Early Years - Lincoln High School

H. O. Cook, Principal of Lincoln H.S.

Pictures from the Lincoln High School 1925 yearbook

(AUDIO) RealMedia: 28kbps, Getting in trouble and being taken in by H.O. Cook. From there to show business forever.

Leonard credits H. O. Cook with saving him from a wasted life. Leonard was a hard-luck kid in court and on his way to reform school when Cook spotted him and took him in to raise and educate. Cook was a man who took very personal responsibility for the kids in his community.

You could probably say "they don't make 'em like that anymore," except that I suspect "they" have never made 'em like that in any great quantities at any time in anybody's history.

A page from the 1925 Lincoln H.S. yearbook. Leonard was on the basketball team. He is in the group in the middle picture. (see below)

Here is a close-up of the picture in the middle of the page. Leonard is the small kid, third from the left.