Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/D/1/9/19
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 14 September 1951 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2p 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
A typescript letter, in which Beaton writes that he has just returned from Venice. Will delete the unpopular passages before it goes to New York. This experience made him realize how difficult it is to write a play. Agrees that the critical reception was harsh because of high expectations. Their great mistake was to to have invited the critics and Beaton's "so-called friends" to a raw opening performance. Beaton hasn't seen Ardele yet, but the reviews are not good. He thinks he will come to New York this autumn. He made a new décor for Casse Noisette at the Young Sadler's Wells. Jokes that as the last act takes place in the Hall of Sweets, it will be no setback if the critics deem his work "too chocolate-boxy".