[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
I have heard nothing from you since your letter of the 23d August, which has made me very apprehensive. I had hoped to hear from you again before you left Seattle – I did not expect that you would have the time to write during your first week or so at Claremont. AsHale, EmilyTSE fears accident befalling;b5 there has been no reason on my side why you should not have written during a month or more, I have become very anxious; and under these conditions I am always ready to conjure up every variety of disaster. OfPerkinses, the;d5Perkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle)
INorton, Elizabeth ('Lily') GaskellTSE confides to over lunch;a6 have had to spend the last three days in town - Wednesday to lunch with Lily Norton, whom I like very much, though there is nothing very brilliant or stimulating about her – but she is so very well bred – and imparted to her a good deal of information about my affairs here, which she may convey to Boston at her discretion; ThursdayHutchinson, Maryenlisted to prevail on VHE;a7 to lunch with the Hutchinsons, who are very anxious to be helpful: Mary had tried to get V. to come to see her, but V. had said on the telephone that she would not come if Mary wanted to talk about me; so Mary will try again later, and not talk about me, but about V.’s future on the assumption that the separation is a permanent and settled matter; JackHutchinson, St. Johnhelps TSE over separation settlement;a3 put forward one or two good points in connexion with the settlement. OnHaigh-Wood, Mauricenegotiates separation;a8 Wednesday afternoon I had a meeting (the first one) with my brother in law, whichBird, Ernesthosts discussion of separation terms;a4 is to be followed by another at Bird’s office, as an attempt to draw up the terms. ThursdayEnglish Church UnionLiterature Committee;a1 afternoon was passed in a long meeting of the Standing Committee of the Literature Committee of the English Church Union – FridayBrowne, Elliott Martinproduction of The Rock;a2talks over outline of play;a2 IBrowne, Henzie (née Raeburn)and initial discussions of The Rock with TSE;a2 lunchedRock, Theoutlined to the Martin Brownes;a2 with this Martin Browne and his wife – the producer of religious plays, andForty-Five Churches Fund, The;a2 discussed a further outline which I had drawn up of a scheme for this play, or pageant, or whatever it turns out to be, followedWebb-Odell, Revd Rosslynmeets TSE over The Rock;a1 by a meeting afterwards with a Revd. Mr. Odell, who is in charge of the publicity for the Forty Five Churches Fund.1 It will have to be something which will consist largely of separate scenes each one of which will be taken by some particular parish – so that the parts can be rehearsed separately for some time before a joint rehearsal – andFogerty, Elsieto collaborate on The Rock;a1 the rest of one or two well drilled choruses, the personnel to be supplied by Miss Fogarty’s [sc. Fogerty’s] School of Dramatic Art, etc.2 In short, there will be no shortage of amateurs and students for large effects, but we cannot depend upon getting any first rate actors or actresses, as they cannot possibly know so far ahead – next May – what engagements they will have; accordingly the thing must be written without depending upon any star parts. IRock, Theas TSE's theatrical apprenticeship;a3 don’t look upon it as the possibility for any positive dramatic achievement, but as an opportunity for practice and experiment to find out whether I have any abilities; and if the results are at all encouraging I shall try my hand at something of my own.
MeanwhileCharles Eliot Norton Lectures (afterwards The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism)in proof;c8 I still have proof correcting, and the more I go over my Norton lectures the more dissatisfied I am, and the sicker of them. AlsoPage-Barbour Lectures, The (afterwards After Strange Gods)rewritten for publication;a6 I am trying to write three practically new lectures to take the place of the Barbour–Page Virginian set which I prepared in such a hurry. IEnglandLondon;h1TSE's desire to live among cockneys;b4 have heardEnglandLondon;h1South Kensington too respectable;b5 of a place in South Kensington where there are good furnished rooms with breakfast and dinner, which might do for me temporarily, as soon as some settlement is come to, I hope towards the end of this month; I hanker for something a bit slummier, if not too noisy and disreputable, with pubs and real cockneys, where I can appear in either a top hat or a sweater and flannels without exciting remark – the exact level is hard to hit, but I think it might be found in Clerkenwell or Somers Town. But this address (Pike’s Farm, Crowhurst, near Lingfield, Surrey) will be the best till further notice. I shall be away a good part of next week; TuesdayTemple, William, Archbishop of York (later of Canterbury)invites TSE to unemployment conference;a3 to Thursday at York, Thursday night in town, toHutchinsons, the;a6 dine with the Hutchinsons and to attend the aforesaid meeting at Bird’s on Friday. My dear, I still hope for a letter from you by Tuesday morning – even the most prim & formal and skimpy would be a great blessing: how please do you think I could manage to exist in any state of usefulness at all if I never heard from you?
Please, I should like to know how long my letters take from here – & whether Air Mail seems to make any difference. I should like one to reach you on your birthday. Perhaps one next week will.
1.RevdWebb-Odell, Revd Rosslyn Rosslyn Webb-Odell, MA (1879–1942), rector of St Anne’s, Soho; Organising Director of the Forty-five Churches Fund for the Diocese of London; editor of The Christian Faith: a series of essays … (1922) and Church Reform (1924).
2.ElsieFogerty, Elsie Fogerty, CBE, LRAM (1865–1945), teacher of elocution and drama training; founder in 1906 of the Central School of Speech and Drama (Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft were favourite pupils). Fogerty was to train the chorus for the Canterbury premiere in 1935 of TSE’s Murder in the Cathedral.
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.
2.ElsieFogerty, Elsie Fogerty, CBE, LRAM (1865–1945), teacher of elocution and drama training; founder in 1906 of the Central School of Speech and Drama (Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft were favourite pupils). Fogerty was to train the chorus for the Canterbury premiere in 1935 of TSE’s Murder in the Cathedral.
5.MauriceHaigh-Wood, Maurice Haigh-Wood was eight years younger than his sister Vivien. InHaigh-Wood, Emily ('Ahmé') Cleveland (TSE's sister-in-law, née Hoagland) 1930 he married a 25-year-old American dancer, Emily Cleveland Hoagland – known as known as ‘Ahmé’ (she was one of the Hoagland Sisters, who had danced at Monte Carlo) – and they were to have two children.
3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.
5.ElizabethNorton, Elizabeth ('Lily') Gaskell Gaskell Norton (1866–1958), second child of Prof. Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908); correspondent of Henry James, James Russell Lowell and Edith Wharton. Resident at 19 Chestnut Street, Boston, Mass.
10.WilliamTemple, William, Archbishop of York (later of Canterbury) Temple (1881–1944), Anglican clergyman, Archbishop of York and later of Canterbury: see Biographical Register.
1.RevdWebb-Odell, Revd Rosslyn Rosslyn Webb-Odell, MA (1879–1942), rector of St Anne’s, Soho; Organising Director of the Forty-five Churches Fund for the Diocese of London; editor of The Christian Faith: a series of essays … (1922) and Church Reform (1924).