[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
Your letter no. 25 of Feb. 13 came this week. ItChristian News-Letter (CNL);b6 has been a busy week, with two jobs for the C.N.L. (one was only re-drafting an appeal letter,1 but that sort of work takes time quite out of proportion to the length of text) andMurder in the Cathedral1940 Latham Mercury revival;f8first night;a6 rehearsals for ‘Murder’. The first performance was last night, and I must say that I think it was a very good production, especially considering that it was done by very young actors. Their youth was evident in the rehearsals, as they did the second part much better than the first; but the two acts were better balanced last night. TheSansom, Robertas Becket in Murder;a1 youngSpeaight, Robertcompared to Robert Sansom;d5 man Sansom does not dominate the scene so much as Bobby; but the result has certain advantages – it does not seem so much like a one-star play. Of course one remembers Bobby from the time after he had gone stale, when success had rather gone to his head, and when he was overplaying everything that worked on the audience; so that the comparison is not altogether fair to him. But it was a relief to have a rather more human Becket, and one who took the sermon without sobbing at the end. TheBrowne, Elliott Martincompared to tempter/knight successor;d5 fellow who played the fourth tempter and knight was really better than Martin – not quite so good as tempter, but much better as knight, and gave an impression of unity between the two parts which Martin never got. Of course he did not have Martin’s beautiful diction, but he spoke his lines very well. I had them cut out the deathbringers chorus altogether, as unsuitable for only four voices; and with that and a little reconstruction of the second part (which did credit to Latham’s producing ability) that part gave a less jerky and better constructed impression than it has done before. Whether people will come to it I do not know; but it is a production which does the play no injustice.
InBetjeman, Johngoes to Greta Garbo film with TSE;a3 the afternoon, having lunch with John Betjeman, heGarbo, Gretain Ninotchka;a1 took me to a private view of a film by Garbo: 2 no doubt it has been shown in America long since, but is new here. It has some Russian name, and she appears as a Commissar who has come to Paris to try to sell some Imperial jewels. YouGarbo, Gretain Conquest;a2 remember taking me to a film of her as Maria Walewska.3 She seemed to me still better in this, and to be indeed really a great screen actress. One wonders what it is that makes this one film actress so immeasurably the most popular with every kind of audience. I (naturally enough) do not find her supremely beautiful or supremely charming! though I admit that she has both beauty and charm – what I like is a kind of restraint so that you feel there is always more power in reserve – so that emotion is conveyed by suppression, in a way, rather than being completely acted out. I did not think the support awfully good, except for the comic parts.
MyChristian News-Letter (CNL)'Education in a Mass Society';b5 other job for the C.N.L. I must try to finish over the week end: a first draft of a supplement on Education to submit to the committee on Monday evening.4 I shall be busy enough for the next few months. ICatholic Summer School of Sociology, 1940TSE promises paper to;a1 have promised to prepare a paper for the Catholic Summer School of Sociology; IEast Cokerneeds polishing;a8 have my poem to polish; andtravels, trips and plansTSE's abortive 1940 Italian mission;d8possible but confidential;a1 it seems likely that I shall go to Italy in May to lecture for a fortnight. It will be pretty arduous, speaking and being entertained in half a dozen places; but all the travelling arrangements will be made for me, and it should be a rest in the sense of a change. TheHerbert, George;a7 natives of that country are thirsting for culture and no doubt I shall expound to them the poetry of George Herbert. Please do not mention this to anyone yet, as it is not officially settled: and anyway I don’t want anyone (TheresaEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law)inflator of rumours;b2 for instance, who seems always ready to magnify everything, might get the impression that I was on a diplomatic mission to the Vatican) to suppose that it is a political business! WellCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin)and TSE's abortive Italian mission;b4 well I suppose I shall have to be entertained in Rome by Marguerite, who can hardly be expected to miss such an opportunity!
We have gone back to summer time, which is odd at this time of year, as one seems to get up in the morning in December and come home in the evening in April: but the daylight at the end of the day is very welcome. Thereflowers and florasnowdrops;c8at Shamley;a1 is even a little feeling of spring, andflowers and floraaconite;a1at Shamley;a1 snowdropsflowers and floracrocuses;b3at Shamley;a1 and aconite are out, and crocus peeping; and people are wondering how many of their tender plants have been killed by the severe winter.
I share your entertaining as far as possible through your letters, and I wish indeed that you had a greater variety of minds, of both sexes, to feed upon. ISecond World Warand America's response;b8 was struck by your remarking that the students were apathetic about public, or at least about international affairs. I suppose that is natural enough: very few people, in any country, take a keen interest in foreign events except so far as they obviously affect their own country. And though events in Europe are going to be of the greatest importance in America, it can still be by no means obvious in just what way, or what America should do about it. Do many people feel scruples (likeKinsolving, Revd Arthur Barksdale;a2 Dr. Kinsolving in the cutting you sent me) about America having supplied so much of the arms for Japan and for Russia? 5 IBell, Bernard Iddingsrebuked by TSE;b1 have had no reply to my note to Iddings Bell telling him that I thought he had written a silly letter in some American Church paper!6
It won’t be warm enough to sit in a garden for some time; but to-day is bright and sunny and I shall try to think that we are walking in Winchcombe.
1.See appeal in Christian News-Letter 29 (15 May 1940), [3–4]: Appendix.
2.John Betjeman, who was working with the Films Division of the Ministry of Information, had given TSE a private screening of Greta Garbo’s 1939 film Ninotchka.
3.The Polish Countess Walewska, who contrived to become Napoleon’s mistress in order to influence his policy towards her homeland, was portrayed by Garbo in Conquest (1937).
4.‘Education in a Christian Society’, Christian News-Letter 20 (13 Mar. 1940), supplement.
5.Cutting not found.
6.See TSE to Bernard Iddings Bell, 25 Jan. and 7 Mar. 1940 (Letters 9, 400–1, 441–2).
3.BernardBell, Bernard Iddings Iddings Bell, DD (1886–1958), American Episcopal priest, author and cultural commentator; Warden of Bard College, 1919–33. In his last years he was made Canon of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Chicago, and a William Vaughn Lecturer at the University of Chicago.
3.JohnBetjeman, John Betjeman (1906–84), poet, journalist, authority on architecture; radio and TV broadcaster: see Biographical Register.
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.MargueriteCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin) Caetani, née Chapin (1880–1963) – Princesse di Bassiano – literary patron and editor: see Biographical Register. LéliaCaetani, Lélia Caetani (1913–77), sole daughter, was to marry Hubert Howard (1908–87), a scion of the English Catholic House of Howard, who worked to preserve the Caetani heritage at Rome and at the castle of Sermoneta.
26.RevdKinsolving, Revd Arthur Barksdale Arthur Barksdale Kinsolving (1861–1951), minister of St James, Baltimore, 1906–42.
2.RobertSansom, Robert Sansom (1903–79), actor; subsequently best known for film and TV work.
2.RobertSpeaight, Robert Speaight (1904–77), actor, producer and author, was to create the role of Becket in Murder in the Cathedral in 1935: see Biographical Register.