H. Scott-Leslie (1869 - 1938)
In 1919 H. Scott-Leslie gave Herbert Mundin his first break when he took the recently demobbed sailor to France to perform in a concert party. It's easy to see how he must have recognised a performer with similar talents to his own, so decided to put Herbert under his wing.
H. Scott-Leslie was born Hugh William Fortescue-Harrison in 1869 in India where he lived for about thirty years. Although he served within the British dominion as a police or army officer, creativity was in his blood as his Aunt Annie Fortescue-Harrison (1851-1944) was a popular composer of songs and operettas. Also known as Lady Arthur Hill, her most well-known parlour song was In The Gloaming which sold 140,000 copies during the 1880s.
Hugh William's sister, Mabel Fortescue-Harrison (1871-19xx) was also very well known as an English astrologer and psychic. She's remembered today for her prediction that the Queen Mary would receive its greatest fame after the ship, which is now permanently berthed in California, had ceased sailing.
Hugh Fortescue-Harrison left India for England around 1900 and became an entertainer adopting the stage name of H. Scott-Leslie. His one man shows at schools, stages and other venues around the English speaking world were extremely popular with numerous tours in the USA, Australia, India, Ceylon, Egypt, New Zealand, Malta and various European countries. This was at a time when international travel was a time-consuming, expensive business.
H. Scott-Leslie photographed in 1914 when he was enjoying a short Hollywood film career
Adding 'Under Royal Patronage' to his posters, H. Scott-Leslie also gave Royal concerts and was proud of the family appeal of his performances using the strap-line "The well-known entertainer for young people and grown-ups".
He had a brief tenure as a Hollywood actor with roles in A Cigaret – That’s All in 1915 and The Reward of Chivalry in 1916. However, it was as an entertainer performing character sketches and monologues that H. Scott-Leslie made his name, giving over 5,000 performances at universities and schools. Press reviews were extremely favourable:
Left: A programme for a performance from H. Scott-Leslie in India; Right: Pictured in 1926
H. Scott-Leslie was also one of the first people to walk up Outpost Drive in the Hollywood Hills in the late teens or early 1920’s. For five years from 1921 he gave benefit concerts in aid of the London Hospital in which he raised £3,000, the equivalent of about $130,000 in today's money.
Hugh William Fortescue-Harrison aka H. Scott-Leslie was found dead in a telephone box in Melbourne, Australia on June 20th, 1938 at the age of 68 and is buried in the city's Fawkner Cemetery. He'd played his part in helping Herbert Mundin begin his theatrical career and by this time his son, Leslie Hugh Fortescue-Harrison (1901-1960), had become a very close friend of the 'Hollywood Scene Stealer'.