Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/1
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 9 Mar. 1947 (Circa. Letter dated 'Sunday March the ninth'.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
14 p. paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Photographer, artist, writer, and designer of scenery and costumes. Educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, 1922-5. Made his name as a photographer through portraits of the Sitwells. Employed by Vogue in London and New York. Published 'The Book of Beauty' (1930). Photographed the Duke of Windsor's wedding, 1937. War photographer, 1939-45. Designed 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1945. Designed costumes for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina', 1948. Worked on 'The School for Scandal', 1949, 'Quadrille' for Noel Coward, 1952, 'Turandot', 1961, and 'La Traviata', 1966. Designed costumes for 'My Fair Lady', 1956, and for the film version in Hollywood, 1963. His play 'The Gainsborough Girls', 1951 and 1959, was unsuccessful. Published 'The Glass of Fashion' (1954), and six volumes of diaries. Exhibited photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, 1968. Knighted 1972.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Complains of recent cold weather. Writes that he enjoyed his week in Paris, although he caught a cold. Describes a day he spent with Diana at Chantilly. Sends news that Diana has been left a legacy by a Spanish Marquis called Emmanuele. Describes Edmond Rostand's widow [Rosemonde Etienette Gerard] whom he sat next to at a dinner. Plans to return to Paris on the following Friday. Enthuses over a French marble bust of an eighteenth-century woman that he has bought. Reports on his search for and purchase of Reddish House, Broad Chalke, Wiltshire. Regrets that Dove, his gardener, did not live to tend the garden at Reddish. Writes about his design work for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina'. Praises Sir Alexander Korda. Postscript: Details recent purchases, including a new car. Asks Greta to remember him to Elizabeth, the Irish maid, and Eugene, the waiter, who had served him in America. Mentions recent plays he has seen, including Shaw's 'Back to Methuselah'. Recounts a scandal story from the newspapers. Reminds Garbo of their conversation whilst admiring the Park Avenue lights from the roof of a penthouse. Writes that he wants to marry her. Asks her questions.