Re: What happened here
http://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/
I'm another of the LJ or bust folks, but I will try to follow you if you migrate - when I think of it, I check up on Kate Nepveu, who switched entirely,so it's easy enough.
no subject
Re: For what it's worth
I think your efforts may have had the opposite effect from your intentions, then, since while I did not feel at all weird about asking you straight out if you were on Dreamwidth—information that not all LJ-users share in their profiles or their pages, by the way, so sometimes it cannot be ascertained from reading other people's journals—I now feel that you are trying to guilt-trip me for not having thought to look in the first place. I understand that is not your goal. I think the problem started when you told me I wasn't a bad person for something it hadn't even crossed my mind to feel bad about, thus opening the possibility that perhaps in some way I should.
no subject
What about the subscription pages is confusing? In most cases I grant people access and subscribe because I want to read their posts and I trust them, but I understand the separation of the two functions: there exist people you want to keep track of, but don't necessarily want reading all your personal stuff.
I don't want to lose people! OTOH these communities come together and break, and I learned after the heartbreak of GEnie's demise not to count upon anything lasting. (SFF.NET bit the dust a few days ago, sigh.)
This will be the first time I have lost a community. I came late to LiveJournal and only because I needed some kind of platform to promote my first published books and was tired of finding out months after the fact that friends had gotten married or divorced or dropped out of grad school or reproduced; I joined Dreamwidth even later as a kind of mirror hosting of LiveJournal, because in 2013 I was merely worried LJ might fold up and die. It hurts.
(I'm sorry to hear about SFF Net.)
Re: What happened here
I've been crossposting from Dreamwidth since 2013, but stopped last night and frankly I expect my next post will also not be mirrored, so you might as well start looking for me when you read Kate Nepveu. It's good to know where you are.
no subject
If you repost this over at Dreamwidth, I can respond to it with the proper icons!
no subject
Re: For what it's worth
Re: For what it's worth
Thanks. I think the preemptive reassurance was where it went wrong.