[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
19 Carlyle Mansions
22 December 1952
My Dear,

I suppose that by the time this arrives (in view of the irregularity of mails at this time of year) you will be in Boston or perhaps in New Bedford: still, I want to send a more individual Christmas greeting than the joint cable which I always send to Commonwealth Avenue. You may be sure that you will be much in my mind throughout Christmas Day; and I shall be glad when it is over, and you have got away for a much needed few days rest.

WithFaber and Faber (F&F)Christmas staff party;f7 the other interruptions of the season – including a party for the staff at Fabers’, and a luncheon for the commercial travellers of the sae [sic] firm – IPeter, John'A New Interpretation of The Waste Land';a1 have been botheredHigginson, G. F.issues formal reprimand on TSE's behalf;a2 by discussions with my lawyer about an odious essay on ‘The Waste Land’ which appeared in a magazine published in Oxford (explaining the poem as having a homosexual theme!)1 andSherek, Henrylordly behaviour over Confidential Clerk;b1 now by the very impudent behaviour of Henry Sherek, whoConfidential Clerk, Theand Sherek's lordly conduct;a8 has taken for granted that he is to control ‘The Confidential Clerk’ and has issued press notices of how he is going to present it – without my having made a contract with him and without even consulting me! (I shouldn’t mind its appearing in New York before London, but I don’t agree to London production being postponed till the end of a New York run: if the play succeeds in New York it would reach London much too late, and if it should fall flat in New York and be transferred to London immediately, that wouldn’t improve its chances here either. I have issued a denial of his statement, which is appearing in the newspapers to-day, and no doubt Sherek himself and all the press will be trying all day to get me on the telephone.2 What a misfortune to arrive in Christmas week, of all times.

ButHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Christmas play;c6 the essential thing is to wish for you a happy and beautiful Christmas morning service, and the peace that Christmas ought to bring, and complete repose during your very scanty Christmas vacation. I hope that you will find time to let me know about the success of your December play.

‘MeurtreThéâtre National Populaire, Parisstages Meurte dans la cathédrale;a1 dans la Cathédrale’ isMurder in the Cathedral1952 Théatre National Populaire production;g9;a1 openingVilar, Jeanrevives Meurtre;a4 for a run at Jean Vilar’s Théatre National Populaire tomorrow; andOld Vic, Thewants to revive Murder;c4 theMurder in the Cathedral1953 Old Vic revival;h1waiting on Donat;a1 Old Vic want to revive it, with one of their own producers, and entirely new design, during the month of May. IDonat, Robertkeen on Becket;a3 have been waiting to hear whether Robert Donat, who was said to be very keen to take the part, has sufficiently recovered from his asthma to be able to act again.3

With much love
Tom

1.ThePeter, John ‘odiousPeter, John'A New Interpretation of The Waste Land';a1 essay’ in question was ‘A New Interpretation of The Waste Land’, by John Peter, Lecturer in English, University of Manitoba – ‘an impecunious junior professor in the Canadian middle west,’ as he was later to call himself (in 1969) – published in Essays in Criticism II (July 1952), 242–66. Peter himself sent TSE an offprint of his article. TheHigginson, G. F.issues formal reprimand on TSE's behalf;a2 piece so offended TSE that he briefed his solicitor, G. F. Higginson, to send this formal reprimand:

We have been instructed to inform you that our client read this article with amazement and disgust…

Our client has read other “interpretations” of his own work, some of which have been as absurd and as completely erroneous as your own; and had your article been nothing more than absurd, he would have ignored it. He is obliged, however, to take notice of an “interpretation” of any poem of his the purpose of which is to demonstrate that the poem is essentially concerned with homosexual passion. This is not merely wholly mistaken, but highly offensive.

Nor is this the end of the matter. Some readers may infer that the author of a poem on an homosexual theme must himself be a person of homosexual temperament, if not actually of homosexual practices. Two or three persons of some distinction in the literary world have drawn the conclusion that this imputation is implicit in your article, and have expressed great indignation that such an article should ever have been written or published.

(The wording of Higginson’s letter closely conformed to the draft that Eliot supplied. Consensual homosexual acts between adult males were to be legalised in the UK only with the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967.)

John Peter in his response to Higginson, dated 5 Feb. 1953, sought sincerely to explain that he ‘had spent a good deal of time puzzling over the poem’; he had certainly not been ‘merely curious or casually interested’; and he was distressed to be told that any readers ‘have been tempted to read into the essay imputations concerning the poet’s personal character.’ He offered too to publish an apology for the article, on the understanding that TSE had declared it to be ‘not tenable’.

TSEBlackwell, Basil;a1 did not require Peter to publish any sort of apology, partly on the basis that such a further publication might serve to draw even more attention to the original article; but he did insist that there should be no further ‘dissemination’ of Peter’s work – a determination immediately accepted by Basil Blackwell, publisher of Essays in Criticism. Even when the firm of Swets & Zeitlinger (Amsterdam) undertook to reprint the first ten volumes of Essays in Criticism (covering the decade 1951–60), TSE reiterated his ruling that Peter’s article should remain suppressed. F. W. BatesonBateson, F. W.and John Peter's essay;a1n (Corpus Christi College, Oxford), editor of Essays in Criticism – who had been responsible for the publication of the original issue – pointedly drew attention to the absence of Peter’s piece in the reprint edition: ‘The omission of these pages from the reprint is a tribute of reluctant respect to the memory of T. S. Eliot … Mr Eliot took the greatest possible exception to Peter’s well-meant article … And so, being very angry, I wrote Mr Eliot the most offensive apology he can ever have received … Professor Peter had naively read The Waste Land as though it had been one more of the imaginary dramatic monologues that Eliot and Pound had been writing … it had never occurred to him that we might be implicitly accusing the poem’s author of just such an emotion in real life.’

Peter’s essay was republished only after TSE’s death: ‘A New Interpretation of The Waste Land (1952). With Postscript (1969)’, Essays in Criticism XIX (Apr. 1969), 140–75. Peter concluded his ‘Postscript’ with this personal note: ‘that my interpretation caused the poet distress and annoyance is something I have had seventeen years to go on regretting.’

2.‘MrConfidential Clerk, The1953 Edinburgh production;b2negotiations over;a1n. Eliot’s New Play: Production in Edinburgh Next Year’, The Times, 19 Dec. 1952, 10:

‘Mr T. S. Eliot has written a new modern comedy in verse called The Confidential Clerk. It will be given its first production at the Edinburgh Festival. Mr. E. Martin Browne, who produced The Cocktail Party – also given its first performance at the Edinburgh Festival and Mr. Eliot’s other plays – will be in charge of the production, which will be presented by the Edinburgh Festival Society and Mr. Henry Sherek during the first two weeks of next year’s festival. It has a cast of seven and is set in the West End of London.

The Confidential Clerk will follow the example of The Cocktail Party by being taken from Edinburgh to New York before it is seen in London. A theatre on Broadway has in fact already been booked by Mr. Sherek for the American production next October. The play will not be produced in London until its New York run has come to an end; then it will be seen here with the original English cast.

‘There are three reasons, Mr. Sherek says, for delaying the production in London. First, in New York there is not the same difficulty as here in getting the theatre one wants – in fact, a transatlantic telephone call is said to have settled the matter; secondly, there is, Mr. Sherek says, an enormous public in the United States eager to see Mr. Eliot’s plays; and thirdly, the play is certain to earn for this country a steady flow of dollars.’

‘Mr. Eliot’s New Play’, The Times, 22 Dec. 1952, 3: ‘Mr. T. S. Eliot stated yesterday that though he understands that his new play The Confidential Clerk has been accepted for production at the next Edinburgh Festival, the statement about its subsequent production in New York and London was issued without his knowledge or authority. He has not yet entered into any contract, he says, or discussed the conditions under which the play might be presented after its performance at Edinburgh.’

‘Mr. Eliot’s New Play: London Production Next Year’, The Times, 31 Dec. 1952, 4: ‘Mr. T. S. Eliot’s new play The Confidential Clerk will, after all, be seen in London before it is produced in New York. It was announced yesterday that this change of plan has been made at the wish of Mr. Eliot himself. At a meeting between Mr. Eliot and Mr. Henry Sherek it was decided to present The Confidential Clerk in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool in the weeks immediately following its first production at the Edinburgh Festival next summer. The play will then be brought to London with the same cast.’

3.TheLaw, Phyllidain Murder in the Cathedral;a1 OldRogers, Paulin Murder in the Cathedral;a1 Vic production of Murder in the Cathedral, directed by Robert Helpmann and starring Robert Donat, opened on 31 Mar. 1953. The First Knight was played by Paul Rogers, who would later take the lead in TSE’s The Elder Statesman; and the Chorus included Phyllida Law. The production was to be recorded in May 1953 at London’s Abbey Road Studios; subsequently remastered and issued on CD in 2006. Donat, who suffered from severe asthma, needed oxygen cylinders to be kept to hand in the wings.

Bateson, F. W., and John Peter's essay,
Blackwell, Basil,
Confidential Clerk, The, first sketches towards, intended for 1952 Edinburgh Festival, being written, draft complete, which TSE rewrites, now intended for 1953 Edinburgh Festival, and Sherek's lordly conduct, EVE typing up, TSE finalising, 1953 Edinburgh production, negotiations over, casting for, may prompt further revision, stage-sets for, EH's ticket arranged for, dress rehearsal, 1953 Lyric Theatre production, first night, full house, soon to come off, 1954 American production, Sherek to negotiate, schedule for, EH encouraged to report on, reception, 1954 Paris International Theatre Festival production, reception, 1954 Ruhrfestspiele production, reception, 1954 post-Paris English touring production, Muriel Spark on, EH requests signed copy of,
Donat, Robert, negotiating over Family Reunion, reading Family Reunion, keen on Becket, as Becket,

3.RobertDonat, Robert Donat (1905–58), stage and screen actor; starred in Alfred Hitchcocks’s The 39 Steps (1935); and won an Academy Award for Best Actor in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).

Faber and Faber (F&F), TSE's office in, the garrulousness of publishing, refuge from home, in financial straits, future feared for, tranquil Saturday mornings at, TSE disenchanted with, hosts summer garden-party, as part of Bloomsbury, TSE considers 'home', VHE intrusion dreaded at, robbed, increases TSE's workload, TSE's editorial beat at, negotiate over Murder in the Cathedral, pay advance for Murder, VHE's appearances at, and Duff Cooper's Haig, 'blurbs' for, commission new letterhead from Eric Gill, give Ivy lunch for Dukes, TSE as talent-spotter and talent-counsellor, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, mark TSE's 50th birthday, and the prospect of war, and closing The Criterion, lose Morley to America, on war footing, war ties TSE to, fire-watching duties at, wartime bookbinding issues, advertisements to write for, Picture Post photographs boardroom, offices damaged by V-1, consider moving to Grosvenor Place, lunch at Wednesday board-meetings, Christmas staff party,
Hale, Emily, visits the Eliots for tea, returns to Boston, likened to TSE's mother, TSE identifies with her 'reserve', encouraged to write for periodicals, visits West Rindge, summers in Seattle, presents herself as cossetted, blames herself for an unfulfilled life, returns to Boston, consulted over TSE's Norton Professorship, holidays in Castine, vacations in New Bedford, TSE fears accident befalling, travels to stay in Seattle, Frank Morley on Ada on, arrives in California, brought to tears by music, goes horse-riding, baited over how to boil an egg, TSE passes old school of, takes motoring holiday via San Francisco, summers in Seattle, TSE composes squib for, takes TSE's hand in dream, returned to California, TSE sends Harvard Vocarium record, holidays in West Rindge, returns to Boston before embarking for England, arrives in England, to travel to Paris, returns to London, feels inferior to 'brilliant society', invited to Sweeney Agonistes rehearsal, attends Richard II with TSE, attends Sweeney Agonistes, takes TSE to Gielgud's Hamlet, taken to see Stravinsky conducting, leaves for Italy, takes tea at OM's before leaving, mistaken for TSE's sister, returns to Florence, sails for the Riviera, returns from France, returns to Chipping Campden, to Guernsey with Jeanie McPherrin, taken to Henry IV on return, shares open taxi with TSE through Parks and Whitehall, and TSE attend The Gondoliers, visit to the Russian ballet, invited to Murder in Canterbury, and TSE attend 1066 And All That, taken to Tovaritch, and Morleys set for ballet, which she excuses herself from, criticised for flower-arranging, and TSE walk in the Cotswolds, feels inferior to Margaret Thorp, and TSE theatre-going with Thorps, taken to Timon of Athens, taken to Peer Gynt, visited at Campden for TSE's birthday, takes lodgings in Oxford, lodges at 19 Rosary Gardens, watches TSE read to Student Christian Movement, and TSE visit Kenwood House, dines with the Maritains, describes tea with the Woolfs, returns to America, visits Ada on Boston homecoming, possible career-move into politics, pays winter visit to Rindge, and Eleanor Hinkley attend New York Murder, moves to 154 Riverway with Perkinses, considers volunteering for charity, living at 5 Clement Circle, holidays in Cataumet, returns abruptly to Cambridge, recuperates in New Hampshire, moves to 240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass., lectures at Concord, returns to Brimmer Street, returns to Boston during vacation, sails for England, in residence at Chipping Campden, travels to Yorkshire, returned to Chipping Campden, returns and moves to 22 Paradise Road, Northampton, Mass., spends Thanksgiving in Boston, stays at Hotel Lincolnshire with the Perkinses, vacations at New Bedford, visits New York, holidays in Charleston, as patron of school, returns to Northampton, sails for England, day at Windsor with TSE, fortnight at Campden with TSE, at Campden with TSE again, returns to America with 'Boerre', ordered to stay in America in case of war, given Family Reunion draft with her comments, encouraged to write drama criticism, vacations in New Bedford, advises TSE against Tewkesbury choruses, holidays with the Havenses, sails for England, at Chipping Campden, stays with the Adam Smiths in Scotland, returns to America with Perkinses, safely returned, sent copy of TSE's daily prayers, sent first CNL, sends TSE selected American plays, holidays in New Bedford, spends Easter in Harwichport, holiday destinations, holidays in Cape Cod, returns to the Perkinses at 90 Commonwealth Avenue, stays with Elsmiths in Woods Hole, holidays on Grand Manan, visits Perkinses in Boston, returns to 90 Commonwealth Avenue, holidays in Madison, Wisc., travels on to Maine, holidays on Grand Manan, holidays in Bangor, Maine, as president of S. P. C. A., spends Christmas holiday in New Bedford, holidays in Woods Hole, loans out her Eliotana, removes from Smith to the Perkinses, spends time in Maine, repairs to New Bedford, spends time in Tryon, N. C., returned to Boston, spends three days in New York, shares details of will, holidays on Grand Manan, leaves TSE portrait in event of predeceasing him, late summer in New Brunswick, vacations in New Bedford, repairs to New Bedford, resident in Millbrook, takes short holiday at 'Bleak House', holidays on Grand Manan, visits Woods Hole, visits New Bedford, holidays in New Bedford, spends holiday at Sylvia Knowles's, holidays in Dorset, Vt., holidays briefly in Farmington, holidaying on Grand Manan, TSE seeks Trojan Women translation for, moves to 9 Lexington Road, gives Christmas readings, congratulates TSE on OM, urges TSE not to despair at honours, spends Easter in Boston, race-relations and the WPA, sings Bach's B Minor Mass, removes from Concord to Andover, on life in Grand Manan, congratulates TSE on Nobel Prize, resident at 35 School Street, Andover, summers between Boston, Woods Hole, New Bedford and Grand Manan, recounts journey to Grand Manan, takes The Cocktail Party personally, then repents of doing so, post-Christmas stay in New Bedford, reports on Cocktail Party's opening, summers between Chocorua and Campobello, tours westward to California during summer holiday, attends British Drama League summer school, holidays in Grand Manan, asks TSE for occasional poem, week in the Virgin Islands, summers between Mount Desert and California, spends holidays in New Bedford, recuperates in New Bedford, returns, briefly to Chipping Campden, Eleanor Hinkley reports on, writes to EVE, sends EVE photograph of TSE, makes tour of Scandinavia, approaches TSE on Smith's behalf, which approach TSE declines, writes to TSE on GCF's death, moves back to Concord, pays visit to Seattle, reacts to TSE's death, writes to EVE, meets EVE, dies, appearance and characteristics, her shapely neck, TSE's memory for certain of her old dresses, particularly four dresses, which TSE then describes, TSE begs EH to describe her clothing, in silk, autumn 1930, costumed in a 'Titian wig', EH encouraged to gain weight, EH encouraged to tan, her Jantzen suit, TSE begs a slip of hair from, her gold-and-green tea gown, her Praxitelean nose, EH congratulated on 'perm', EH refuses TSE lock of hair, her voice, Guardsman dress, as a Botticelli Madonna, her hands, recommended skin-cream, 'new goldy dress', TSE inquires after, in TSE's dreams, 'new and nuder' swimsuit demanded, her black dress/red jacket outfit, dressed in blue, in charming black dress, her sense of humour, her New England conscience, the famous apricot dress, her hair, various dresses, EH's idea of new dresses, EH hair cut in the new style, blue dress worn following masque, as actor, as Olivia in Twelfth Night, in the Cambridge Dramatic club, as Roxane in Cyrano in 1915/16, as Judith Bliss in Hay Fever, EH considers giving up for teaching, in the 'stunt show' with TSE, as Beatrice, TSE hopes, in The Footlight Club, in Berkeley Square, in The Yellow Jacket, EH praised over Ruth Draper, under Ellen van Volkenburg, cast as an octogenarian, in The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, TSE speculates as to her future in, and teaching, as Lady Bracknell, TSE begs to write part for, in The Footlight Club, potentially in summer theatre company, as the Duchess of Devonshire, potentially in The Family Reunion, Cambridge Dramatic club reunion, The Wingless Victory, in masque with TSE, in a Van Druten play, as Lodovico Sforza, in play by Laurence Housman, as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, with Paul Stephenson, in Kind Lady, joins the Dorset Players, as director ('producer'), La Locandiera, Lady Gregory's The Dragon, Dust of the Road, Comus, possibly temporarily at St. Catherine's, Va., chorus work at Smith, Electra, Quality Street, The Merchant of Venice, Dear Brutus, Christmas play, Richard II, Hay Fever, Christmas pantomime, The Dorset Players, a reading of Outward Bound, Molnár's The Swan, Dulcy, The School for Scandal, Fanny and the Servant Problem, Dear Brutus again, Twelfth Night, Prunella, Christmas play, Antigone, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It, The Admirable Crichton, Holy Night, The Tempest, as teacher, EH lectures on 'Modern British Verse', as a career, at Milwaukee-Downer College, Mich., at Simmons College, Boston, EH considers post at Scripps, which she accepts, arrives at Scripps, establishes drama workshop at Scripps, EH lectures on TSE, EH's advice that TSE lecture less slowly, as described by Scripps student, and being admired by students, TSE sees her teaching as a kind of acting, requests year's leave from Scripps, resigns position at Scripps, declares intention to teach again, possibly, temporarily, at St. Catherine's, Va., possibly at Smith, post at St. Catherine's rejected, appointed to position at Smith, is installed at Smith, reappointed with pay-rise, reappointed again for two years, her work at Smith, unsettled at Smith, in time of war, insecure over job at Smith, from which EH takes 'sabbatical', let go by Smith, takes job at Concord Academy, appointed to post at Bennett Junior College, Millbrook, appointment to permanent Concord position, EH thinks of giving up, lectures on Family Reunion, her work at Concord Academy, resignation from Concord Academy, takes permanent position at Abbot, EH admits to being sheltered by, retirement from Abbot, according to Abbot Academy tribute, birthdays, presents and love-tokens, EH's birthday compared to TSE's, TSE sends Terry–Shaw correspondence for EH's birthday, EH sends TSE pomme purée, present from EH, flowers for EH's birthday arrive too soon, EH wearing TSE's ring, two rings bought for EH, EH bought typewriter, TSE 'cables' EH roses, TSE consults EH over potential present, TSE's second 'sapphire' ring for, EH refits new rings from TSE, TSE receives flowers for Christmas, EH given 'powder box' for Christmas, EH's present to TSE goes amiss, missing present (calendar) explained, EH left cigarettes by TSE, EH gives TSE cigarette case, TSE necklace-hunting for EH, pearls suggested for EH, EH bought sapphire bracelet, EH gives TSE a signet ring, EH bought blue-gray scarf, EH gives TSE silk handkerchiefs, TSE has signet ring engraved, further ring sought for EH, EH with TSE on his birthday, EH gives TSE initialled leather portfolio, TSE given ashtrays and matchbox, furs sought for EH, EH gives TSE stool, roses sent to EH on birthday, TSE given diary and hairbrush box, TSE given rosary and print, EH buys TSE towel rails, TSE receives diary for Christmas, 1810 ring bought for EH, EH buys TSE various ties, war means no flowers, EH's lapis lazuli ring, TSE neglects to cable EH, EH knits socks for TSE, which turn out large, EH sends TSE 'snowflake' socks, EH remembers TSE's birthday with reference to Shakespeare, TSE sent marmalade and liver-paste, EH writes poem for TSE's birthday, EH sends TSE provisions, EH loses sapphire from ring, diamond circlet given to EH in 1939, EH gives TSE socks for Christmas, TSE gives EH 'evening bag', EH unthanked for Christmas present, correspondence with TSE, TSE petitions EH to bestow on the Bodleian, TSE exalts as authoritative, TSE envisions as reading-group, the only writing TSE enjoys, TSE as Cyrano to EH's Roxane, TSE's dependence on, TSE's nights spent planning, TSE rereads with pleasure, the strain of interruption, switches to Air Mail, TSE on his decision to renew, TSE marks first anniversary of, keeps TSE sane, TSE hopes to telephone, TSE wishes to maintain when in America, EH would withhold from the Bodleian bequest, from which TSE tries to dissuade her, TSE violently dependent on, TSE begs EH that it be preserved, less exciting to EH than at first, TSE's horror of sounding sermonic, if such a correspondence were profitable, and TSE's respectful reticence, EH suggests entrusting to Willard Thorp, but subsequently explains she meant Margaret Thorp, EH's to do with as pleases, and the prospect of TSE writing every night, TSE still rereads with pleasure, excites TSE too much to write smoothly, compared with talking, phone call finally arranged, which finally takes place, EH importuned to write more, TSE promises three letters a week, EH refuses more than one, a solitude within a solitude, EH switches to typewriter, which TSE offers to buy, observed weekly by EH's students, flatters TSE most when EH writes undutifully, TSE's dread of EH rationing, TSE's efforts to moderate himself within, TSE imagines the unsealing of, TSE offers to cease, a place to vent one's feelings, TSE rebuked for 'intolerance' within, EH learns to type, hinders TSE from work, TSE on life before, third anniversary marked, thwarted by TSE's self-loathing, TSE doubts having pursued, restraints on TSE's ardour lifted, more constrained by day, TSE worries about burdening EH with, worth TSE getting home early for, by day, by night, TSE specially treasures recent 'love letters', more delightful since EH's reciprocation, and TSE's diminished ardour, switches to transatlantic airmail, constrained by war, opened by censor, and Shamley Green post-office, TSE apologises for, EH free to dispose of, within limits, particularly constrained by EH's letter of 1939, and the experience of delay, TSE equivocates on preserving, varied with airgraph, again, EH's to do with as she pleases, still intended for Bodleian, TSE chastened for short cables, TSE's letters 'undemonstrative and impersonal', post-war frequency, being and not being loving by letter, EH asks TSE to reduce, TSE criticised for following monthly injunction, TSE rebuked for impersonality, EH formally bequeaths to Princeton, TSE unfussed as to repository, TSE reiterates 50-year prohibition, TSE's worries as to future appearances, EH promises Princeton her statement on, promises letters with ten-year seal, attempts to shorten TSE's moratorium, which TSE refuses, which forces EH to relent, TSE encouraged to return EH's letters, EH deposits further material with Princeton, EH makes 'recording' for Princeton, EH renews plea to shorten moratorium, and is again refused, TSE destroys EH's letters, TSE repents of severe letter, which EH never receives, EH suspects TSE of destroying her letters, EH instructs Princeton to discard 'recording', EH ultimately respects TSE's wishes, EH on TSE's destruction of her letters, family, her father, her childhood compared to TSE's, TSE desires family history of, EH encouraged to keep younger company, EH's unity with parents, EH's relations with aunt and uncle, EH's relations with aunt and uncle, EH photographed with parents, and EH's obligations to, finances, health, physical and mental, admits to breakdown, TSE compares 'nightmares' with, TSE's desire to nurse, suffers neuritis, then neuralgia, recommended suncream, suffers arthritis, suffers with sinuses, her teeth, experiences insomnia, suffers 'hives', suffers crisis body and soul, feels depressed over Christmas, suffers neuralgia, suffers intestinal flu, has shingles, admitted to hospital, convalesces on Grand Manan, recuperates in Washington, Conn., photographs of, as a child, Edith Sitwellesque photograph, in 18th-century costume, in 18th-century French costume, in broad-brimmed 'picture' hat, TSE buys Kodak, in deck-chair, eating sandwich, in a car, 'the Beautiful one', which TSE has enlarged for his dressing-table, painful, because taken in the 'interim', in bacchanalian pose, 'Semitic', among young people, set 'Elizabeth' giggling, Diana Mannersesque, are mnemonic aids to TSE, kneeling beside can of flowers, TSE's favourite, with ordinarily sized hands, smoking in chair, as child with big ears, taken on TSE's arrival in Claremont, in Jane Austen fashion, in unfamiliar jacket, taken in autumn, with mother and father, as a child, in TSE's note-case throughout Blitz, in Wingless Victory, as child, in gold frame, in familiar jacket, taken with Boerre, surround TSE at Shamley, with baby, in a group, of EH's portrait, in sailor suit, all inadequate, carrying lamp, with Rag Doll, at Campobello, reading, Henry James, Letters from Baron Friedrich von Hügel to a Niece, All Passion Spent, Bubu de Montparnasse, F&F thriller, Eyeless in Gaza, Dante, Hopkins and Roosevelt, Henry Irving: The Actor and His World, relationship with TSE, TSE's first acquaintance with, its abnormality, runs to admiration from EH, and TSE's habitual reserve, its morality under examination, defended by TSE, its susceptibilities envisaged by TSE, EH admits estrangement within, and TSE's desire for intimacies, provokes sorrow and fury in TSE, confided to the Perkinses, Miss Ware and Father Underhill, TSE's chance to be frivolous, and the prospect of TSE's Harvard year, TSE dates first meeting to 1905, whereas EH dates to 1915, TSE's terror of renewing in California, teaches TSE true companionship, runs to a 'kiss', as perpetual progress and revelation, EH offered manumission from, if TSE were not married, seems more real for TSE's American year, TSE's reasons against marrying, TSE fears having misled over, EH again offered manumission from, EH writes to Ada concerning, EH blames TSE for his ardour, then apologises for blaming TSE, leads to unhappiness in EH, possible drain on EH's health, its perceived inequalities, pity and gratitude would corrupt, TSE conditionally promises marriage, TSE sees as an imposition on EH, potentially richer for meeting TSE's friends, EH 'kisses' TSE, EH rests head on TSE's shoulder, EH strokes TSE's face, as consubstantial union, TSE's love finally reciprocated, mutual embraces, EH kissed on the right foot, TSE favoured with birthday kiss, exhausting, should proceed without hope of marriage, TSE again regrets misleading EH, as one of mutual dependence, its unsatisfactions, its seasonal rhythm, but for VHE would be marriage, EH seeks post-war clarity on, and the prospect of VHE's death, following VHE's death, TSE reflects on the deterioration of, TSE reflects generally on, and men and women generally, according to Theresa Eliot, EH reflects on, since TSE discounted marriage, had TSE behaved differently in 1914, its new dispensation, source of mutual anguish, apropos of TSE's second marriage, EH's marriage regret, EH recoils from publicising, TSE re-evaluates, EH writes to EVE about, religious beliefs and practices, claims experience of 'vision', admits suffering spiritual crisis, goes on retreat, and TSE's definition of sainthood, compared to TSE's, professes to resent the Church, makes retreat to Senexet, the issue of communion, the possibility of confirmation, source of worry to EH, confronts TSE on religious differences, TSE on her 'Christian spirit', fears TSE considers her damned, TSE pointedly refrains from criticising, unclear to TSE, TSE's love for, and their conversation in Eccleston Square, declared, in 1915, and TSE's desire to be EH's spiritual possession, source of serenity to TSE, the strangeness of not broadcasting, first felt in 1913, recognised by TSE the night of Tristan und Isolde, TSE's reasons for not declaring in 1913, what TSE said instead of declaring, a pain of sorts, unconfided to friends, not immune to jealousy of EH's male friends, its passion tempered by religion, and the torment of resignation, defiled by possessiveness and anger, and a particular journey back from Pasadena, in light of California stay, increases his desire to quarrel with EH, TSE doubts decision to declare, eternally unconditional, shows TSE true meaning of tenderness, defined by TSE, violent, clarified and strengthened by Chipping Campden reunion, disquiets EH, obstructive to EH loving another, TSE initially relieved to find unrequited, queered by inexperience, TSE repents of over-prizing, startles TSE, like 'a burglar', strengthened and deepened, irrespective of physical beauty, finally reciprocated, ideal when unreciprocated, relieved only by poetry, as against love's travesties, as expressed in Burnt Norton, over time, apparently undimmed but dwarfed by war, and the first time TSE spoke EH's name, thwarted by question of divorce, EH questions, now better adjusted to reality, argument over communion challenges, would run to jealously but not marriage, as expressed in 1914 on Chestnut Hill, TSE's names, nicknames and terms of endearment for, 'Lady', 'Dove', 'My saint', 'Bienaimée', TSE's reason for calling her 'Dove', 'Isolde', 'My Lady', 'Emilie', 'Princess', 'Lady bird', 'Birdie', 'riperaspberrymouth', 'Emily of Fire & Violence', 'Bouche-de-Fraise', 'Bouch-de-Framboise', 'Raspberrymouth', not 'Wendy', 'Nightingale', 'Mocking Bird', 'Love', 'My true love', 'my Self', 'Emilia' and Shelley's Epipsychidion, 'my Own', 'Girl', 'Western Star', 'Darling', 'My Life', 'My Lamb', 'Beloved my Female', 'My own Woman', writings, an article on 'Weimar', letter to The Times about King's jubilee, account of communion at Beaulieu, EH asks to write about TSE, review of La Machine infernale, review of Dangerous Corner, a note for S. P. C. A., an 'epigram', 'Actors at Alnwick', 'An Etching', 'The Giocanda Smile', 'The Personal Equation in Spoken English', 'A Play from Both Sides of the Footlights', 'Summer Sunshine: A Memory of Miss Minna Hall', 'They flash upon the inward eye',
Higginson, G. F., deputed to VHE crisis-talks, issues formal reprimand on TSE's behalf,

1.TSE’s solicitor, G. F. HigginsonHigginson, G. F. of Bird & Bird, Gray’s Inn Square, London.

Law, Phyllida, in Murder in the Cathedral,
Murder in the Cathedral, idea for initially suggested by Laurence Irving, offered to Martin Browne, St. Thomas as TSE's muse, TSE on writing, tentatively, 'The Archbishop Murder Case', uncertainties over title, currently 'Fear in the Way', which proves unpopular, TSE on rewriting, title settled on, final revisions for printer, tentatively critiqued by EH, and EH on TSE as dramatist, chorus copied for EH, Virginia Woolf's aspersions on, the form of its choruses, defended from obscurity, did not test TSE's plotting, book-sales to-date, $1,000 offered for American rights, pays for 1936 American trip, Italian and Hungarian rights sold, and Whiggery, Savile Club dinner to celebrate, compared to next play, discrepancies of Canterbury Text, Martin Browne's initial response to, TSE recognised as author of, TSE on its cheerful title, EH on, abandoned Mercury Theatre premiere, suggested by Yeats and Doone, in the offing, and Doone's response to first draft, EH requested at, imperilled, text copied for Yeats, 1935 Canterbury Festival production, in rehearsal, opening night, reception, final performance, and EH's response, 1935–6 Mercury Theatre revival, Martin Browne pushing for, in rehearsal, which EH attends, compared to Canterbury original, at the box-office, its 100th performance, still running, proposed tour to end, 1936 BBC radio version, BBC bid to produce, broadcast fixed, BBC memo on, in rehearsal, TSE on, abortive 1936 New York transfer, Dukes visits America to arrange, blighted by Brace's actions, quashed by Federal Theatre production, its usurper founders, deferred to autumn, unsolicited 1936 New York production, licensed by Brace, to be directed by Rice, seemingly withdrawn, Rice resigns from, delights EH and Eleanor Hinkley, TSE sent press-cuttings for, EH reports on, TSE speculates as to textual discrepancies, attended by Eleanor Roosevelt, extended and potentially expanded, TSE to the Transcript on, may predispose immigration authorities favourably in future, royalties from, 1936 University College, Dublin student production, described by TSE, rumoured Australian and American productions, 1936 Gate Theatre touring production, TSE's long-held wish, scheduled, 1936 touring production, due at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, as it was played in Cambridge, 1936 America pirate production, 1937 Duchess Theatre West End transfer, date fixed for, announced in Times, dress-rehearsal attended, reception, reviewed, royalties, still playing, ticket sales pick up, coming to an end, receives royal visit, 1937 touring production, scheduled post-Duchess, beginning in Leeds, then Manchester, going strong, 1937 Harvard University production, 1937 Amherst College production, singled out for praise, 1937 Old Vic production, touring production arrived at, in rehearsal, 1937 Tewkesbury Drama Festival production, 1938 American tour, projected for January 1937, said date seconded by Dukes, deferred to September 1937, confirmed again by Dukes, pre-tour dates in Golders Green, then Liverpool, opening in Boston in January, over which EH is consulted, tour itinerary, Family Reunion keeps TSE from, preparatory re-rehearsal for, pre-crossing Liverpool dates, EH's judgement desired, EH reports on first night, reviewed in The Times, EH sends New York cuttings, prematurely transferred to New York, Dukes reports on, Westminster Cathedral Hall charity performance, 1940 Latham Mercury revival, revival suggested in rep with Family Reunion, wartime modern-dress production suggested, ambushes TSE, in rehearsal, first night, reviewed, Browne's wartime Pilgrim Players' adaptation, Hoellering film, Hoellering's initial approach made, Hoellering's vision for, TSE adapting for screen, reconnoitre of Canterbury for, casting Becket, recording made for, development process described to NYT, non-actor found for Becket, screenings of Groser, set-dressing, screening, approaching release, still in the edit, final screening, and Venice Film Festival, seeking distribution, soon to premiere, opens, initial reception, circulating in shortened version, 1945 Théâtre du Vieux Colombier production, compared to Martin Browne's, royalties, apparently a hit, reviewed, reaches 150 performances, Fluchère's involvement, 1946 German production, 1947 Edinburgh Festival production, 1948 Milton Academy production, 1949 broadcast, 1949 Berlin production, politically resonant, 1952 University of Rennes, Grand Théâtre abridgment, 1952 Théatre National Populaire production, 1953 Old Vic revival, waiting on Donat, TSE on, 1954 Harvard production,
Old Vic, The, relationship to Sadler's Wells, presents Laughton's Macbeth, presents Othello, presents Henry IV, Part II, presents The Witch of Edmonton, Olivier's (complete) Hamlet, presents Murder, Guthrie's Measure for Measure, Emlyn Williams's Richard III, Alec Guinness's Hamlet, considers Family Reunion, presents Midsummer Night's Dream, TSE's fellow air-warden involved with, Hamlet starring Robert Helpmann at, engages Martin Browne to produce Coriolanus, Wolfit's Tamburlaine, wants to revive Murder, to produce The Confidential Clerk,
Peter, John, 'A New Interpretation of The Waste Land',

1.ThePeter, John ‘odiousPeter, John'A New Interpretation of The Waste Land';a1 essay’ in question was ‘A New Interpretation of The Waste Land’, by John Peter, Lecturer in English, University of Manitoba – ‘an impecunious junior professor in the Canadian middle west,’ as he was later to call himself (in 1969) – published in Essays in Criticism II (July 1952), 242–66. Peter himself sent TSE an offprint of his article. TheHigginson, G. F.issues formal reprimand on TSE's behalf;a2 piece so offended TSE that he briefed his solicitor, G. F. Higginson, to send this formal reprimand:

Rogers, Paul, in Murder in the Cathedral,
Sherek, Henry, dissuades TSE from coaching actors, confounds TSE's expectations, recommends New York Cocktail Party transfer, suffers girth-induced sciatica, desires three TSE plays in repertory, which TSE resists, lordly behaviour over Confidential Clerk, American Confidential Clerk production, takes Confidential Clerk to Paris, which proves a misadventure,
see also Shereks, the

4.HenrySherek, Henry Sherek (1900–1967), theatre producer: see Biographical Register.

Théâtre National Populaire, Paris, stages Meurte dans la cathédrale,
Vilar, Jean, as Becket in Meurtre, acclaimed with Prix du Théâtre, revives Meurtre,

3.JeanMurder in the Cathedral1945 Théâtre du Vieux Colombier production;g2 Vilar’s production of Murder in the Cathedral opened at the Vieux-Colombier Theatre on 18 June 1945. VilarVilar, Jean (1912–71), actor-producer and administrator, who founded his acting company in 1943, was awarded in 1945 the Prix du Théâtre for his outstanding work on Murder and on Strindberg’s Dance of Death. In 1947 he founded the Avignon Festival, the first drama festival in France; and he was appointed director of the prestigious state-owned Théâtre National Populaire, 1947–63. His acting roles included Macbeth, Don Juan and the gangster in Brecht’s Arturo Ui; and his productions extended from French plays to Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Beckett and Robert Bolt.