Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/88
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 30 July 1950 (Circa. Letter dated 'Sunday morning'. Date deduced from position in sequence of letters.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
3 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
Recounts his bad day the previous Sunday, when all the staff were away and his younger sister and her children came to visit. Mentions dieting. Plans to leave for Sicily on Tuesday, for a fortnight. Mentions public anxiety about Russia's strength and the possibility of war. Prompts Garbo about her American citizenship. Describes the christening of his first godchild. Mentions his work on the redecoration of the Duke of York's Theatre and the production of 'The second Mrs Tanqueray', which is coming to the Haymarket Theatre in London after touring. Reports that 'Illuminations' ballet has had a bad London reception. Wishes he could take Garbo to Stourhead and the Cheddar Caves.