Leonard Merrick

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 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. 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 He legally changed his name to Leonard Merrick in 1892. 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; 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." 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.

Works

Novels 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 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 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 , 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)