Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/80
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 21 May 1950 (Circa. Letter dated 'Sunday morning - May 20th -21st?'.) (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
Explains that he is staying at a friend's house in Wales with about twelve other guests. Enthuses about the gardens.
Page 2 missing.
Asks Garbo questions about herself. Mentions an account of her walking in New York with S. [George Schlee], which he had heard from a friend. Asks if 'black and white' has been in touch. Encourages Garbo to visit him.