Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/106
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 24 June 1951 (Circa. Letter dated 'Sunday June 24th'.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2 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
Refers to the sale of Garbo's Californian house. Anticipates her arrival in England. Expresses anxieties about his Gainsborough play's first night. Describes the rehearsals etc. Describes his visit to the hospital with his mother who broke her wrist. Details how he has been spending his evenings, including taking a boat down the river, and attending a performance of 'Madame Butterfly'. Mentions taking photographs of Princess Margaret. Promises to send her a copy of his Photobiography.