Tag: articles: 1940s

articles vivien leigh

Vivien Leigh: Adorable Vixen

Vivien Leigh at Durham Cottage London 1949

The Old Vic Company with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier has given the New Theatre the national character of Drury Lane in Nell Gwynne’s Day

News Review
February 10, 1949

This evening (Thursday) the Old Vic has another first night at the New Theatre.

After a curtain-raiser – Anton Chekhov’s Proposal – the serious business of the evening will begin: Jean Anouilh’s modern dress version of Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, with Vivien Leigh as the highborn Cadmean maid and Laurence Olivier as Chorus.

At first by purring beauty, but increasingly by merit and then by marriage, Vivien Leigh has become part of the finest theatrical constellation in the world.

“I’ve been awfully lucky,” she said thoughtfully last week, adding with a laugh: “I’m half-waiting for some blow to fall.”

At 35, Vivien Leigh is a star by technique, and some say by temperament. But none of the quirks of a prima donna accompanied her quiet insistence on a softer lace cuff when she was being costumed for Sheridan’s Lady Teazle. Miss Flora Campbell, of Hardy Amies, in Saville Row, where she gets most of her clothes, thinks “she’s delightful to deal with.”

Petite, she weighs 8 stone, has 34-in. bust, 22-in. waist, 35 ½-in. hips. Miss Leigh drapes her 5 ft. 3 ½-in. in voluminous mink (“Call is sable. I won’t mind”), in which she sparkles like a white diamond. There are red lights in her hair, green lights in her eyes.

She was born in Darjeeling, India, on November 5 1913, and was christened Vivian Mary. Her father, Ernest Richard Hartley, was an English stockbroker of French descent; her mother, Gertrude Robinson Hartley, was Irish.

Wherever they went in those first five years they took young Vivien. But in 1918, a sensitive, imaginative child, she was boarded in at Roehampton’s Sacred Heart Convent, where she carried the fairy’s wand in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Only Vivian seemed to realize history had been made. She solemnly announced her intention of becoming a great actress. ‘I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else.”

Continue reading

articles the oliviers

Heart Throbs In The Headlines

31 days of Vivien Leigh and Laurence OlivierI have a bunch of magazine and newspaper articles left over from my dissertation research, so I’ve decided to do “31 Days of the Oliviers.” Each day I will post a new article or blog post, ending with Vivien Leigh’s birthday on November 5. These articles (most of which have Vivien as the main subject) span the years 1937-1967 and come from both American and British sources. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do!

{Day 5} Vivien Leigh’s and Laurence Olivier’s romance was speculated in the press from the outset, but because of Selznick’s iron grip on his new discovery, news of just how involved they were did not reach the public until after Gone with the Wind premiered.

This short article in Motion Picture is surprisingly accurate for the most part (aside from Larry being called “Laurie”, but perhaps this was the Hollywood press not understanding a British accent?). 1930s Hollywood did not look kindly on adultery, but here it was, very thinly veiled, being reported on as wildly romantic. Many celebrities back then and even today would not have gotten such a free pass in the media.

[Discussion Question]: Why do you think the press and public were so enamored with Larry and Vivien despite knowing they left spouses and children to be together?

****

Heart Throbs in the Headlines

The exciting romance of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh blazes brilliantly on the Hollywood Horizon.
Modern Screen, February 1940

There are three important steps in every love affair. I see you, I know you, and I want you. Laurence Olivier took them all at a leap–and landed in the arms of Vivien Leigh.

Laurence first met Vivien in the summer of 1936 during the production of a British film in which they both appeared. The instant his brooding brown eyes lit on her fiery green ones, he was smitten by that powerful something which stops men cold. Now, love is alright in its place but its place, he knew, was not in the heart of a man who is the supposedly devoted husband of another woman. Laurence had been married to Jill Esmond for six years and she had borne him a son. He didn’t want to hurt her. Neither did he care to upset Leigh Holman, his beloved’s spouse and father of her little daughter, Suzanne.

But Vivien’s fascination was greater than Lauries good intentions. He found he couldn’t live without her. And he wasn’t a bit angry when he found she couldn’t live without him. Before long, they left their mates and their children for each other. There was no alternative.

Vivien and Laurence are a likable, honest pair. They have never attempted to conceal their romance. Perhaps their mutual “well-do-as-we-please-and-drat-public-opinion” attitude has played a huge part in holding them together. For example, it is no secret that Vivien left London and followed Laurie to Hollywood because she couldn’t endure the separation caused by his work in Wuthering Heights. Nor is there any mystery about her “chance” meeting with Agent Myron Selznick, and her eventual “Scarlett” assignment. Laurie arranged that. He pulled every string he could find to keep her by his side and, when the omnipotent David O. awarded her the most discussed role since Bernhardt played Camille, it was his off-the-set encouragement which led her to a magnificent performance.

Some months ago, Jill Esmond Olivier filed suit for divorce, and more recently Leigh Holman took similar steps. Before the year is out Vivien and her inamorato will be free to head for the altar–and it’s a cinch they’ll waste not time getting there.

articles gone with the wind the oliviers vivien leigh

The Woman Behind Scarlett

31 days of Vivien Leigh and Laurence OlivierI have a bunch of magazine and newspaper articles left over from my dissertation research, so I’ve decided to do “31 Days of the Oliviers.” Each day I will post a new article or blog post, ending with Vivien Leigh’s birthday on November 5. These articles (most of which have Vivien as the main subject) span the years 1937-1967 and come from both American and British sources. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do!

{Day 4} When Vivien Leigh landed the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind after a much-publicized search, she officially became studio property. As such, she was kept under close watch by Selznick. Details of her private life, particularly her relationship with Laurence Olivier, were kept under wraps as the publicity department generated stories–some true, some embellished–to build her new star persona. Journalists for various fan magazines were not granted one on one interviews with Vivien until after GWTW had finished filming.

This article, from Motion Picture magazine, shows how both star and studio collaborated to paint Vivien as woman as unconventional as the character she had just finished playing.

****

The Woman Behind Scarlett

by Roger Carroll
Motion Picture, February 1940
Just seven days before, on Friday the 13th of january, David O. Selznick had announced that Vivien Leigh–an English actress virtually unknown to America–would play Scarlett O’Hara. Ever since, Hollywood reporters had been clamoring to see for themselves whether or not she fitted Scarlett’s description. Now, at last, they were getting their wish.

Continue reading