BRACERS Record Detail for 19458
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"Darling—Eleanor Elder has sent me a request to join the council of the 'League of Service', for 'bringing art into everyday life'."
This was the Arts League of Service.
BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 20 MAR. 1919
BRACERS 19458. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell
<letterhead>
The Manor House
Garsington
Oxford1, 2
2nd letter
20.3.19
Darling
Eleanor Elder has sent me a request to join the Council of the “League of Service”,3 for “bringing art into everyday life”. I was just writing to refuse when I noticed that they were amalgamated with the Experimental Theatre4 so I thought I ought not to refuse without first asking whether you wished me to accept and whether I would be any use to you or Miles5 if I did. Please tell me if there is any point in my joining.
Post going.
B.
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[document] Document 200446.
- 2
[envelope] This letter was placed in the same envelope as the first letter written this day (BRACERS 19457).
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Eleanor Elder ... Council of the “League of Service” The Arts League of Service was founded after the end of World War I to revive and popularize all the arts. Eleanor Elder was the Hon. Secretary; the president was Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, a brother of Lady Ottoline Morrell. Miles Malleson and Norman MacDermott came to be in charge of the drama wing of the organization. Its first step for theatre was to create a small dramatic company to tour the villages of Sussex (“The People’s Arts”, The Times, 2 May 1919, p. 7; “Arts League of Service”, The Times, 23 June 1919, p. 18; “Drama for Villagers”, The Times, 11 Oct. 1919, p. 10). Colette’s advice re BR joining the Council of this organization is not known.
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Experimental Theatre Colette first mentioned that she and Miles were trying to start an Experimental Theatre in a letter of 24 June 1918 (BRACERS 113135), indicating that Miles would earn a tiny income from it. About a month later, she wrote that Elizabeth Russell had subscribed generously to the E.T. and that £700 had been raised so far, but hundreds still had to be found (28 July 1918; BRACERS 113146). A few days later she wrote that Captain Stephen Gordon, a north-county lawyer, working for the Government was to be the Hon. Treasurer, noting that he has “put most of the drive into the whole thing” (3 Aug. 1918; BRACERS 113147). During August Colette was happy with her involvement with the Theatre (BR to Colette, 13 Aug. 1918; BRACERS 19343). John Galswothy was to tea to discuss the project (ca. 14 Aug. 1918). On 2 September 1918 (BRACERS 113155) she lists the members of the Committee as “Desmond [McCarthy], Massingham, Galsworthy, and Dennis (Bradley).” She goes on to describe Bradley’s character and appearance. The following day she wrote that she was learning 3 roles: “Madge [by Miles], a Schnitzler play and an American one” (BRACERS 113156). In her memoir, Colette writes about the Experimental Little Theatre but dates it as 1919 (After Ten Years [London: J. Cape, 1931], pp. 129–30). An “artistic” theatre did get founded in 1920 in Hampstead and John Galsworthy was connected to that venture, The Everyman Theatre, in that he was part of a Reading Committee which would chose the works to be performed (The Times, 9 Sept. 1919, p. 8). The Everyman Theatre was under the direction of Norman MacDermott (1890–1977). In his book Everymania (London: The Society for Theatre Research, 1975), he notes he met Miles in the summer of 1918, they rented a store in Bloomsbury, had a cabinet-maker build sets, and put on plays with actors “bored with West-End theatres” (p. 10). Miles and MacDermott continued to work together in 1919.
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Miles Miles Malleson (1888–1969), Colette’s husband. For information on him, see BRACERS 19046, n.4.