“I blame my husband and our friend, Stratton, for doing a terrible thing to me. They introduced me to Leopold’s Ice Cream, and all my self-control went out the window. It is simply the most delicious temptation. But hey, sometimes giving in to temptation is what makes for a happy life. And this ice cream makes me very happy indeed.”

—Helen Mirren

Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop

The friend named ‘Stratton’ that Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren accused of leading her astray and into temptation is Stratton Leopold, owner of Leopold’s Ice Cream in downtown Savannah.

To be sure, a visit to Savannah can never be fully complete without ultimately putting your lips and tongue to some of the best ice cream made on planet Earth. Leopold’s ‘Butter Pecan’ is my favorite flavor. But I do save its popular ‘Tutti Fruitti’ for days when I’m feeling especially adventurous.

Leopold’s Ice Cream has a century-long history in Savannah. It opened for business in 1919.

But its’ heartening ‘Made in America’ story began in 1901 when Panagiotis and Giorgios Eleopaulos passed through the Ellis Island immigration station in the New York City harbor. 

The two young boys made their way to Indiana, where a man born in their hometown back in Greece taught them the art of making candy and ice cream. The two brothers changed their names to Peter and George Leopold. Then, their sister persuaded them to move to Savannah in 1905, where they found employment, saved their money and began to develop their sweet family dream.

But first, Peter served in the United States Army during the ‘Great War’ — well, as it was named before we started numbering them. After being discharged from the military in June 1919, he and George purchased a grocery business that August with their savings. At long last, the dream became real.

Funny how life works! Soon after opening their doors, a young neighbor boy was busy sweeping the shop floors for a quarter a week. His name was Johnny Mercer, who went on to become Savannah’s most famous citizen. And I understand Johnny loved Tuitt Fruitti, too — as did Georgia native, Little Richard, who wrote and performed a song of that name, which became his first big hit in 1955.

If you want to know more about Leopold’s story and where Stratton Leopold comes in, pick up the book written by Melanie Bowden Simon entitled Leopold’s Ice Cream: A Century of Tasty Memories. I picked up my copy while simultaneously getting a double scoop of Tutti Fruitti in my favorite waffle cone.

Here’s a little nugget from the book: The ice cream business had taken off by the end of the Great War thanks in part to the invention of the waffle cone, first introduced at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair.

If you’ve been reading these Postcards from Savannah over the past year, you already know I am a naturalized American citizen, immigrating as I did from the old Soviet Russia that no longer exists. So, quite naturally, I have an openly warm place reserved in my heart whenever I read a story of fellow immigrants who followed their dreams and made them happen here in The United States of America.

As Johnny Mercer would lyricize: Hooray for Hollywood! Stratton Leopold, son to Peter, would make his name in the film industry. But he returned to Savannah to re-open Leopold’s Ice Cream in 2004.