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Author: Reeves, John Sims >>
Address: Grange Mount, Upper Norwood
Recipient: Irving, Sir Henry >>
Address: -
Date: 1889, July, 8 
Document Type: Letter (2 p.)
Content Summary: Very gratified with Irving's reception on Saturday and his work has not affected his voice. He looked tired but artistic and so gentlemanly. Reeves felt proud of him and prouder still of the esteem he has for a fellow-artist. He hopes Irving will come to them on Friday and not forget the photo.
Published: -
Notes: Benefit Concert at St. James's Hall for Reeves. THM/37/7/39 contains a letter from Arthur Sullivan from 25th January, 1889, praising Reeves, but refusing to write a work for him. He reminds him of the strain he caused when unable to sing in Sullivan's 'The Prodigal Son' twenty years earlier.
Document Holder: THM (Reference: THM/37/7/35)
Ref.No: 3538    
Author: Irving, Sir Henry >>
Address: 15A, Grafton Street, Bond Street, W.
Recipient: Terry, Dame Ellen Alice >>
Address: -
Date: [1889?], July, 12 Friday
Document Type: Letter (7 p.)
Content Summary: "My darling Nell." Where is she now he wonders - wishes he was with her. Harry and Laurence have just gone away and are coming down to Ramsgate for two days. Poor Harry will have a much more difficult time than Laurence. He (Harry) is a headstrong little beggar. However, he has given up 'the 80 Club'. The poor lad says he still wants to be a politician - that's an M.P., of course. I wish him joy but told him that he was in a difficult position. Every little fault and folly in life would be brought to the surface and exaggerated because his name was Henry Irving. If his name was Smith he could do many things. People flatter him not for his sake but for Irving's. You should have seen him stare. Irving says he was quite kind to Harry but it was for the first time that he heard the truth and will probably remember it. Irving felt he was conceited in what he was saying but it was food for both boys to reflect on. Irving tells Harry that it is a pity he didn't use Brodribb as a name so he can begin to battle himself and use his own hoof and to use another initial etc. He hopes Ellen is not very tired and that she is resting at all stages. How glad she will be to have Edie(sic) in her arms. "With all my love, my dearest wife."
Published:
Notes: Signed with Irving's cross & circle symbol. Harry Irving went to Oxford in the Autumn of 1888. The Eighty Club was a Liberal political gentleman's club in London.
Document Holder: THM (Reference: THM/384/6/5)
Ref.No: 8460    
Author: Irving, Sir Henry >>
Address: 15A, Grafton Street, Bond Street, W. [Margate]
Recipient: Terry, Dame Ellen Alice >>
Address: [Berlin?]
Date: [1889], [July] 
Document Type: Letter (+8 p.)
Content Summary: ... Harry is like him but Irving values his own harder upbringing. Harry is an excellent spouter but too weak for an actor. Irving is disappointed in Harry's reaction to his father's public reception in the Margate Theatre. Herman Vezin has stupidly been urging Harry to go on the stage and Irving makes disparaging remarks. Harry and Laurence were to play Jacques and Touchstone at Marlborough on Tuesday and they'd hardly read their parts when they left. He has been copying his part in a little account book handy for his pocket. It is short but difficult to act, as is hers. He likes the "filling up - sort of acting" - like 'The Bells' it is restful. There is much of Manette in Robert Landry and of Landry in Manette. What shall be their next play? No children under 10. Tree in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is pathetic. What about 'Charles I'? They might get hold of Marshall Wilder but he would be no good outside America. Winter's letter is odd? Had he intended to stay with Irving? His reference to the empty Grange makes the point. There is no one in Margate Irving knows. The Skirrows are at Broadstairs and left a card so he must return their call, otherwise he has the attractions to himself. He must stay there for a least 3 weeks as his home is upside down with drains overhauled, roof falling in &c. The surveyor had condemned the drains, which frightened Asprey into action. God bless his dearest. Remember him to the Hollanders.
Published: -
Notes: Signed with Irving's cross and circle symbol. The discussion of Harry's acting ambitions is written around the margins of the inner pages. Jacques and Touchstone are characters in 'As You Like It' which his sons returned to their old school to play. 'The Dead Heart' was to be produced at the Lyceum on 28th September 1889. He compares it to 'A Tale of Two Cities'. A Bill in Parliament proposed to restrict the age of children appearing in the theatre, which affected the productions named. Beerbohm Tree was not to stage 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' until 1900. Marshall P. Wilder, 1859-1915, was a very short American comedian. William Winter had stayed at Irving's house The Grange in 1888. Asprey was Irving's landlord in Grafton Street. See also Letter 4666.
Document Holder: THM (Reference: THM/384/6/5)
Ref.No: 8456    
Author: Irving, Sir Henry >>
Address: [Ramsgate?]
Recipient: Craig, Edward Gordon >>
Address: -
Date: 1889, July, 18 
Document Type: Letter (2 p.)
Content Summary: Telling him when to come to Ramsgate and sending £4 for his expenses.
Published: Ifan Kyrle Fletcher catalogue 198
Notes: Signed: Henry. Craig is addressed as "Dear Count" referring to his role as Arthur de St Valery in 'The Dead Heart' which was to open the season in October. The catalogue describes two other notes from Irving to Craig.
Document Holder: P
Ref.No: 9065    
Author: Irving, Sir Henry >>
Address: 15A , Grafton Street, Bond Street, W. [Margate]
Recipient: Terry, Dame Ellen Alice >>
Address: -
Date: [1889], [July?] 
Document Type: Letter (+9 p.)
Content Summary: ... saw Toole in 'The Don'. He kindly asked them to stay, and Irving told him especially to bring in the "social status". They did make a bit of theatre, and unreported was a droll incident in that there had once been coldness between Toole & Kendal when the latter caught him kissing his wife behind the door in 'Cousin Joe'. How shocked Madge [Kendal] would be and how her friends enjoyed it. There was never more chaff about this dinner and Mrs Kendal insisting the testimonial should be valuable. Harry and Laurence had gone and he thinks enjoyed themselves doing as they pleased; they were very lazy and smoke too much. He describes Laurence's life in Russia; and he is old for seventeen and a half. He assesses Laurence, and mentions his liking for scandal. Very sorry to hear from Merivale at the Garrick Club, where he had a chop before the Garden Party, about Walter Pollock's problems. Pollock's wife is an alcoholic and was before their marriage. Pollock is the weaker "a loose cracked vessel". Sad cases; only death can sometimes save the other. "Oh, the pity, the pity of it." He did a little work on his hour to town. The drains in Grafton Street are in an awful state - the place has been taken to pieces including the closet and bath much to the sorrow of Mrs Cook who would rather have died of the typhoid than suffer such inconvenience. What did Edie think of 'The Dead Heart'? He is anxious to know as he respects her opinion and wants to know the story's faults. He hopes young Valerie will come on Saturday and perhaps Parkinson may come too, from Saturday to Monday - Bank Holiday. Has heard from the 'White Star' people with an invitation to board the new ship and see the Naval Review, next Saturday. He declined - they will have their review there. The weather is dull and stormy - nothing exhilarating. He is living too quietly and needs shaking up. He hopes she will come to Paris or somewhere, his lovely love, and let him have sunshine at last.
Published: -
Notes: Signed with Irving's cross symbol. This is likely to be part of the letter following Letter 8214, describing the leaving banquet to J.L. Toole and Irving's verdict on his sons, who had been holidaying with him. Irving was greatly concerned with the social status of the actor. 'The Don' by Herman Merivale starring J.L. Toole was first performed in 1888; 'Cousin Joseph' was written in 1835, and the production here is unidentified. Mrs Cook was Irving's housekeeper on 1881 and 1891 Census. The revival of 'The Dead Heart' opened 28th Sept 1889. Edy may have been reading John Coleman's book about 'The Dead Heart' (Letter 8460). Young Valerie might be Maude Valerie White, or possibly Sydney Valentine. Joseph Charles Parkinson, 1833-1908 was an old friend, civil servant, journalist and Chairman of the Reform Club.
Document Holder: THM (Reference: THM/384/6/5)
Ref.No: 8481    
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