GLADYS

[Gladys Cooper, star of stage and screen.] Gelatin silver print of Foulsham & Banfield photograph of Gladys Cooper in the play ‘My Lady’s Dress’, with a second photograph of her embracing Dennis Eadie in the same production.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), English actress, over seven decades a star of stage and screen; Dennis Eadie (1869-1928), actor; Foulsham & Banfield, London photographers
Cooper
Publication details: 
Label on reverse dates the solo photograph to 27 February 1914, with the stamp of Foulsham & Banfield, 49 Old Bond Street, W. [London]. The photograph of Cooper & Eadie without date or place, but from the same production.
£100.00
Cooper

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

[‘The Last of Mrs Cheney’, Frederick Lonsdale play made into three Hollywood films.] Material relating to first stage production, at St James’s Theatre, London, including playscript, manuscript cast rolls, furniture and upholstery lists and invoice.

Author: 
Frederick Lonsdale (1881-1954), English playwright, author of ‘The Last of Mrs Cheney’, produced at St James’s Theatre, London, made into three Hollywood films; Gladys Cooper; Sir Gerald Du Maurier
Publication details: 
Material from 1925 and 1926, relating to production at the St James's Theatre, London, including items from Ernest Williams Ltd, 27 Davies Street, Berkeley Square, W1.
£420.00

Lonsdale’s entry in the Oxford DNB has the following to say: ‘In 1925 The Last of Mrs Cheyney was produced at the St James's Theatre, with the leading roles played by Gladys Cooper, Ellis Jeffreys, Ronald Squire, and Sir Gerald Du Maurier. This, Lonsdale's most famous play, ran for 514 performances [from 22 September 1925] in London, and enjoyed comparable popularity in New York, Berlin, and Paris.

[Percy Nash, pioneering British film director rewrites Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’.] File of related material, including a typescript of Nash’s version, and letters from theatre impressario Jack Gladwyn and Stanford Robinson of BBC.

Author: 
Percy Nash (1869-1958), film producer and director, key figure in the creation of Elstree Studios; Jack Gladwyn, theatre impressario; Stanford Robinson of the BBC; Gladys Ripley; Oliver Goldsmith]
Publication details: 
Material dating from 1949 and 1950. Nash’s letterhead of 2 Bristol Court West, Marine Parade, Brighton. Robinson on letterhead of Broadcasting House, London. Gladwyn on his letterhead, Cecil House, 41 Charing Cross Road, London.
£500.00

Ten items relating to Percy Nash’s unsuccessful attempt to turn Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ into a musical, casting light on English theatre production practices in the immediate postwar period. Despite interest from the theatre impressario Jack Gladwyn, the project stalls. Percy Nash (1868-1958), who made around 70 films between 1912 and 1927, was a key figure in the creation of Elstree Studios. His career as a film maker was effectively ended following the screening of his 1921 film 'How Kitchener was betrayed'.

[Dodie Smith, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalamatians'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Dodie') to 'Popie' (theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope), regarding her contract with Walt Disney, a celebratory dinner in London, the death of her own dalmatians

Author: 
Dodie Smith [Dorothy Gladys Smith] (1896-1990), children's writer and playwright, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' (1956) and 'I Capture the Castle' (1948) [W. J. MacQueen-Pope (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
2 December 1957. On letterhead of The Barretts, Finchingfield, Essex.
£350.00

See the entries for Smith and MacQueen-Pope in the Oxford DNB. Walt Disney had read The Hundred and One Dalmatians earlier in the year in which the present letter was written, and had immediately begun negotiations for the rights, much to Smith's delight, as she had hoped that he would make it into a film. 2pp, 8vo. A long letter, in a close and elegant hand. Writing on behalf of herself and her 'friend' and business manager Alec Macbeth Beesley, and on receipt of his latest book, she begins: 'Dear Popie, | How very, very kind of you to send us Give me Yesterday! Thank you so much.

[Dodie Smith, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians'.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Dodie.') to 'Popie' [W. J. MacQueen-Pope], discussing her dalmatian dogs, failed musical, his latest book and offer of collaboration, petrol rationing.

Author: 
Dodie Smith [Dorothy Gladys Smith] (1896-1990), children's writer and playwright, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' (1956) and 'I Capture the Castle' (1948) [W. J. MacQueen-Pope (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
23 and 28 January 1957. Each on letterhead of The Barretts, Finchingfield, Essex.
£120.00

See both their entries in the Oxford DNB. Two long letters. Both 2pp, 4to. Both letters on aged paper, creasing at the head. Each folded twice. Written in a close, elegant hand. ONE: 23 January 1957. Writing on behalf of herself and her 'friend' and business manager Alec Macbeth Beesley she begins: 'Our dear, dear Popie, | It really is fantastic. This morning I wrote you a tiny fan letter, combined with thanks for your radio mentions of me. I then carried it to the little pillar-box at the crossroads near here, in time to catch the 3.40 post.

[Dodie Smith, children's writer, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalamatians'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Dodie') to 'Popie' [the theatre historian W. J. MacQueen-Pope], praising his writing, theatre work and latest book, discussing Vivien Leigh.

Author: 
Dodie Smith [Dorothy Gladys Smith] (1896-1990), children's writer and playwright, author of 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' (1956) and 'I Capture the Castle' (1948) [W. J. MacQueen-Pope (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
5 March 1958. On letterhead of The Barretts, Finchingfield, Essex.
£150.00

2pp, 18mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once. Written in a close, elegant hand. Written on receipt of a presentation copy of MacQueen-Pope's latest book, the letter begins: 'My dear Popie, | Thank you so very much for St James's, Theatre of Distinction. I think I am enjoying it even more than I usually enjoy your individual-theatre books, because the St James's meant so much to me. It was the first London theatre I ever went to - long before I could read or went to a school.

[ Frank E. Tours, Hollywood composer and musical director. ] Typed Letter Signed ('Frank Tours') to the theatre historian W. J. Macqueen-Pope, containing reminiscences of his London theatre days (George Dance, Marie Lloyd, Stanley Logan).

Author: 
Frank E. Tours [ Frank Tours; Frank Edward Tours ] (1877-1963), English-born Hollywood composer and musical director (Marx Brothers; Citizen Kane; The Emperor Jones) [ W. J. Macqueen-Pope (1888-1960)]
Publication details: 
South Laguna. 20 January 1951.
£200.00

3pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight staining to one corner from paper clip. A good letter, filled with detail. Apart from brief opening and closing paragraphs the whole of the letter is devoted to reminiscences of his life before leaving England for America. At one point he comments: 'it is only when one is thinking back, as I am now, that one realizes the speed with which time fugits; it is now 21 years since I have been home, and 30 years since Bob and I were in "Irene" at the Empire.' The reminiscences begin: 'Barring a trip to U. S. and Australia with G. P.

[ Sheridan Morley, author and broadcaster. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed, two Typed Letters Signed and one telegram to theatrical bookseller Barry Duncan, with carbon copy of one of his letters.

Author: 
Sheridan Morley (1941-2007), English author and broadcaster, son of actor Robert Morley (1908-1992) and grandson of Dame Gladys Cooper (1888-1971) [ Barry Duncan, theatrical bookseller ]
Publication details: 
Two of the letters on letterhead of 5 Peckarmans Wood, London, SE26, and the other two (on cancelled BBC letterheads) from the same address. All six items from 1970.
£180.00

The six items in fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. The four letters all with Morley's expansive signature ('Sheridan Morley').

['Gwen John' [Gladys Jones], dramatist.] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Gwen John') and three corrected copies of her published play 'The Prince'; Typed Letter Signed from Victor Gollancz to H. F. Rubinstein, copies of two letters by Rubinstein.

Author: 
'Gwen John' [Gladys Jones], sister of the suffragette Winifred Jones [Harold Frederick Rubinstein (1891-1975), playwright; Victor Gollancz (1893-1967), publisher; Millicent Fawcett]
Publication details: 
Letters by 'Gwen John' both on letterheads of 2nd Floor South, 9 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, WC2; 11 January 1925 and 1 May 1927. Gollancz's letter on letterhead of Ernest Benn Limited; 24 July 1924. Play published by Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1923.
£450.00

Gladys Jones ('Gwen John') lived with her sister the suffragette Winifred Jones in Lincoln's Inn. Her play 'The Prince' - three corrected copies of which are in the present collection as Items Three to Five - was retitled 'Gloriana' [= Elizabeth I] when performed at the Adelphi Theatre in London in December 1925, with a youthful John Gielgud in the role of Sir John Harrington. Items One, Six and Seven below relate to the volume 'Plays of Innocence' by 'Gwen John', published in 1925 by Ernest Benn (by whom Victor Gollancz was then employed).

Ten-line 67-word Post Office Telegraphs radio telegram, taken down by 'Mayhew', to the Daily Graphic newspaper, London.

Author: 
Mary Pickford [Gladys Louise Smith] (1892-1979) [Douglas Fairbanks [Douglas Elton Ullman] (1883-1939)]
Publication details: 
Received at Lands End from the S.S.Lapland, 20 June 1920.
£86.00

Written in pencil by 'Mayhew' on an official printed 'Post Office Telegraphs' form, stamped with telegraph number and dated postmark. Good, on aged high-acidity paper, dimensions roughly 14 x 21.5 cm. Neatly laid down on a piece of brown card. Sent on Pickford and Fairbanks' honeymoon voyage to Europe. The couple have 'received so many lovely messages from friends in England' that Pickford's 'Life Long dream of visiting the old country seems to be all [she] had hoped more [sic] and that saying great deal Douglas is ready to jump from the Top mast the minute we sight Southampton'.

Autograph Signatures ('Laurence Olivier' and 'Gladys Cooper').

Author: 
Laurence Olivier (1907-1989), English stage and film actor; Gladys Cooper (1888-1971), English actress
Publication details: 
Dates and places not stated.
£48.00

On piece of cream paper, roughly 8.5 x 12 cm, removed from an autograph album. Good, on paper with a few light marks. Bold, firm signatures in pencil, one on each side of the leaf. Two signatures,

Autograph letter signed and one typed letter signed, both to Sewell [Stokes],

Author: 
Norman Ginsburg
Publication details: 
both 1967, both with letterhead Barum Lodge, 25 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, Sussex.
£30.00

Playwright (1902-1991). The typed letter, 8 February 1967, one page, 8vo. An interesting letter. "I am back again! I have just had a note from Murray Macdonald. He tells me he is going to direct a new play by Tam and Maggie Williams, probaly [sic] in July. The Williams' want Gladys Cooper [English actress, 1888-1971] for it but it is a small part and she has not said "Yes" or "No" yet. She spole to Murray about "The Limit" and told him she would like to do it at Guilford. So please, please convince her that the play to do is the one by ME and not by Williams!

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