[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
27 April 1934
Dearest Lady Emily,

I meant to stop in at the club on the way back (IMonro, Alida (née Klementaski);b3 lunched with Alida Monro to-day, who is just back from a lecture tour of the States, where she has been staying with cousins of mine in various places) but was kept at the office until too late. It seemed to me just within the bounds of possibility, as I had not heard from you for three weeks, that there might be a letter – not that I should be so foolish as to expect one, but if there had been one I should not have considered it a miraculous violation of the order of nature. HoweverDobrées, thesecond Norfolk weekend with;a3, as I am taking the 3.40 from Liverpool Street for Diss, Norfolk, to spend the weekend with the Dobrées, andLondon Librarylends TSE works of Marston;a4 as'John Marston';a1 I must stop at the London Library in the morning to pick up the works of John Marston which are being held for me,1 I shall lunch at the club; so if there is a letter I shall have something to read at lunch and also on the train journey.

OtelloVerdi, GiuseppeOtello;a1 last Saturday night very good – what an admirably dramatic opera it is – I like it the best of Verdi – and the Otello, one Cox, made up by excellent acting what he lacked in voice: a wholly enjoyable performance. IOld Vic, Thepresents Laughton's Macbeth;a2 cannotMorleys, theand TSE to Laughton's Macbeth;c4 say so much for MacbethShakespeare, WilliamMacbeth;b9, at the Old Vic, to which I took the Morleys on Wednesday.2 ILaughton, Charlesas Macbeth;a1 regret to say I am tiring of Charles Laughton. He acts too much for Shakespeare; rolls his eyes, twitches his fingers, and has a bitter stage laugh which he uses again and again in trying to be the big bad man; whilst on the other hand his voice is poor, and his declamation of verse bad. I am rather glad that he will not be at the Vic next season, but presumably returns to Hollywood. NorRobson, Floraas Lady Macbeth;a1 was Flora Robson anything very fine as Lady Macbeth. Macb. & Lady M. were too affectionate and cuddly; and Lady M. collapsing into sobs and Macs arms. My conception of her is that she shows no sign of weakness whatever, so that her déraisonnement is a complete surprise; and in fact it is because of her keeping herself so completely in control that she has such a complete breakdown. None of the great speeches so impressive as it should be. The Porter making too much of his part. RogerLivesey, Rogeras Macbeth;a1 Livesay, as Macduff, excellent. But the murder of Duncan was good, and the production as a whole very pleasing. But what a play it is – if you can write dramatic verse like that no production can wholly spoil the play. Weird sisters, of course, too weird; and Mac. at one point collapsing rather absurdly into their arms!

OnGermanyand its Jewish population;a7 Tuesday I went alone, wholly out of benevolence, to see what I was told was a great and unappreciated German dancer, who was recommended to me by a young man whose name I had forgotten and whom I could not remember having met. Theanti-Semitism;a9 great German dancer (at the Tavistock Place Little Theatre, of which I had not known before) turned out to be a rather second rate Jewess mimic, very ugly, mildly satanic (as Jewish comedians are – why are they – why is there something diabolic about so many Jews?) rather pathetic, and with no knowledge whatever of dancing. The sort of thing that Germans like, and ought to like, because the German intelligence is an hebraicised intelligence and in turning out the Jews the Germans are merely cutting out their own brains. OnBernhardt, SarahTSE's admiration for;a1 the other hand, I do (did) admire Bernhardt immensely.3 SomebodyBergner, Elizabeththought to lack the voice for Shakespeare;a3 says Elizabeth Bergner wants to play Shakespeare. That would be interesting, but she has no voice. What a superb voice Bernhardt had. I do like actors who can act almost by voice alone, without using their faces or bodies. EdithEvans, Edithin voice and in person;a5 Evans can do it, but then she can use her face and body better than anyone else in London.

This is the sort of inconsequent impersonal letter I always fall into writing when I have not heard from you for some time. It always leaves me dissatisfied; but my feelings, left to themselves, turn in and lose their connexion with words. How lovely the moments when the feelings and the appropriate words seem to rush to each other to join hands!

DouglasJerrold, Douglascondemned for fascist inclinations;a3 Jerroldfascism'beastly';a4 is a fool. He might become a fascist. I have got these beastly fascists on the brain at present.

Et j’attends, j’attends,
ton
Tom.

1.See TSE, ‘John Marston’, TLS, 26 July 1934, 517–18: CProse 5, 114–25.

2.Charles Laughton’s Macbeth – the actor’s first role in Shakespeare – directed by Tyrone Guthrie, with Flora Robson as Lady Macbeth, featured in the 1933–4 season.

3.TheBernhardt, Sarah French actor Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) practised Roman Catholicism, though she never hesitated to admit her Jewish heritage.

anti-Semitism, and Marie von Moritz, and Mosley, within TSE's racial hierarchy, in After Strange Gods, and Mosley's Albert Hall rally, and Nazi persecution in Vienna, and the prospect of immigration, and EP, in South Africa,
Bergner, Elizabeth, TSE and Christina Morley watch, in The Constant Nymph, thought to lack the voice for Shakespeare,

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.

Bernhardt, Sarah, TSE's admiration for,

3.TheBernhardt, Sarah French actor Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) practised Roman Catholicism, though she never hesitated to admit her Jewish heritage.

Dobrées, the, accompany TSE to Mae West film, pleasant weekend with, second Norfolk weekend with, engaged for the ballet with EH, TSE's final visit to Mendham, on their uppers, visited in Leeds, return to London, their new residence,
Evans, Edith, as Viola in Twelfth Night, unmissable even when playing Bernard Shaw, compared to Athene Seyler, TSE would endure Evensong for, in voice and in person, 'Acting Shakespeare' sent to EH, considered for The Family Reunion,

2.EdithEvans, Edith Evans (1888–1976), versatile stage and screen actor; enduringly celebrated for her appearance as Lady Bracknell in the film of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). Evans won her reputation during her long association (from 1925) with the Old Vic, London: her other notable roles included Judith Bliss in Noel Coward’s Hay Fever on the stage and the movie Tom Jones (1963). DBE, 1946.

fascism, and the unemployment crisis, essentially anti-Christian, The Rock's 'modern ballet' on, 'beastly', corrupts TSE's image of Rome, possible subject for July 1936 'Commentary', and the Spanish Civil War, TSE asked to sign Christian manifesto against, TSE accused of,
Germany, and The Road Back, and Triumphal March, needs to cooperate with Britain and France, and TSE's Lloyds war-work, TSE listening to speeches from, its actresses, and its Jewish population, in light of Versailles, Oldham reports on religious resistance in, remilitarises the Rhineland, its territorial ambitions under Hitler, Germans compared to Austrians, under Nazism, Duncan-Jones on religious persecution in, German conduct in warfare, Germans compared to Swedes, TSE's post-war sense of duty to, TSE diagnoses its totalitarian slide, TSE urges renewed cultural relations with, TSE on visiting,
Jerrold, Douglas, condemned for fascist inclinations,

6.DouglasJerrold, Douglas Jerrold (1893–1964), publisher and author; Director of Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1929–59; editor of the English Review: see Biographical Register.

'John Marston',
Laughton, Charles, as Macbeth,
Livesey, Roger, as Macbeth, in Cocktail Party reading,

2.RogerLivesey, Roger Livesey (1906–76), Welsh stage and screen actor, was marriedJeans, Ursula to the English stage and film actor Ursula Jeans (1906–73) – Lavinia Chamberlayne in The Cocktail Party.

London Library, lends TSE works of Marston, during the Blitz, makes TSE President, TSE's presidential address to, annual meeting dreaded,
Monro, Alida (née Klementaski), deputises for husband at Poetry Bookshop, reads at the Eliots' party, TSE worries for, and the Poetry Bookshop's future, TSE loses bet with, reports on VHE, coincidentally recommends that the Eliots separate, antipathetic to VHE, considers closing Poetry Bookshop, detects life in Willard Thorp, goes on about dead husband's ex-wife, regales TSE with Irish escapades, reports from Selsey, in straitened circumstances, breeding poodles,

3.AlidaMonro, Alida (née Klementaski) Klementaski (1892–1969) married Harold Monro on 27 Mar. 1920: see Alida Monro in Biographical Register.

Morleys, the, join the Eliots in Eastbourne, TSE fears overburdening, go on holiday to Norway, more TSE's friend than VHE's, return from Norway, life at Pike's Farm among, reading Dickens aloud to, their Thanksgiving parties, suitable companions to Varsity Cricket Match, and TSE to Laughton's Macbeth, TSE's June 1934 fortnight with, and certain 'bathers' photographs', and TSE play 'GO', attend Richard II with EH, TSE's New Years celebrated with, take TSE to Evelyn Prentice and Laurel & Hardy, TSE's return from Wales with, TSE's September 1935 week with, leave for New York, one of two regular ports-of-call, see EH in Boston, safely returned from New York, TSE reads Dr Johnson to, compared to the Tandys, add to their menagerie, reiterate gratitude for EH's peppermints, in Paris with TSE, give TSE copy of Don Quixote, and Fabers take TSE to pantomime, and TSE's Salzburg expedition, join Dorothy Pound dinner, visit Hamburg, have Labrador puppies, dinner at Much Hadham for, TSE to see them off at Kings Cross, seem unhappy in America, Thanksgiving without, in New Canaan, return to Lingfield, remember TSE's birthday, difficulties of renewing friendship with,
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,
Robson, Flora, as Lady Macbeth,
Shakespeare, William, Bunny Wilson and TSE discuss, writing Murder increases TSE's admiration for, but equally wariness of, spiritually 'helpful', preferable in modern dress, EH imagined as Lady Macbeth, later as Hermione, All's Well that Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Hamlet, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Richard II, Richard III, 'Sonnet CXXXII', The Tempest, Timon of Athens, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale,
Verdi, Giuseppe, Otello,