| Author: | Merivale, Herman Charles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | New Malden (Cockwood, Claygate, Surrey crossed through) | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | [1890], [Oct.?] Thursday | ||
| Document Type: | Letter | ||
| Content Summary: | He is sending 'Charlotte Corday' and he sent 'Milwood' two or three days before. Irving can give the 'Charlotte' to Pollock when he has finished with it. He is glad Irving prospers with Edgar [Ravenswood] - he hoped to come but cannot. He does not know what to do and describes his symptoms oddly. Maudsley says he was given the wrong treatment. His wife is very ill. He is distracted and thinks anything might happen. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Merivale seems to have had a nervous breakdown. 'Milwood' is presumably a version of the 'George Barnwell' story. 'Ravenswood' had opened on 29th September. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/31) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2450 | ||
| Author: | Merivale, Herman Charles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Uplands, Feltham, Mddx | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1900, July, 13 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (4 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | Does Irving remember a play acted by Lemâitre '30 ans ou La Vie d'un Joueur'? He was the greatest melodramatic player in the world. The play has been translated several times. Merivale wrote a version for Arthur Bourchier but he didn't produce it. Merivale has now lightened it and put in a great deal of the gambler's natural cruelty. Walter Pollck did a version called 'The Tables' which Irving rejected as too short. Merivale would present it as a big play - shall he read it to Irving? | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | 'Thirty Years of a Gambler's Life' was also recommended to Irving as 'The Hut of the Red Mountains'. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/31) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2460 | ||
| Author: | Merivale, Herman Charles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Uplands, Feltham, Mddx | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1900, July, 15 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (3 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He has just heard Irving has left Grafton Street. Where is he now? He has sent two recent messages to Grafton Street. He repeats his comments on '30 ans' [Thirty years in] The Life of a Gamester and its potential for Irving. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | See Letter 2460. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/31) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2461 | ||
| Author: | Merivale, Herman Charles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Hotel des Bains & de Belle-Vue, Boulogne-sur-Mer | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | Lyceum Theatre | ||
| Date: | 1901, April, 29 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (8 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He ruminates over their friendship of 37 years. He looks forward to Irving driving over Hounslow Heath in 10 days time to enjoy their lilacs. He will see his 'Ravenswood' memento framed. Merivale comments on the play. He criticises Sir Alexander Mackenzie's music for the Lyceum. He fled for a whisky & soda when his tune wouldn't stop on Tuesday night. He tells a story about Alfred Wigan. Would Irving consider a play about Savonarola for which he gives ideas? He goes to the Comédie Française on Wednesday night. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Addressed "My dear old Friend". | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/31) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2467 | ||
| Author: | Merivale, Herman Charles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Uplands, Feltham, Middx | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1900, July, 17 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (2 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He sends Irving 'The Gambler'. Fechter played a version called 'Rouge et Noir' which was an utter fiasco. Lemâitre's parts never suited Fechter who was a superb romantic actor, therefore his Hamlet was immensely attractive. He made his first acquaintance with Laurence Irving the previous night at dinner at Mrs Patrick Campbell's. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | |||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/31) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2462 | ||
| Author: | Moreau, Emile | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | - | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | [1895?], Dec. | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (2 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He has told Sardou about the existence of an opera about Madame Sans Gêne; Sardou has not given any one permission to set their play to music. The authors of the opera are thieves. Irving should defend himself against them and seek the protection of the English law over the valuable title. It is fortunate Irving has thought of a new play. He and Sardou think Robespierre is an unattractive character and it would be difficult to make him central character in a play. They must think, but there is no hurry. Sardou approves of the scene with Bonaparte as prologue to Sans Gêne, saying it should be as short as possible, even reduced to a pantomime. He hopes this is also Irving's opinion? | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | In the event George Edwardes did not produce 'The Duchess of Dantzig' until 1903 at the Lyric Theatre. See also Letter 2160. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/1/36) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2473 | ||
| Author: | Irving, Henry | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Royal Links Hotel, Cromer | ||
| Recipient: | Loveday, Henry Joseph "Harry" | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1898 [1900], Aug., 16 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter | ||
| Content Summary: | He agrees - it is better to settle the two and save trouble. He is just beginning to feel the benefit of the change but the weather is unsettled. 'Savonarola' no go - so he is still on the lookout for something new - "to H--- wth the Napkin" - and at it again. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Typewritten transcript with an obviously incorrect date. Irving was on holiday at the end of the season. 'Savonarola' cannot be the play suggested by Herman Merivale in 1901 (see Letter 2467) but Irving had been reading a unidentified play by a Frenchman, apparently translated by Laurence Irving. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/1/38) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2483 | ||
| Author: | Irving, Henry | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Hindhead Beacon Hotel, Haslemere | ||
| Recipient: | Loveday, Henry Joseph "Harry" | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1901, Jan., 8 | ||
| Document Type: | Letter | ||
| Content Summary: | He is sorry for Loveday's lumbago. [Fergus] Hume wrote quite a reasonable letter (in answer to Irving's) proposing to sell all rights, and the next day Willersby sent an extraordinary letter asking why he had not replied to Hume who was in a dangerous state of excitement. Like Loveday he thinks they will be well out of it and he is sure Loveday told them that the annulling of contracts had not been at Irving's request. He encloses a cheque. He thinks it advisable to get a few lines from Hume making over to Irving and his heirs for £850 the sole rights in a 4 act play 'The Vestal'. Irving is not so suspicious of him as his partner, to whom he will give £50 for the music. All right about Paton - he'll be glad. See Mackenzie about the music. See Barnes (letter enclosed). He would like him to play Menenius which he'll do splendidly, probably for same salary Waller pays him. Snowed up. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Typewritten transcript. The arrangements at the end are for 'Coriolanus' in which J.H. Barnes did play Menenius Agrippa. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/1/41) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2500 | ||
| Author: | Marshall, Frank (Francis Albert) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | Palazzo del Parto(?), Napoli | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | [1878?], May, 8 Wednesday | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (8 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He is writing a book about Naples and has been at Vesuvius at a time of eruption, which he describes at length. Irving might find comfort in studying characters in the older poetic drama. He talks of modern trends in drama, moral attitudes, and the responsibility of the dramatist. Teddy and his wife are well. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Postscript at head suggests that Irving was considering 'The Wandering Jew' as a dramatic subject. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/30) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2557 | ||
| Author: | Marshall, Frank (Francis Albert) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address: | 32 St George's Road, Pimlico, S.W. | ||
| Recipient: | Irving, Henry | ||
| Address: | - | ||
| Date: | 1880, May, 17 Whit Monday | ||
| Document Type: | Letter (7 p.) | ||
| Content Summary: | He has been ill and is preparing his house for letting. They had been called to Torquay in March to his sick brother John, but they now have him in town, fatally ill. They have all been ill and are grateful for Irving's sympathy. He had been working on 'Robert Emmet' for Irving and now hopes to give him the alterations and fair copies by the end of June. He now has a trustworthy honest copyist. He is pressed for money. Irving has paid £150 of a promised £200. Marshall has lost £700 of income since October, and asks if he could have £100 that week. His family have all suffered from the North British Railway and cannot help. He finds it hard to get work. He hopes Irving will come to see his brother. | ||
| Published: | - | ||
| Notes: | Headed: Private. | ||
| Document Holder: | THM (Reference: THM/37/7/30) | ||
| Ref.No: | 2558 | ||