| Title |
Letters and telegram to Beaton |
| Reference |
A1/430 |
| Creator |
(Richard) James Arthur Pope-Hennessy (1916-1974) |
| Covering Dates |
13 July 1945–24 Jan. 1974 (Mostly undated.) |
| Extent and Medium |
35 letters; 1 telegram; paper; Mixed |
|
| Content and context |
Writer. |
| Index Terms |
| Hennessy, Richard James Arthur Pope - (1916-1974) writer |
| St John's Library/Beaton/A1/430 contains: |
|
1
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Telegram to Beaton. After the first three hours reading Beaton's diary he finds it touching, truthful, beguiling and important.
1p; paper. |
18 Jul. 1959 |
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2
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Asks if Miss Nelson could add another address for him into Beaton's address book. Is glad to be leaving his "hot Oxford-like rooms". Asks if Beaton has a copy of parliament. Feels not to be a writer must be "exquisitely dull". If he had children and they did not publish books he would disown them. Suspects he is in Charlie's bad books and is definitely in Alice's. That "soggy Mcann creature" came up this week. Longs for details of Lady Windermere. Is reading a book about the Tolstoy marriage. Would love to see Beaton here. Mentions the "election chaos".
2p; paper. |
13 July 1945 |
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3
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Writes to Beaton to thank him for his lovely letter and in the hope of getting another. Is enchanted that the row is subsiding. The "obscene" Charles Fry came back and "trumpeted" it all over the place. Beaton's friend Kochno seems to be the "French Charles Fry". The weather is dominating everyone's life. Discusses everybody at Argyll House. Maurice is "superb, as a character, as an artist, as a tutor, as a lover". The French ballet is here at the moment. Asks Beaton not to come back, which is "the most unselfish thing I've ever said". Has been to tea with Elizabeth Bowen. Had made a mental note to tell Beaton many things but they have all faded away and he knows he has "omitted everything of consequence". Visited Hampton Court the evening before last.
2p; paper. |
1946 |
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4
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Thanks Beaton for the postcard and parcel. Wonders why he behaves so much better than he did when he was in America last year. "I suppose it is because you are nicer and more considerate by nature". Is it true that Beaton is to act Lord Windermere? Was delighted by Beaton's décor. He and Clarissa feel that Beaton is not conducting his arrangements with sufficient discretion. Is spending a week at Peggy Crewe's house in Surrey. Discusses his visit. Talks about his future travel plans which involve visits to Scotland and Ireland. Visited Sissinghurst last weekend. Is also working very hard with Lord H. Discusses George Dix who "has been trying to muddle up my life" by telling Maurice and Bill about each other. Spoke to Peggy who made a comment "so alarming and enigmatic" that he enquired no further. Is now working through 21 tin boxes of letters. Asks Beaton to let him know how he is.
4p; paper. |
12 Aug. 1946 |
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5
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Has two enjoyable letters to thank Beaton for. Cannot say how pleased he is by Beaton's success in New York. There is nobody who merits it more. It must be tremendous fun to be really acting on Broadway. Has not been to Beaton's ballet, but has been to "Our Betters". Beaton's part is extraordinarily good but Mr Maugham's is not. Is still working on the book. His American book is coming out in 3 or 4 weeks with a jacket by Francis Rose. Has embarked on a "whirlwind friendship" with him. Has accepted a rush job in Covent Garden to translate Manon. Asks Beaton to tell him if he thinks Doubleday a good idea for "America is an Atmosphere". Describes a buffet dinner he attended at Park Lane. Peter Quennell shocked him by admitting to not reading works by Carlyle and Byron, the subjects of his books. Detests the atmosphere created by royalty.
2p; paper. |
16 Nov. 1946 |
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6
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Does not feel he can say anything useful until he sees the Diary material itself. Discusses his concept of what a Diary should be. Feels that it is a "historical, personal record of people and events as they seemed at the very moment in which the Diarist recorded them". To rewrite a whole passage seems to him like a "confidence trick". Believes that one should publish a Diary as it stands, or else publish an autobiography. Advises Beaton, if he is set on publication, to ignore reviewers and readers. Wishes Beaton wasn't going away just when they have met up again.
4p; paper. |
31 May 1959 |
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7
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton, from Banagher, Ireland. Has been remiss about answering Beaton's charming note. Has been living here since early April. Tells Beaton that it was here that Trollope first began to write novels. Discusses the landscape, the Shannon and the flowers. The book is going well. Discusses a house party he recently attended. Reminisces about Beaton's garden. Asks how he is. Has let his flat to an Italian-American.
2p; paper. |
7 July 1970 |
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8
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Is just back from America and found Beaton's 1974 pocket book. Is now seriously embarked on a life of Noel [Coward]. Hopes Beaton will let him look at his diaries. Is still bewildered by the "ephemeral quality of the stage world". Spent Christmas in Boston and a fortnight in New York. Asks to spend an evening with Beaton. There is so much he wants to ask him and he longs to see him.
2p; paper. |
24 Jan. 1974 |
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9
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Autograph letter signed to Beaton. It would be wrong to return to his militia without sending Beaton a note to thank him and say that the most enjoyable time he spent during the week was at Pelham Place. "Enjoyable" is an inadequate adjective but the sentiment is sincere. Feels he is going back with a new lease of life. Will type in the future as "this spidery wandering scrawl is so horrid".
3p; paper. |
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10
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Autograph letter signed to Beaton. Cannot express his delight at the cover. It expresses exactly what he was trying to convey in the book. Hopes he can visit again. Is saddened by the "Clarissa-cabal" but at the risk of seeming a coward he will say nothing. Mamma advises no action on his part. If Beaton knew one-tenth of the pleasure his drawings have given he would be pleased. Sends his love and eternal gratitude.
2p; paper. |
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11
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Autograph letter signed to Beaton. Has been working all day and has only just stopped to write to Beaton. Is really grateful to have seen Ashcombe. Thought it was so exciting and romantic. Beaton's sensitivity and taste impressed him. Wonders if Beaton knows how much store he sets by his friendship.
4p; paper. |
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12
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Has not thanked Beaton for his party. "The pretty people looked really pretty". Asks Beaton when he will see him next. Has begun to loathe Lord Haughton and is doing Peter Fleming's dramatic criticism. Maurice is going to be married; "it is very story-book like". Wishes he could get married too.
2p; paper. |
27 June |
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13
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Typescript letter to Beaton. Discusses this weekend. Was supposed to be going to Horsley this weekend but Peggy has had to go to Scotland at a moment's notice. Asks to telephone Beaton in the morning to tell him one way or the other. Is glad Beaton feels as he does about C. It is unbearable to see his oldest friend become the centre of such "obscene" publicity. Is also in despair about the house. Feels "my life has no centre & is a complete, rather squalid, failure".
2p; paper. |
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14
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. His leave was cancelled at the 12th hour "by some bore getting jaundice". Is anxious to discuss viceregal life with Beaton. Would like him to give the governor some of Sir Hubert Young's characteristics: "heavy dignity, liberal outlook, large, sallowish, pompous". Discusses the West Indies cover. Asks to come in later this week and "talk government houses".
1p; paper. |
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15
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. How pleased he was to get Beaton's Ashcombe letter. Wants to see him frightfully. Discusses their friends and acquaintances. The photographs are beautifully done. Reminisces about the days and mornings they were taken. Finds that "this life drives one more and more into a rather sloppy proustian frame of mind". Miss Millar told him her book is selling out. Vogue came down here and photographed him and Gay Margesson. Beaton planted the seeds of his photography fascination.
2p; paper. |
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16
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Was depressed on Monday and that is why he made no effort to try and see Beaton. A war office hitch means he has been sent here "to vegetate for God knows how long". Wishes he had seen Beaton properly after Dorchester. Wanted to tell him that he did take his letter to heart. The wife of the schoolmaster in whose house he works in said she always enjoyed Beaton's photographs in Vogue. Their photographing expeditions "on those cold blue-nosed days" were so perfect and such fun. When does he start for his Life Magazine tour of the countryside? Feels their friendship has been consolidated. This is a stupid letter but he feels "soggy" and rather miserable.
2p; paper. |
26 Apr. |
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17
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Maddeningly, he now has to work on Tuesday night. Is dreadfully sorry and annoyed. Could Beaton dine any day except the day after tomorrow? Is delighted to have Beaton's book. It is so entirely his, and "pulsates with curiosity, admiration and distaste". Wishes that he wouldn't turn up his nose at photography as "the pictures are more romantic & sensitive & characteristic than any before". Anticipates a wide success. Wants to see Beaton so much.
1p; paper. |
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18
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton, from Washington D.C. Has read Beaton's last letter many times over and hopes he can fit in another one soon. Wants every detail on Lady Windermere and all other activities. Is "avid" for news. Went to New York this weekend. Finds it profitable even for one night and in spite of four hours each way. Wants to get to know New York, which is "a charming background for a love affair". Thinks a lot less of Wysten Auden since spending Saturday evening with the "Friend" to whom the poems are dedicated. He is "a Rimbaud without the genius" and lives in squalor. "...there is no virtue in culture which buys expensive record albums and books of poetry but lives in slum conditions, amid bed-bugs and stench". Lunched with Charlie yesterday, who is "efficiently, fatalistically organising his own bankruptcy". Is fond of him especially when he talks about making dresses. He loathes Elizabeth Arden "who has done him down". Discusses how the process of dress designing is like the process of writing a book. New York is lovely, a different city to London. Asks if Beaton could find a copy of his New York book. Was "intrigued and amused" by it before, but now wants to be helped by it.
4p; paper. |
11 June |
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19
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Beaton's letter has just reached him. It could not have been written by anyone else in the world "in its angelic sensibility and kindness". Has a hamper of Paul's objects from which he hopes he will be able to select something. It is sweet of Beaton to be nice about those letters. There is hardly anyone else to whom he could have handed them as "they belong to regions of intimacy into which others should not be asked to stray". Is behaving feebly about Paul. Wartime precludes one from writing every week for 3 years to an internee. He did begin but "when one can offer no ray of hope or promise of release such correspondence is a dead and futile thing". The day passes slowly when one is feeling a little ill. The Stark letters, when he came to read them, were the wrong ones. Longs to see Beaton.
2p; paper. |
5 Mar. |
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20
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Is very grateful for Beaton's letter. Is entirely of Beaton's opinion. Is always surprised at any situation "offering such real and delightful possibilities as this". Has not heard anything from Harold at all. Is hard at work on his West Indies book, which Charles is taking. Is sorry about Beaton's "disintegration". Discusses the problem of injections. Hopes Beaton will photograph Clarissa, who is "one of the human beings I like and know best in the world". She asked to be put into the same number of Vogue as him. Discusses the writing of Henry James. Hates this life. Waits "feverishly" for five o'clock when he can put on his red slippers and sit and write in a little bedroom. This is a long letter; but he has unlimited leisure for letter-writing.
4p; paper. |
2 Dec. |
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21
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. It is very good of Beaton to adjust Wednesday and Sutro. Cannot tell him how pleased he is that he is back. Had almost forgotten the flavour of his conversation, which is something unique. Hopes he will come and see him one evening. Is reading Gray's letters before going to bed. They do not have the "nightcap, hanging-out-of-window quality" he associates with the 18th century. Wednesday will be at eight if that is convenient.
2p; paper. |
6 Aug. |
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22
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Has forgotten Beaton's telephone number. Is trying to recover from "a ghastly neuralgic night journey". Must see Beaton as soon as possible to discuss their idea. Has sketched out a plan for a book of about thirty sections each dealing with one important ruin. Feels it is important that Beaton's photographs should not be spoiled by the proximity of anyone else's. Wants to show the Americans that London is not so badly destroyed, even if some things have gone forever. Discusses the contract. It is funny that it has come off. This book will be such fun. Discusses the Cromwellian house in Highgate that is badly damaged, which would make a good photo. Their approach will be very new - discussing the "aesthetic significance of blitzkrieg".
4p; paper. |
14 Dec. |
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23
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Is appalled by Beaton's letter. Feels "passionately and burningly" for him. Has been waiting for calm in which to reply to his "Quebec-train letter". Discusses Beaton's trip to New York and his own life, which has been "so whirled about emotionally that I doubt if I'll recover". Talks about his evening hearing a cellist from Paris. Has been offered a plan for travelling, playing and writing in Paris and Prague. After Enid and Mietek's adventures it is extraordinary to be back in the real world "where only art matters and only books, pictures, music and flowers can live". The menage is already a "public scandal". Has missed Beaton insatiably during this transition period. Paul has had an awful time as the papers said all Germans were going to be sent back to Germany at once. Beaton's mother is buying some "hideous" things on her own. Hopes Beaton will not think him "a fool or a fiend".
6p; paper. |
9 Mar. |
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24
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Encloses the play. Has thought over it a good deal. Does not think it has come off. Feels "one can only write convincingly of something related to one's experience". Admires the professional quality in Beaton's work, but feels that this play lacks it. Knows that criticism of one's work is annoying and wishes he could write quite differently. Is sorry to write this "beastly, bloody" letter.
2p; paper. |
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25
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Beaton's letter from the Frontier has arrived. Beaton's letters put him to shame as he is so indolent. Has spent the morning trying to start his book about the Tower of London. Discusses his friends. Emerald is "better value" than anyone in the world. Is about to set off for Glebe Place where it will be "gin-time". Went to one of Cyril's Thursdays where the furniture was "overpowering". Mamma has been very ill with pneumonia. Wishes Beaton was here. Resumes the letter after visiting Scotland and his godchild, who "looked sometimes like Henry VIII and sometimes like the poet Cowper and once like Chateaubriand". He also visited Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Dined with Fry last night, who was "preposterously amiable". Inverness is also an intoxicating town, "pale and mellow and infinitely comforting". Feels that after the war he will travel forever and never stop. Sends all his "thoughts and affection" with this letter.
4p; paper. |
10 Mar. -26 Mar. |
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26
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Was so sorry about this weekend. Felt that he ought to stay here as he has "so little sense of responsibility anyway" that he likes to cultivate it when he has it. Has finished four of the sections. Beaton must make time to photograph Hogarths House in Chiswick, which is a "gift", and "like an 18th century wrecked dolls-house". Asks if Beaton can go any day this week. Also spent an "intoxicating morning" wandering about Chiswick House. Is going to the Cromwellian house at Highgate and is trying to get to St Magnus the Martyr and Bow Church. Discusses the "wrong Lady Dorchester".
2p; paper. |
28th |
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27
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Profoundly wishes he had got Beaton's letter yesterday morning. Has seldom been so impressed: Beaton is "extraordinary" and "superior". Is struck by his "fineness of character" and "fundamental tolerance". Criticism of anything he writes himself is "like a red hot iron". He couldn't say yesterday what anguish it caused him to write. Admires Beaton's determination not to be defeated. It is a great test of affection and he is very grateful. Wishes he could do more for him. All he can do it seems is "deliver a knock-out as you say between the eyes". Thanks Beaton for his remarkable letter which he will always keep.
1p; paper. |
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28
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. This can only be a "rotten little note". Has been very busy and his work is "devouring". London is suddenly in midmost spring. Discusses his social life. Has seen the most "splendid, tempestuous" performance of King Lear. Has been reading Ma's Dickens MS and is very impressed by it. Dined the other night with Daniel Sykes who lives opposite Battersea Park. The young man who lives with him was "poisonously rude". Asks for a letter from Chungking. Discusses Clarissa and Alice.
4p; paper. |
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29
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Has been less time than ever for writing this week. The spring has moved on this week. Describes some pink roses he saw encased in a block of ice. Clarissa has gone to Alice's factory. Went into Sussex to see his father's gravestone. Never liked Sussex but now finds it a beautiful country. The trains full of "swarming heavy-booted soldiers" who are going to be killed makes it very oppressive. Took an American from his office to Chiswick. His day off has been spoiled as the major has got boils. Discusses Ava's "heartlessness".
4p; paper. |
3 May. |
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30
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Was about to write to Beaton when his postcard of the towers of silence reached him. Often considers where Beaton is as he looks at the map. Is busy doing an essay on the Houses of Parliament. Saw Peter Q [Quennell?] and Peter Watson. Clarissa looks far happier than for months, or years. Discusses his Thursday looking around London. Always wanted to go down the Blackhall Tunnel. Is dining with Harold tonight. Discusses a poet he met in the war office. Dined with Emerald since he wrote to Beaton. Describes some beautiful books he found in Charing Cross Road. Hopes Beaton gets everything he can from living in China.
6p; paper. |
17 Aor. |
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31
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Encloses the article. Does not know why it took so long. Adored their "stunted week-end" at Rottingdean. Is delighted by "Far East". Likes the "individuality" of everything Beaton writes. Has put it away on his travel-shelves. Wants to see Beaton soon.
1p; paper. |
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32
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Was touched by Beaton's thoughtfulness in writing on VE day. Never ceases to admire this particular quality. Has been thinking of the young man who will be writing Beaton's biography in the next century. Is preoccupied with his mother, whose letters seem "exaggeratedly depressed". With regret he is trying to come back home this summer or autumn. Likes America as he feels "freer and younger and more energetic and more able to write" than anywhere else. Has been pursued all over the South by Rosamond Lehmann's face and book. Is not leading a social life except for Emerald's friends. Met Charlie in the Blue Angel and has suffered shades of embarrassment of which he is ashamed. Auden spoke of Beaton with such admiration. Was struck by the "impression of goodness and simplicity". Discusses Enid and his novel. Reminisces about his travels to New Orleans. Asks about Clarissa. Will write again soon.
4p; paper. |
30 May |
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33
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Confesses he has not yet got Beaton any salad oil, but has only been here ten days. Is desperately happy here. Describes Washington and his life there. Is happy wandering round "like a child out of the nursery". Tells Beaton about his house, which is "like a biscuit rather". Describes his trip to New York. Has just bought a "huge, ugly, black binder". Is going to rearrange his sitting-room, write some novel and go for a walk. "Do you see how enjoyable my life is being?" Asks Beaton to write by air mail. Has not forgotten Maud's hot-water bottle or pills.
3p; paper. |
25 Jan. |
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34
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Dreamed that he had come back to England and Beaton had refused to speak to him because he hadn't written for three weeks. This morning a big packet of India and Burma photographs arrived. It is very easy to tell which of them are Beaton's. Hears that Beaton is going to America. Lunched with Peggy Crewe the other day. Spent an evening at Hampstead with Simon Wardell. Has begun reviewing again for the New Statesman. Thinks of Beaton's travels with strange envy. Experience is all he envies people for, "not possessions or fame or looks or attainments". Is guilty of the crime of not going to see the play. Heard that the contrast between the poorness of the play and the success of Beaton's decoration was terrific. Saw Harold yesterday who had returned from lecturing to the fleet. Talks about his new friends from Fulham Road. There is a literary West Indian lady who writes poetry and a Barbadian doctor. Longs to hear from Beaton in China.
3p; paper. |
13 June |
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35
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. What a charming and perceptive letter Beaton has written. Luckily he wasn't too emotionally involved. It is very unpleasant to think that he had been "cosseting a species of reptile". Would love to come and stay quietly. Is going with Len to Ireland. Will Beaton be at Broadchalke in mid-June? Asks Beaton if he went to Harold's service.
2p; paper. |
24 May |
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36
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Typescript letter signed to Beaton. Has no pretext for writing to Beaton except that last night he began to think about Beaton's going away and it has been in his head all morning. Had been intermittently worried about it for months but one always presumes anything horrid will not happen. Wishes he could tell Beaton how much he loves him and what a "black yawning gap" will be made in his life. This is an egotistic point of view when the journey has such possibilities of "curious novelty and excitement". Will try to arrange a time this week with Maud. "The Constant Couple" was excellent. Apologises for this "idiotic note".
2p; paper. |
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