Asks if PS would like to participate in Victor [Spinetti]'s memorial service.
Flat 114, 24 John Islip Street, London, S.W.1. - Have seen a lot of Brian [?], who visited from Woburn, was very scatty; the [Joe] Orton play ['What the Butler Saw'] died a death the first night, with a restive audience, awful press except for Frank Marcus' review; 'Your Own Thing' flopped badly, Simon Gray's 'Dutch Uncle' is doing poorly, and [Georges] Feydeau's 'Cat Among the Pigeons', which 'Mr B' [Beaumont?] insisted on putting on has already cost £25,000 and they might never get it back, good only for Victor Spinetti; took 'wee Gordon'[?] to see '[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]', which he thought too long but loved Celia Johnston; is buying Gordon a house, doesn't want the Government to get anything when he dies; Binkie [Beaumont] is fiddling while the Globe burns; his friend Roger Stock questioned Gordon about his real estate agent and brought up the subject himself; quotes a nice letter from the Undertaker/publican/grocer Beat MacCarthy after he paid for his sister's tombstone.
Has been working hard, David says that Victor [Spinetti?] is a good actor; spent time with Harry [Lockart?], Brian Bedford, John Paignton; details his work and travel schedule.
The Old Bakery, Malting Lane, Gt. Chishill, Royston, Herts. - Was happy to get his letter from Barbados; was there in 1930 acting as Jack in 'Charley's Aunt' and Stanhope in 'Journey's End', remembers he went off script and ran his hand through Raleigh's hair on the way out of the dugout; his house burnt April 6, and he has been staying with a doctor, Sandy McKenzie while he rebuilds; has seen Victor [Spinetti], whose career has slowed down, and who has had financial worries, and John doesn't know what happened with the film he wrote with Tony [Shaffer]; was going to see the Duchess [?] in Los Angeles, but couldn't fit the dates; thinks him mad for coming to the UK at this point, with heaps of refuse, raging inflation, snow, and a Northeast wind from Siberia.
52 Manchester Street, London W.I. 3.30 a.m. -
13 Charlwood Place, London, S.W.I. -
Is in Glasgow and just heard [about Anthony Shaffer's death], just spoke to him days ago on the phone, don't have Peter's phone number with him, sends his sympathy to him, to Brian, Caroline, and the family.
Is pleased he is so happy and fulfilled and life with Paul is good; is glad he has created a partner for "Black Comedy", Sheila Hancock will be good as the fortune teller ["White Liars"]; discusses plays he's seen: "Joey, Joey" ("proving clowns are depraved and disagreeable"), "The Odd Couple" (Victor [Spinetti] was good, but doesn't like Neil Simon, who doesn't like women), "Lady Windermere" ("good entertainment), "Winter's Tale" ("almost impossible to sit through", Laurence Harvey and Diana Churchill are particularly bad; describes a dinner party at which John [Gielgud?] was "pouring out indiscretions like ectoplasm & very sweet".
21 ff. of material relating to the production at the Globe Theatre, comprising ff. 30-50 of the scrapbook. There are six publicity photographs taken on the street outside the theatre, three of PS taken by Laon Maybanke, and three of Victor Spinetti taken and signed by Paul [J?] Winham. The printed material consists of a handbill and 27 cuttings, most of them theatre reviews from a variety of U.K. newspapers and magazines including a review by Harold Hobson, Bernard Levin's "I'm glad I've caught up" in the 'Daily Mail' of 8 Jan. 1963, and a feature on Peter as one of "[David] Kossoff's Friends" with a portrait sketch and short biography. There are two reviews from outside the U.K.: "Du sillage de Shakespeare à une réussite en un acte" from the 'Tribune de Genève' of 5 July 1962 and Richard Watts Jr.'s "Detective out of Lewis Carroll" in the 'New York Post' of July 1962.