[No surviving envelope]
IFoss, MaryEH's holidays with;a7 was glad to get your letter of July 25th, yesterday, and to know that your holiday with Mary Foss had been so successful, though far too brief. I wish that you might have a holiday under such conditions lasting the whole summer; for a series of visits, punctuated by Commonwealth Avenue, cannot do you nearly so much good. As for your enquiries, no I have not yet found any hiding place, but I expected to have to wait for some time before anything turned up. TowardsFabers, the1951 Minsted summer stay;i4 the end of next week I go to the Fabers’ for ten days: that ought to be quiet and restful. ItClements, thein Geneva;a8 is possible that Itravels, trips and plansTSE's September 1951 Geneva stay;h4;a1 may join the Clements in Geneva for a week or two in September; but their hotel seems pretty expensive by English standards, and I may go to a small place near Vevey, much cheaper, from which I could join them1 – and it might be more restful not to have their company the whole time. AsMurder in the CathedralHoellering film;g1final screening;b7 for the film, I am to see it done in full on Thursday next: for the first time in full and with the music and noises ‘mixed in’: the last opportunity to make any changes.2 We have had a good deal of trouble over the Knights’ speeches, because it is impossible to introduce into a film, the amount of direct address to the audience which is possible (sometimes) on the stage. I think we have found the solution, but that must be seen on Thursday. TheMurder in the CathedralHoellering film;g1and Venice Film Festival;b8 Film has been accepted for the Venice Film Festival, which means, I understand, that it will be brought to the notice of film distributors from various countries. That is at the beginning of September, but I don’t want to go to Venice for that occasion. Then it should be released for London in October, and elsewhere if and when the local people want it. I shall really be thankful when it is completely off my hands: no one realises how tired one is of the text of a play one wrote 16 years ago. ICocktail Party, TheMrs Nef's reading-group reading;e2;a1 didn’t know about the Cocktail Party in Boston – I wonder what the cast will be. I have drafted the first act of a new play, and have started the second. But July is a difficult month, especially for visitors: nextBrinnin, John Malcolm;a1 weekLowell, Robertdines with TSE in London;a2 thereEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)friends with Robert Lowell's father;m1 areSpencer, Eloise (née Worcester);a2 J. M. Brinnin (of the Y.M.H.A. New York)[,]3 Robert Lowell, the son of an old friend of Henry’s,4 and Eloise Spencer.5 AndCheetham, Revd Ericand the Bishop of Tokyo;h4 tomorrow (Sunday) I have, to oblige Cheetham, to meet the Bishop of Tokyo at lunch, thenIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M.paralysed;a8 visit my paralysed Russian6 in Clapham, andDukes, Ashley;h4 finally attend an evening party of Ashley Dukes.
I hope this will catch you at Chocorua. I have no subsequent address but Commonwealth Avenue. AndMcPherrin, Jeanette;g3 of course IFoss, Sally;a3 should like to see Jeanie and Sally Foss.
Next letter I will write to ANDOVER.
1.Hotel Belle-Vue, Chardonne sur Vevey, Switzerland.
2.Geoffrey Faber to Chester Kerr, Yale University Press, 2 Aug. 1951: ‘WE have all been taking the morning off to see a trial run of the film of MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL. This has been made by a man called Hollering; and it is a real knock-out. On the long side for exhibition purposes – it runs for well over two hours. But I have seldom been so much moved’ (Faber Archive E3/50).
3.JohnBrinnin, John Malcolm Malcolm Brinnin (1916–98): US poet and critic. Educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard, he was Director of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association Poetry Center, New York, 1949–56 – where he famously hosted Dylan Thomas: see his memoir Dylan Thomas in America (1956). See too Brinnin, Sextet: T. S. Eliot, Truman Capote and Others (1981).
4.TSEGarrick Club, Londonsupper with Robert Lowell at;a5n dined with Robert Lowell, with Alan Pryce-Jones, at the Garrick Club, London, on 1 Aug. After dinner, Pryce-Jones took Lowell on to Pratt’s Club; TSE took himself home.
5.EloiseSpencer, Eloise (née Worcester) Spencer, née Worcester, had married Professor Theodore Spencer in the summer of 1948; sadly, her husband died of a heart attack on 18 Jan. 1949.
6.Tereshchenko.
7.EH must have told him off for omitting to sign the earlier letter: hence his emphasis on ‘Signed’.
3.JohnBrinnin, John Malcolm Malcolm Brinnin (1916–98): US poet and critic. Educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard, he was Director of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association Poetry Center, New York, 1949–56 – where he famously hosted Dylan Thomas: see his memoir Dylan Thomas in America (1956). See too Brinnin, Sextet: T. S. Eliot, Truman Capote and Others (1981).
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
1.MaryFoss, Mary Foss was an old friend of EH: they were contemporaries at Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT, where they acted in plays and were members of a Shakespeare club. EH would often visit the Fosses at their home in Concord, and she taught the daughter, Sally Foss, while at Concord Academy.
2.N. M. Iovetz-TereshchenkoIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M. (1895–1954), B.Litt. (Oxon), PhD (London): Russian exile; Orthodox Catholic Christian; university lecturer in psychology: see Biographical Register.
3.RobertLowell, Robert Lowell (1917–77): celebrated American poet of American cultural history (though often associated with the so-called ‘Confessional’ school); descendant of a distinguished Boston family; Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1947–8. Author of collections of poetry including Land of Unlikeness (1944), Lord Weary’s Castle (1946) and Life Studies (1959; winner of the National Book Award 1960). His poetry was to be promoted in the UK by TSE at Faber & Faber. Other awards included a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, 1947; the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1947 and 1974; and the National Book Critics Circle Award, 1977.
2.JeanetteMcPherrin, Jeanette McPherrin (1911–92), postgraduate student at Scripps College; friend of EH: see Biographical Register.
5.EloiseSpencer, Eloise (née Worcester) Spencer, née Worcester, had married Professor Theodore Spencer in the summer of 1948; sadly, her husband died of a heart attack on 18 Jan. 1949.