Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A2/14a/93
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 10 Sep. 1950 (Circa. Letter dated 'Monday evening'.) (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
Longs for Garbo to come to visit him in England. Mentions his hard work on his Gainsborough play. Writes that his relationship with Garbo feels like part of another life. Illustrates this with an anecdote about how he went to dinner with Lady Duff, and Howard Sturgess surprised him by mentioning Garbo. Complains about the wet weather. Describes his stay in Chipping Campden near Stratford-upon-Avon with John Gielgud. Praises Gielgud's acting. Describes a visit to an eccentric old man who had made a museum of an eclectic collection of items. Describes his daily routine working on his play back at Reddish. Mentions Mr Blick, his mother, David Cecil and Augustus John. Informs her that he has not heard from the Bliss Brothers. Refers to the absence of his secretary.