Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/22
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 28 Feb. 1948 (Circa. Letter dated 'Saturday morning. Feb 27th?'.) (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
5 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
Imagines Garbo on her travels by train. Misses Garbo. Details his activities in New York since Garbo's departure. Praises Gerard Philipe's performance in the film, 'Diable au corps' or 'Devil in the flesh'. Worries about 'Russia's agression' in world politics. Discusses the possibility that Garbo will star in an Alexander Korda production. Criticises Alexander Korda for believing that Kieron Moore could play 'a sympathetic lover' opposite Garbo.