[No surviving envelope]
I have had no letter from you since you wrote on March 21; and I imagine from your cable that my answer to that must have gone astray. It35 School Street, Andover, Massachusetts;a3 was written during your holidays, butHale, Emilyresident at 35 School Street, Andover;s4 I sent it to 35 School Street, as I thought it so likely to miss you elsewhere; and even if it was delivered fairly quickly it would only await you for a few days. It may be that it was sent on to you somewhere else, but I should have thought that it would have come back before you cabled. Anyway, I am very sorry that you should have a puzzling silence, and that you were worried over it.
ICocktail Party, TheTSE rewriting;c6 have been quite well, but rather tired – though perhaps half the fatigue is anticipation, as I see no prospect of relaxation before the end of the year. There is the working over of the play, for which no time would be too much; theEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister)1949 visit to England with Dodo;g1plans for;a2 arrangementsSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)1949 visit to England;d1;a1 for Marion and Theodora, workingEnglandSuffolk;j3TSE visits with family;a1 out their time table and making reservations in London, Suffolk, Cambridge and Edinburgh; andtravels, trips and plansTSE's October–November 1949 trip to Germany;g8possible itinerary;a2 after they have come and gone I shall have to prepare myself for my visit to Germany in October – which I rather dread: I shall have to talk at half a dozen places from Hamburg to Munich, and perhaps spend a couple of days in Vienna as well; and then a brief visit to Brussels at the end of November.1 And then I must be thinking about preparing lectures to make possible a visit to the United States next year. Incidentally, I am having some dentistry once a week to preserve my few remaining lower teeth; andLewis, Wyndhamimportunes another portrait;c1 sitting once a week to Wyndham Lewis for a portrait: he is to have an exhibition soon, and he says that he can always sell any portrait or drawing of me! so I could hardly refuse that to an old crony.2 IRichmonds, theTSE's Netherhampton weekends with;a7 hope to get away to the country and stay with the Richmonds at Whitsun; butUniversity College NottinghamHarvard depute TSE to;a1 I shall have at the beginning of May to go to represent Harvard at the installation of the Chancellor of the new (and I suspect superfluous) university of Nottingham founded by Boots Cash Chemists3 – that’s one night; andAlliance FrançaiseAnnual Meeting in Birmingham;a7 perhaps (it will be difficult to avoid) spend a night or two in Birmingham at the Annual Assembly of the Alliance Française. MeanwhileBrowne, Elliott Martinin Florence;e8 Martin Browne is spending Easter in Florence, and I hope to have a revised version of the play for him when I come back. ICocktail Party, Theits star appeal;c8 am afraid he has ambitions for something which would be more of a popular success than anything I am capable of producing (though I think this should have a more immediate appeal than the Family Reunion, and there are no bogies and no chorus in it). And as his promoter (a strange West End theatrical magnate named Sherek)4 observed, you can’t expect to get a Star for the heroine if you kill her off before the last act. But I am not sure that my plays are suitable for Stars; thoughGuinness, Alecdesires to act for TSE;a3 IScotti, Prince Tommaso Gallarati;a1 was delighted to be told by the Italian Ambassador (a very nice man, and very much a gentleman)5 that Alec Guinness would like to act for me – I admire his work very much, and I have a part he could do better than anybody, though I am not sure it’s big enough for him. ICocktail Party, The1949 Edinburgh Festival production;d1;a2 should be happier if IMercury Theatre, Londonpossible destination for Cocktail Party;d4 thought that after a week in Edinburgh they would be contented with a London run at a small theatre like the Mercury. When I have finished the revising, and have had some copies made, I shall send you one; but I don’t want to show it until I have put right all the things in it which I myself see to be wrong at the present stage.
This is Holy Week, with services to attend; and as usual I take the watch at the church from 3 to 4 on Good Friday morning, so that I shall probably sleep half of the afternoon. Most years I have been able to arrange things so as to be free during this week from the oppression of work; but I must devote Saturday and Monday to the play.
I had been hoping to hear of your visit to Washington, and the rest of your holiday; and to be assured that you were starting the new term in good health. I wish you did not have the necessity of getting your own meals, as well as the hard day’s work: of course I know that a full time servant is a luxury that few women can now afford – unless at least they can share a house and a servant with a friend, and I know that is impossible for you in Andover. You are always in (and on!) my mind – but I won’t repeat that, as I said it in my last letter – unless I hear from you that it has not turned up.
1.TSE was to tour Germany – lecturing and giving readings in Berlin, Hanover, Göttingen, Münster, Bonn, Cologne, Heidelberg and Munich – from 27 Oct. to 19 Nov. 1949.
2.SeeLewis, Wyndhamhis portraits of TSE;c2 TSE to Patrick Heron, 6 May 1949: ‘the sittings for Wyndham Lewis involved more time than I could well spare, but I could not refuse such a request from an old friend, and I think that the portrait – which I saw in its completed form at the private view yesterday – is very good indeed …’ To Jock Burnet, Magdalene College, Cambridge, 28 Apr. 1964: ‘The portrait in question is not one of Wyndham Lewis’s best. As a matter of fact he showed signs of approaching blindness at the time, and it is not nearly as good as a very fine one he did of me some years earlier, which is in the picture gallery at Durban, Natal.’
3.University College Nottingham was granted full university status in 1948. John Campbell Boot, 2nd Baron Trent (1889–1956), was installed as the first Chancellor on 4 May 1949.
TSE to Mary Trevelyan, Lady Day [25 Mar.] 1949: ‘I have, it seems, to represent Harvard University at the installation of Lord Boot in May. Or is it Boots.’
4.HenrySherek, Henry Sherek (1900–1967), theatre producer: see Biographical Register.
SherekSherek, Henrydissuades TSE from coaching actors;a1n, Not in Front of the Children (1959), 139: ‘When I was introduced, horrified distress was plainly visible on T. S. Eliot’s face. He had probably never seen a theatrical producer or met anybody looking remotely like me before, and his expression showed clearly that he hoped fervently that he would never have to again …
P. 141 (first day of rehearsals):
‘“I will now read the play to you to show you how I want my lines spoken.”
‘The company, comprising some of the most experienced artists of the theatre, had to sit there whilst Eliot, who does not claim to be a great actor, read the first act to them.
‘They behaved splendidly, and did not murmur or show any other signs of impatience, but when he finished I managed to dissuade him from going through the same performance with the other two acts, and we were off.’
5.PrinceScotti, Prince Tommaso Gallarati Tommaso Gallarati Scotti (1878–1966): author, soldier, diplomat; Ambassador to the UK, 1946–51.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
1.Marian/MarionEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister) Cushing Eliot (1877–1964), fourth child of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Eliot: see Biographical Register.
5.AlecGuinness, Alec Guinness (1914–2000), distinguished English actor: see Biographical Register.
7.WyndhamLewis, Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957), painter, novelist, philosopher, critic: see Biographical Register.
5.PrinceScotti, Prince Tommaso Gallarati Tommaso Gallarati Scotti (1878–1966): author, soldier, diplomat; Ambassador to the UK, 1946–51.
4.HenrySherek, Henry Sherek (1900–1967), theatre producer: see Biographical Register.
2.TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece) Eliot Smith (1904–92) – ‘Dodo’ – daughter of George Lawrence and Charlotte E. Smith: see Biographical Register. Theodora’sSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece) sister was Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911), known as ‘Chardy’.