Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. During the 1930s, he was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other being his colleague Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Anthony Adverse (1936), and They Won't Forget (1937).Baxter, 1970: p. 79: LeRoy "made at Warners some of the most polished and ambitious productions of the Thirties." And p. 71-72: Warner's "two great directors [of the Thirties] Mervyn Leroy and Michael Curtiz."Barson, 2020: List LeRoy's top films of the 1930s at Warners in as "Little Caesar, I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, And Gold Diggers Of 1933." And: "They Won't Forget (1937) was the most serious drama LeRoy had been given in years... the film was a powerful indictment of political ambition." LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. He is best known for producing the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz,Barson, 2020: "LeRoy left Warner Brothers for the greener pastures of M-G-M, where he was offered an unusual deal that allowed him to function as either a producer or a director." And "most enduringly," his production of director Victor Fleming's Wizard of Oz. as well as for directing the 1951 Oscar-nominated film Quo Vadis.
Early life
LeRoy was born on October 15, 1900, in San Francisco, California, the only child of Edna (née Armer) and Harry LeRoy, a well-to-do department store owner. His family was Jewish. Both his parents' families had fully assimilated, residing in the Bay Area for several generations. LeRoy described his relatives as "San Franciscans first, Americans second, Jews third."LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 4: The Armer family for "three or four generations..." p. 12-13: The LeRoys and Armers "for a couple of generations..." p. 13: LeRoy's parents had "subjugated" their Jewish ethnicity: "My family was assimilated to the point of complete absorption...San Franciscans first, Americans second, Jews third."Flint, 1987: "...the only child of Harry LeRoy, a department store owner, and the former Edna Armer" And: secular in that they attended synagogue "irregularly" and "many [Jewish relatives] never attended at all...his two female cousins had attended "a Catholic college." And: LeRoy "forever an only child."Canham, 1976 p. 133: Harry LeRoy, a "prosperous" importer/exporter.
LeRoy's mother was a frequent attendee at San Francisco's premier vaudeville venues, the Orpheum and the Alcazar, often socializing with the theater's personnel. She arranged for the six-year-old LeRoy to serve as a Native-American papoose in the 1906 stage production of The Squaw Man. LeRoy attributed his early interest in vaudeville to "my mother's fascination with it" and to that of his cousins, Jesse L. Lasky and Blanche Lasky, vaudevillians during LeRoy's youth.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 14: LeRoy reports in his memoir that he was "about six months old" when he served as "papoose", but the play was not produced until 1905. And p. 43: ""...The Squaw Man. which I had appeared in when I was only six months old ..."
LeRoy's parents separated suddenly in 1905 for reasons that were not divulged to their son. They never reunited and his father Harry raised LeRoy as a single parent. His mother moved to Oakland, California with Percy Teeple, a travel agent and former journalist, who would later become LeRoy's stepfather after the death of Harry LeRoy in 1916. LeRoy visited his mother as a child, regarding her more as "a grandparent or a favorite aunt."Flint, 1987: "His mother left her husband when LeRoy was a five-year-old to marry a hotel-reservation salesman."Whiteley, 2020: "His childhood was troubled as his mother deserted the family when Mervyn was five."LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 15-16: "My parents never told me why they separated, and I never asked." And: As a child LeRoy "would frequently visit" his mother and Teeples in Oakland, and his mother and father "curiously, remained good friends..my father and Teeple got along well, too."
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire devastated the city when LeRoy was five-and-a-half years old. He was sleeping in his bed on the second floor when the quake struck in the early morning causing the house to collapse. Neither LeRoy nor his father suffered serious physical injury. His father's import-export store was completely destroyed. LeRoy retained vivid mental images of the city's devastation:
Reduced to virtual penury, father and son lived as displaced persons at the military-run tent city on the Presidio for the next six months. The elder LeRoy obtained work as a salesman for the Heinz Pickle Company, but his business losses had left him "a beaten man." The young LeRoy emerged from the traumatic event with a sense of pride that he had survived the ordeal and to regard it as fortuitous: "The big thing in my life was the earthquake...it changed my life before I knew I even had one."LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 10: LeRoys' father was reduced to penury and working a menial job, "the quake had wiped him out...the bankruptcy of the insurance companies meant that [his] was unreimbursed." And p. 11-12: LeRoy a "survivor" with "a kind of pride...it was as though [San Franciscans] had been reborn...for me...the change was a positive thing." And see p. 18 on the earthquake's shifting his outlook away from his father's business.
At the age of twelve, with few prospects to acquire a formal education and his father financially strained, LeRoy became a newsboy and earned his first money. His father supported him in this endeavor.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 21: "I wanted to make some money, to help my poor [father]..." LeRoy hawked newspapers at iconic locations, including Chinatown, the Barbary Coast red-light district and Fisherman's Wharf, where he became educated as to the realities of life in the city:
Juvenile acts in vaudeville: 1914–1923
Selling newspapers near the Alcazar Theatre, LeRoy was spotted by stage star Theodore Roberts. A personable and attractive youth at age fourteen, LeRoy was engaged for a bit part in a 1914 stage production of Barbara Frietchie. Gratified by "that lovely feeling—audience approval", he performed in productions with the Liberty Theater in Oakland, playing the lead juvenile roles in Tom Sawyer and Little Lord Fauntleroy.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 25-26: Liberty Theater juvenile rolesCanham, 1976 p. 134: "...Roberts found a role for him in the play "The Deep Purpl"...and [LeRoy] also appeared in Little Lord Fauntleroy. And: "He did some extra word for Bronco Billy Anderson at Essanay Studios in Niles, California, but it was in vaudeville that he made his bid for fame"Whiteley, 2020: "To make money, from the age of twelve Mervyn began to sell newspapers on the street."Weil, 1987: "His post was outside the Alcazar theater, and almost inevitably, he was discovered by a power in the theatrical world and hired in 1912 to play the part of a newsboy in a movie."Canham, 1976 p. 133: "...little chance" that LeRoy could be provided with a "formal education" after his setbacks. And p. 134: LeRoy "attracted the attention of stage star Theodore Roberts" who found him parts in stage productions. And p. 134 and p. 166: "No titles can be traced or remembered" from these early films at Essanay. And: In Little Lord Fauntleroy he played a "bootblack".LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 10: "I was always outgoing, I guess I had an appealing look..." And p. 26: for juvenile roles on stage. And: p. 18: "I inherited a love of show business from my mother, and an outgoing personality from my father."
Chaplin impersonator
As a 14-year-old, LeRoy carefully observed emerging screen star Charlie Chaplin at a number of film sets in the greater San Francisco area. From these studies, LeRoy devised a burlesque of the comedian, and perfected his imitation on the local amateur circuit. In 1915, he won a competition that hosted almost a thousand Chaplin imitators at the Pantages Theater. His outstanding performance earned him a slot as "The Singing Newsboy" in Sid Grauman's vaudeville show at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition titled "Chinatown by Night".LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 24: LeRoy: "I began looking for [Chaplin], and would watch him at work...I acquired the props – the pants, the cane, the derby hat..." And p. 29: "...close to a thousand" competitors at the Pantages.
In 1916, his father died, leaving the 15-year-old LeRoy responsible for providing his own financial support.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 25: On the death of Harry LeRoy when his son LeRoy was 15. .Whiteley, 2020: "His father died in 1916, leaving Mervyn to fend for himself" LeRoy 15, going on 16 years-of-age.Flint, 1987: "his father lost his spirit and had trouble supporting his family; he died in 1916...The youth had to sell newspapers at the age of 12 and then, at 14, sold papers by day and acted evenings in a stock company, where he perfected a Charlie Chaplin imitation. "Whiteley, 2020: "He discovered an aptitude and liking for musical theater and in his early teens, he began to enter, and win, talent shows as a singer and Charlie Chaplin impersonator. And: LeRoy's success as a Chaplin impersonator "led to an early career in vaudeville and he toured for nine years around the national circuit first as a solo entertainer called The Singing Newsboy, and then for three years with a pianist, Clyde Cooper, as 'LeRoy and Cooper'."Flint, 1987: "The youth had to sell newspapers at the age of 12 and then, at 14, sold papers by day and acted evenings in a stock company, where he perfected a Charlie Chaplin imitation.
LeRoy and Cooper: "Two Kids and a Piano": 1916–1919
Now a show-business professional, LeRoy left his newsboy job. Pairing with the 16-year-old actor-pianist Clyde Cooper, they formed a vaudeville routine "LeRoy and Cooper: Two Kids and a Piano." The duo struggled to find engagements, and LeRoy recalled "we would have played toilets if they had offered us some money." Soon they were discovered by the premier vaudeville circuits – Pantages, Gus Sun and Orpheum – and provided with regular bookings on national tours.Canham, 1976 p. 134: The act with Cooper billed as "LeRoy and Cooper, Two Kids and a Piano."LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. The duo performed "for more than three years [1916 to 1919] LeRoy relished the lifestyle of a vaudevillian, occasionally appearing in shows that featured iconic performers of the era, among them Sarah Bernhardt, Harry Houdini and Jack Benny. After three years, and now "a fairly well-established act" in theater listings, the duo amicably disbanded after an unexpected death in Cooper's family.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 28: "At the time my ambition was a modest one. I wasn't looking beyond vaudeville." And pp.31-32 And p. 33: "...exciting existence for a teenager. Every day was an adventure, every night an experience." And pp. 34-35 and p. 37: "Crisscrossing the country, we got to play with most of the vaudeville acts of that era." And p. 39 on the end of the LeRoy/Cooper collaboration. And p. 40 "...well-established act..."
LeRoy joined George Choos's mostly female troupe in musical comedies, and Gus Edwards act billed "The Nine Country Kids" in 1922. LeRoy's enthusiasm for the stage gradually waned and he left the troupe in 1923.LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 pp. 40-42: "... I quit [vaudeville] in 1922 or 1923...[after lingering] around the vaudeville scene...[with Choos and Edwards]...[after I quit their troupes] I was broke...scrounging to keep body and soul together...I'd hang around with the other out-of-work performers."
Early Hollywood career: technician and actor: 1919–1923