BIB_ID
411928
Accession number
MA 9518.16
Creator
Gielgud, John, 1904-2000.
Display Date
[1978] August 8.
Credit line
Bequest of Mrs. John C. Hughes, 1980.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 29.7 x 20.9 cm + envelope
Notes
Envelope with stamp and postmark to "Mrs. John Hughes / Lombardy Hotel / Park Avenue and E. 56th St. / New York City / U.S.A."
Written on stationery printed "South Pavilion / Wotton House / Wotton Underwood / Berkshire." Gielgud has crossed out Berkshire and written "Aylesbury Bucks."
The year of writing from postmark.
Gielgud played Jelks, the butler, in a television adaption of the short story titled "Neck" from the collection of sixteen short stories by Roald Dahl titled "Tales of the Unexpected."
The play to which Gielgud refers is "Half Life" by Julian Mitchell.
This collection was previously accessioned as MA 4260.
Part of a large collection of letters to Mrs. Hughes bequeathed to The Morgan Library & Museum by Mrs. Hughes in 1980. The collection includes letters from statesmen, politicians, authors and others involved in the arts. Items in the collection have been described in individual records; see collection-level record for more information (MA 9518.1-19).
Margaret Kelly Hughes, known as "Mardi", was the wife of John Chambers Hughes (1891-1971), the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 1953-1955. Margaret Hughes lived in France during World War II and volunteered to help French prisoners of war held in Meaux. She was decorated three times by the French Government for her service to the country and wrote "Les Lauriers sont Coupés" about her experiences during the war.
Written on stationery printed "South Pavilion / Wotton House / Wotton Underwood / Berkshire." Gielgud has crossed out Berkshire and written "Aylesbury Bucks."
The year of writing from postmark.
Gielgud played Jelks, the butler, in a television adaption of the short story titled "Neck" from the collection of sixteen short stories by Roald Dahl titled "Tales of the Unexpected."
The play to which Gielgud refers is "Half Life" by Julian Mitchell.
This collection was previously accessioned as MA 4260.
Part of a large collection of letters to Mrs. Hughes bequeathed to The Morgan Library & Museum by Mrs. Hughes in 1980. The collection includes letters from statesmen, politicians, authors and others involved in the arts. Items in the collection have been described in individual records; see collection-level record for more information (MA 9518.1-19).
Margaret Kelly Hughes, known as "Mardi", was the wife of John Chambers Hughes (1891-1971), the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 1953-1955. Margaret Hughes lived in France during World War II and volunteered to help French prisoners of war held in Meaux. She was decorated three times by the French Government for her service to the country and wrote "Les Lauriers sont Coupés" about her experiences during the war.
Provenance
Bequest of Mrs. John C. Hughes, 1980.
Summary
Apologizing for not having replied earlier; saying "...life has been rather hectic lately. I did a few days filming in addition to my eight performances of the play and got a bit overtired, and had trouble with one of my feet and had to get in a slipper. Better now, thank goodness. Appalling weather here..no summer at all - weeks of rain and gloom and thunderstorms - the garden blown about, all the roses soaked and sad - about three fine days only in the last three months! so you should be glad you are not abroad stuck in a hotel somewhere - for I gather all Europe is much the same. The play ends on the 26th of this month. No good I fear for New York (though the visiting Americans here do seem to enjoy it) but it is I think too full of local allusions to be a safe bet for Broadway, and Equity would never let the whole company in (there are 10 of us) and I can't face rehearsing again with a non-English cast, it would be so bad for the play. So I don't know at all what I shall be doing during the winter, though I have an amusing part of an imperturbable butler in a Roald Dahl short television play which I do in Norfolk in September. Pat Dolin is trying out a monologue performance of a play on Diaghilev soon - he proposes to do it in New York, I think, and asks me to write a piece for the programme. I shall try to do so. Also I have written a short tribute to Ruth Draper as preface to her letters which are to be published in N.Y. in the fall. I have not yet read the letters, but always liked her so much and was a great admirer of her genius.".
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