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=                          Leonard_Merrick                           =
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                            Introduction
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Leonard Merrick (21 February 1864 - 7 August 1939) was an English
novelist. Although less familiar in recent times, he was widely
admired by his peers; J. M. Barrie called Merrick the "novelist's
novelist."


                           Life and work
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He was born as Leonard Miller in Belsize Park, London, of Jewish
parentage. After schooling at Brighton College, he studied to be a
solicitor in Brighton and studied law at Heidelberg, but he was forced
to travel to South Africa at the age of eighteen after his father
suffered a serious financial loss. There he worked as an overseer in
the Kimberley diamond mine and in a solicitor's office. After
surviving a near-fatal case of "camp fever," he returned to London in
the late 1880s and worked as an actor and actor-manager under the
stage name of Leonard Merrick. He legally changed his name to Leonard
Merrick in 1892. He later worked his experiences in South Africa and
in the theatre into numerous works of fiction. Merrick's novels
include 'Mr Bazalgette's Agent' (1888), a detective story; 'Violet
Moses' (1891), about a Jewish financier and his troubled wife; 'The
Worldlings' (1900), a psychological investigation of a crime; 'Conrad
in Quest of His Youth' (1903), the tale of a disillusioned man who, at
thirty-seven, sets out to pick up the romantic threads of his younger
life, which is "judged his most successful work" according to John
Sutherland; George Orwell thought that this is because it is one of
the few of his books which is not set against a background of poverty.

Merrick was well regarded by other writers of his era. In 1918 fifteen
writers, including famous authors such as H. G. Wells, J. M. Barrie,
G. K. Chesterton and William Dean Howells, collaborated with publisher
E. P. Dutton to issue 'The Works of Leonard Merrick' in fifteen
volumes, which were published between 1918 and 1922.  Each volume in
the series was selected and prefaced by one of the writers. In 2009, a
biography was published titled 'Leonard Merrick: A Forgotten
Novelist's Novelist' by William Baker and Jeannettes Robert Shumaker,
the first comprehensive treatment of Merrick.  The title is taken in
part from a quote by J. M. Barrie who called Merrick a "novelist's
novelist." William Dean Howells wrote of Merrick "I can think of no
recent fictionist of his nation who can quite match with Mr. Merrick
in that excellence [of "shapeliness" or form in the novel]. This will
seem great praise, possibly too great, to the few who have a sense of
such excellence; but it will probably be without real meaning to most,
though our public might well enjoy form if it could once be made to
imagine it."

George Orwell, while describing Merrick as a "good bad writer", rather
than a strictly good writer, admitted to a great admiration for his
work; he particularly praised 'Cynthia' (which was also a favourite of
Chesterton's), the story of a struggling writer and his wife, and 'The
Position of Peggy Harper', with its portrayal of the unromantic side
of provincial theatre. In Orwell's view, nobody conveyed better than
Merrick how dreary and dispiriting an actor's life can be.  Graham
Greene, another admirer, had recruited Orwell to write an introduction
to any work by Merrick while Greene was publisher for Eyre &
Spottiswoode in 1944. Orwell offered to write one for 'The Position of
Peggy Harper', but nothing came of this.

At least eleven of Merrick's stories have been adapted to screen, most
in the 1920s, including 'Conrad in Quest of His Youth' (1920) directed
by William C. deMille. Later adaptions include a 1931 film 'The
Magnificent Lie' based on the story "Laurels and the Lady", and a 1952
TV episode called "Masquerade" for 'Lux Video Theatre' based on the
story "The Doll in the Pink Silk Dress".

Merrick died on 7 August 1939 at the age of 75, twelve days before the
start of World War II; he was at a London nursing home.


Novels
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*'Mr Bazalgette's Agent' (1888)
*'Violet Moses' (1891)
*'The Man Who Was Good' (1892)
*'Cynthia' (1896)
*'One Man's View' (1897)
*'The Actor-Manager' (1898)
*'The Worldlings' (1900)
*'When Love Flies out o' the Window' (1902)
*'Conrad in Quest of His Youth' (1903)
*'The Quaint Companions' (1903)
*'The House of Lynch' (1907)
*'The Position of Peggy Harper' (1911)


Short story collections
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*'This Stage of Fools' (1896)
*'Whispers About Women' (1906)
*'The Man Who Understood Women' (1908)
*'While Paris Laughed' (1918)
*'A Chair on the Boulevard' (1919)
*'To Tell You the Truth' (1922)
*'The Call from the Past and Other Stories' (1924)
*'Four Stories' (1927)
*'The Little Dog Laughed' (1930)


Plays
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*'The Free Pardon'. Written with F. C. Philips
*'When the Lamps are Lighted'
*'My Innocent Boy'
*'The Elixir of Youth'
*'A Woman in the Case'. Written with George R. Sims


                            Filmography
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*', directed by George Abbott and Dell Henderson (1918, based on the
play 'The Imposter')
*'The Worldlings', directed by Eric Harrison (UK, 1920, based on the
novel 'The Worldlings')
*'Conrad in Quest of His Youth', directed by William C. deMille (1920,
based on the novel 'Conrad in Quest of His Youth')
*'Fool's Paradise', directed by Cecil B. DeMille (1921, based on the
story 'Laurels and the Lady')
*'A Daughter of Luxury', directed by Paul Powell (1922, based on the
play 'The Imposter')
*'The Darling of the Rich', directed by John G. Adolfi (1922, based on
the play 'The Imposter')
*'A Thief in Paradise', directed by George Fitzmaurice (1925, based on
the novel 'The Worldlings')
*'School for Wives', directed by Victor Halperin (1925, based on the
novel 'The House of Lynch')
*'The Magnificent Lie', directed by Berthold Viertel (1931, based on
the story 'Laurels and the Lady')


                           External links
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*'Life' magazine .


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