Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/99
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 11 Nov. 1950–19 Nov. 1950 (Circa. Year deduced from context.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
4 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
Describes his hotel room. Wishes Garbo was with him. Describes an evening with Mona Williams. Mentions his 'little Greek friend'. Exhorts Garbo to ask Crocker to hurry up her nationalisation so that she will be free to meet him in New York. Begins writing again on Sunday 19 November. Refers to the process of sorting his photographs for inclusion in his Photobiography. Asks if he can use one featuring Garbo. Lists his engagements in London. Writes that he is currently in Brighton with his mother, who has been ill. Mentions his Gainsborough play. Another break in the letter and the next passage written from London. Writes that the Queen of Holland is making a state visit in London and he is having Leland Haywood and his wife to dinner. A postscript states that he would be jealous if Garbo had met the Oliviers and encourages Garbo to spend time with him.