[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
Sinceanti-Semitism;a7 I last wrote I have pursued my investigation of the cinema, with still discouraging results. TheMarx Brothers, theDuck Soup;a2 Marx Brothers this time.1 They left me quite unamused; there are a few pleasant and ingenious surprises in detail; but the humour in general is crude, the construction does not exist, instead of a cutting satire they give the effect only of the low envious snarl of the degraded classes, through the medium of three especially low class Jews. Mae West at least is harmless; but these ‘comedians’ have something sickeningly repulsive about them. There was a very clever French marionette film and a Silly Symphony, which is always good.
YesterdayAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')The Dance of Death;d4 morningDoone, Rupertapproaches TSE with Aristophanes commission;a1 I interviewed one Rupert Doone,2 whoGroup Theatreand Auden;a1 is producing Auden’s ‘Dance of Death’ for a private society called the ‘Group Theatre’ on Sunday week. I will send you the Dance of Death – it is not a really first rate piece of work, and much feebler than Auden is capable of, but, with music, it may act well.3 DooneAristophanesEirene;a1 wants me to do a paraphrase and adaptation of an Aristophanes play (Eirene)4 for this group to act; I should be very glad to turn my hand to such a task when the pageant business is over, but as he wants to produce it at Cambridge during the Michaelmas term I shall not have the time. It is a pity, because Aristophanes is congenial,5 andRock, Theas TSE's theatrical apprenticeship;a3 I feel the great advantage of having these jobs to do to order, as theatrical apprenticeship, rather than just sitting down and writing probably unactable verse plays without experience of the stage. Dialoguewritingdialogue;b1 is the very devil. In the afternoon IBrowne, Elliott Martinproduction of The Rock;a2discusses unwritten pageant scenes with TSE;a5 hadBrowne, Henzie (née Raeburn)discusses unwritten pageant scenes;a3 a long discussion with Martin Browne and his wife about details of some of the unwritten pageant scenes, andSadler's Wells TheatreThe Friends of Sadler's Wells;b3;a4 went on to another meeting of the Sadlers’ Wells Committee. The Secretary, oneRowe, Sir Reginald Percy Pfeiffermeddles with Russian ballet;a1 Sir Reginald Rowe,6 whoever he is, is a most irritating fellow, and had been interviewing the Ministry of Labour to get them to limit the length of time which the Russian Ballet should be allowed to play in London, so that it should not compete with the Vic-Wells ballet! which seems to me unscrupulous. OnMorley, Christina (née Innes)taken to theatre in Morley's absence;a3 WednesdayBergner, ElizabethTSE and Christina Morley watch;a1 I am to take Christina Morley to see Elizabeth Bergner, a famous German actress (apparently no longer persona grata in Germany).7 I rather dread that, because Christina’s conversational powers are limited; but she has a rather dull time in the country while Frank is away.
So you see I am having a deal of the theatre at present. Have you got to tackle some other big production this term? AndHale, Emilyhealth, physical and mental;w6suffers arthritis;a7 has the arthritis been troubling you? I am steadily worried about this overwork.
I9 Grenville Place, Londondescribed for EH;a3 must say that ICheetham, Revd Ericas landlord at 9 Grenville Place;a2 am extremely comfortable in my new abode with the vicar.8 I have a nicely furnished self-contained flat, except that the bath is outside and I share that with the vicar, the curate and a young lodger whom I never see. I have my meals served in my own room, the food is good, and the servants are well-trained. It is in every way a great improvement over Miss Bevan’s, and I feel that I ought to be paying more rent. The District Railway does not really disturb me, and is better than most other kinds of noise, as soon as one gets used to the vibration when the train passes. It is satisfactory also to have a landlord to whom I can explain my circumstances – which are certainly peculiar – frankly. IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)haunts TSE in London;d5 confess that there is still a great deal of strain, which only time can relax; I still have a hunted feeling in the streets, and at my office; and I have nightmare dreams. But people still tell me how well I look.
And this, I think, is all my news of any interest. I should just like to know that you are well, and whether you are having to undertake any extra work at present.
OhRichardses, thehost TSE for Cambridge weekend;a4 yes, a very pleasant and satisfactory weekend at Cambridge with the Richards’s.9
1.Presumably Duck Soup (1933), the last film to feature four of the brothers including Zeppo. In later years TSE was to become an unqualified fan, and he even dined Groucho in London.
2.RupertDoone, Rupert Doone (1903–66), dancer, choreographer and producer, founded the Group Theatre, London, in 1932: see Biographical Register.
3.The Dance of Death was performed by the Group Theatre at the Westminster Theatre in two ‘club performances’, 25 Feb. and 4 Mar.; it had been published by F&F on 9 Nov. 1933. The music was by Herbert Murrill.
4.Eirene (Gr.: ‘Peace’): satirical comedy by Aristophanes, first staged in 421 BC.
TSE sent this undated snippet to EH on printed notepaper headed ‘The Vestry, St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, S.W.7’:
ἰὼ βροτοὶ βροτοὶ βροτοὶ πολυτλήμονες,
ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα τὰς γνάθους ἀλγήσετε
TRANSLATION:
O mortals, mortals, mortals many suffering,
HOW you are going to have the jawache.
EIPHNH l. 24–25.
5.See Sweeney Agonistes: Fragments of an Aristophanic Melodrama (1932).
6.SirRowe, Sir Reginald Percy Pfeiffer Reginald Percy Pfeiffer (‘P.P.’) Rowe (1868–1945), barrister, philanthropist, poet and novelist; Under Treasurer of Lincoln’s Inn; Chairman, since 1910, of the Improved Tenements Association (he was knighted in 1934 for this important social work); founder and Hon. Treasurer of the Sadler’s Wells Fund; President of National Federation of Housing Societies.
7.ElizabethBergner, Elizabeth Bergner (1897–1986), Austrian-born British actor, established her career as stage and screen actor in Germany before emigrating to Britain after the rise of Nazism in 1933. In 1934 she played the part of Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, by Margaret Kennedy, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for the film version. She was to play Rosalind opposite Laurence Olivier’s Orlando in the 1936 film of As You Like It.
8.99 Grenville Place, Londondescribed by Virginia Woolf;b3n Grenville Place, Kensington, London S.W.7. Virginia Woolf went to tea at TSE’s lodgings on 30 Mar. 1935: ‘A small angular room, with the district railway on one side, Cornwall Gardens on the other […] A dark green blotting paper wall paper, & books rather meagre, stood on top of each other; bookcases with shelves missing. Not a lovely room. A coloured print from an Italian picture. Nothing nice to look at. Purple covers. Respectable china. […] A pallid very cold experience. He stood on the steps – it is the Kensington rectory & he shared a bath with curates. The hot water runs very slowly. Sometimes he takes the bath prepared for the curates. A large faced pale faced man – our great poet […] But the decorous ugliness, the maid in cap & apron, the embroidered cloth, the ornamental kettle on the mantelpiece all somehow depressed me […] How heavenly to sleep over the fire! Tom’s was a gas fire’ (Diary 4, 294).
9.RichardsRichardses, theon TSE's stay;a5nRichards, Dorothy (née Pilley)
‘Sun., 11 Feb. … 3.15 off to Ely. D & I perched in the dickey … Cathedral … Eliot better than most, but bows to the High Altar every time he goes by … Eliot very annoyed at having been caught at the Church with only a shilling which he had to put in the Collecting Box for the Codex. After Hall, very interesting talk about Belief & Politics. Instead of making T.S.E. miserable he came back glowing. Drank several whiskies with gusto. Types all his writings direct (except verse) hates writing even a cheque, says he gets writers cramp. Said he once diagnosed a man as being in an emotional upheaval from his handwriting who killed himself soon after. Didn’t want to go to bed 1.0. Said he could make up sleep next night. Very easy guest.’
10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.
7.ElizabethBergner, Elizabeth Bergner (1897–1986), Austrian-born British actor, established her career as stage and screen actor in Germany before emigrating to Britain after the rise of Nazism in 1933. In 1934 she played the part of Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, by Margaret Kennedy, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for the film version. She was to play Rosalind opposite Laurence Olivier’s Orlando in the 1936 film of As You Like It.
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.
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.
2.RupertDoone, Rupert Doone (1903–66), dancer, choreographer and producer, founded the Group Theatre, London, in 1932: see Biographical Register.
6.SirRowe, Sir Reginald Percy Pfeiffer Reginald Percy Pfeiffer (‘P.P.’) Rowe (1868–1945), barrister, philanthropist, poet and novelist; Under Treasurer of Lincoln’s Inn; Chairman, since 1910, of the Improved Tenements Association (he was knighted in 1934 for this important social work); founder and Hon. Treasurer of the Sadler’s Wells Fund; President of National Federation of Housing Societies.