588 Balzac’s title, The Wild-Ass’s Skin, is already a pun: the hero receives a magical piece of the skin, also called shagreen, which answers his every wish but shrinks as it does so, causing him extreme chagrin, for when it disappears, he must die.
589 Lal (b. 1929) was founder in 1958 of the Calcutta Writers Workshop, which publishes contemporary literature and translations, including his own translation of the complete Mahabharata from Sanskrit into English. Ratan (b. 1917) and Sio were among the seven writers who launched the workshop with him. Ratan, also a college teacher and later a business executive, is a prolific translator of novels and stories from and into English, Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi.
590 The Gospel According to Sri Ramakrishna. Elder is “neither a man of the world nor a devotee of God.” Old, unemployed, and with nothing to do, he is available for household tasks such as cutting pumpkins for cooking. (By tradition women in Bengal do not cut them.) See Aug. 20, 1883; p. 281 in Swami Nikhilananda’s translation.
591 In the opening scene of The Dog Beneath the Skin, the Two are opposing presences who mark the passage of time and witness the activities of men, making life possible and limiting it. In the sannyas ritual, the monk dies and enters a new life of stricter religious devotion; Isherwood’s rebirth takes place in the opposite direction, abandoning the monastery for the world.
592 Aldous Huxley, 1894–1963: A Memorial Volume, Together with his last Essay, “Shakespeare and Religion” (1965), edited by Julian Huxley.
593 Bachardy had three traffic citations in one year and was therefore summoned to a hearing which he missed because he was in New York.
594 The 1923 play by Sutton Vane.
595 Bachardy had a sexual interest in Garlington, once close to Rock Hudson; Garlington’s friend was a travelling companion only.
596 In D.1, Isherwood expressed sorrow that Cotten was drunk at a party after his first wife died and left him alone in their house; Bachardy had just left Isherwood alone, and their house was also on the side of a steep hill above the ocean.
597 Loew, movie writer and producer (1925–1995)—a grandson of the founders, through his mother, of Paramount and, through his father, of MGM and Loew’s Theaters—was once linked romantically with Wood. He reportedly offered her the starring role in Penelope (1966) to pull her through emotional and professional troubles. He is mentioned in D.1.
598 Pencil and ink portraits of Auden, James Baldwin, Leslie Caron, Glenn Ford, Forster, Gielgud, Paulette Goddard, Geoffrey Horne, Aldous Huxley, Isherwood, Vivien Leigh, Anita Loos, Simone Signoret (featured on the announcement), Spender, the Stravinskys, Barbra Streisand, Virgil Thomson, Gore Vidal, Collin Wilcox, Natalie Wood, and others.
599 Hepburn (1929–1993) starred as Eliza Doolittle opposite Harrison; Isherwood first met her in New Haven in 1951 when I Am a Camera and Gigi—adapted for the stage by Anita Loos and with Hepburn in the lead—were playing at the same time before opening on Broadway. She is mentioned in D.1.
600 Un Chant d’Amour (1950).
601 Mr. Madam, Confessions of a Male Madam (1964) by Kenneth Marlowe.
602 Greystone, said to be the largest house ever built in Beverly Hills, was purchased and preserved by the town and continues to be used as a film location.
603 Tom Ferdinand, the “fer” in Banfer Gallery, ran it with Richard Bennet, the “Ban.”
604 Russia at War 1941–1945 (1964).
605 Lindsay (1921–2000) a New York City congressman since 1959, was elected mayor in November 1965; he left the Republican party during the race for his second term and then tried, unsuccessfully, for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination.
606 George Murphy (1902–1992) actor, dancer, and Republican, was elected senator from California in November 1964. He beat Kennedy’s former press secretary Pierre Salinger, who was the Democratic incumbent as a result of being appointed to replace Senator Claire Engle after Engle died in office. Preminger directed and produced Advise and Consent (1962), based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel set in the Senate.
607 Ter-Arutunian (b. 1920), Soviet-émigré set and costume designer for ballet and opera, was also designing The Loved One for Tony Richardson.
608 The New York City Ballet moved into the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center in 1964.
609 “Circus Women” (1931) and “Two Female Nudes” (1931); Kirstein intro duced Isherwood to Elie Nadelman’s sculpture in 1947, when he was pushing for the 1948 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
610 American dancer (b. 1934), trained at the American School of Ballet, a versatile and long-established principal.
611 Connecticut, at the American Shakespeare Festival Theater, where the ballet performed in the summer. Bachardy’s portraits of the actors in the festival company (including Lillian Gish) appeared in the souvenir program, but there was no exhibition.
612 The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore ran for two months in New York, from January 1963, to bad reviews; Williams revised it, but the new production, in January 1964, lasted only four days.
613 He died January 24.
614 I.e., private first class; the poems were written while Kirstein was serving in W.W. II. See Glossary.
615 See the entry for March 6, 1953 in D.1.
616 I.e., One, Incorporated; see Glossary.
617 A committee of thirty-two academics and activists—including Todd Gitlin, Tom Hayden, Irving Howe, Dwight Macdonald, Gunnar Myrdal, Linus Pauling—published The Triple Revolution, about rapid advances in cybernation, weaponry, and human rights, and called for commensurate changes in attitudes and policies; they sent the pamphlet to President Johnson, leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the Secretary of Labor on March 22, 1964.
618 May 4 to May 10, 1953; see D.1.
619 Filmways, an independent production company where John Calley was an executive, was co-producing with MGM.
620 A Beverly Hills lawyer; in D.1 Isherwood mentions that Andelson arranged bail for Ted Bachardy in 1957.
621 Rolf Leibermann (1910–1999), a Swiss composer, then General Manager of the Hamburg State Opera; his film was A Stravinsky Portrait (1966).
622 “Aldous Huxley does not surprise us in this admirable communication. . . .”
623 Reynolds, W.W.II correspondent and author, successfully sued Pegler, right-wing Hearst columnist and once a W.W.I correspondent, for calling him a coward, a liar, and a degenerate in a 1949 column. Louis Nizer was one of Reynolds’s laywers.
624 Diane Johnson (b. 1934), then married to a professor of medicine with whom she had four children before divorcing, was writing a dissertation on George Meredith’s poetry for a UCLA Ph.D. in English. She published her first novel Fair Game in 1965. Later novels include Persian Nights (1987) and Le Divorce (1997). She co-wrote the screenplay for The Shining (1980) with Stanley Kubrick.
625 A Dartmouth graduate studying finance and theater history at UCLA. He had small roles in Billy Wilder’s films in the 1960s, including Irma La Douce (1963), acted and wrote for T.V., and directed The Penitent (1988). He also taught acting.
626 Novelist, poet, playwright, essayist; she later became a healer and popular public speaker.
627 Professor Iyer Ramaswamy taught genetics; he later returned to India.
628 Not her real name.
629 Siporin (1942–2001) had polio in childhood. He soon started law school at UCLA, got his degree in 1968, and later worked for the American Indian Movement.
630 Gunderson had a Princeton Ph.D. and was an Assistant Professor; his poems appeared from a small press in 1976, followed by a book set partly in Santa Monica, and he also published academic work. He later taught at the University of Minnesota.
631 Not her real name.
632 Professional name of Allan Carter, aspiring actor and a protégé of Bill Inge. He played a film scene opposite Joanne Woodward in The Stripper (1963), adapted from Inge’s play A Loss of Roses. Isherwood typed, “Shawn.”
633 The drawings were
published—on separate loose sheets assembled in a souvenir portfolio—but they were never sold at the ballet; see Glossary under Kirstein.
634 Isherwood mistakenly wrote July.
635 Kiskadden.
636 American actress(1907–2003). Selznick produced her first film, A Bill of Divorce ment (1932), and her fourth, Little Women (1933). Both were directed by Cukor and were among her greatest successes.
637 U.K. title; in the U.S., the film was called Harper (1966).
638 The 1939 film directed by Mitchell Leisen; Charlie Brackett and Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay, from Edwin Justus Meyer’s story.
639 Which Tony Richardson hired for filming.
640 Named after two Japanese astronomers who discovered it on September 18; it was nearest the sun and supposedly brightest on October 21.
641 When his relationship with Vernon Old failed; see Nov. 16, 1944 in D.1.
642 Isherwood never knew his name, but thought he looked Icelandic or like Peter O’Toole’s T.E. Lawrence—slim, lanky, with pale blond hair, small clear blue eyes, a sharp jaw, and a strong chin. He, too, was sometimes with a friend, an older, heavier man with a moustache and goatee.
643 Nina, Axelrod’s daughter with his second wife, Joan Stanton. Axelrod (1922–2003) became famous for his plays The Seven Year Itch (1952) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955); his screen adaptations include Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
644 “With Aldous Huxley,” Nov. 25, 1965, five diary entries, 1949–1963, presented Huxley as solitary and overworked after his first wife died and said that Huxley’s second marriage separated Craft from him. Juliette Huxley was the wife of Aldous’s brother Julian.
645 Subconscious imprints made by past actions or thoughts and forming the character.
646 The Appaloosa (1966).
647 German film producer and screenwriter (1917–1989); in 1949, he founded Berliner Synchron, foremost dubbing studio in Germany.
648 Military activity in Vietnam was escalating amid fears of war with China; see Glossary under International Situation.
649 During the Christmas bombing pause, Johnson launched a diplomatic initiative for peace talks, but it was viewed as an obligatory last effort before broadening the war.
650 Producer of Bardot’s first films and of Moderato Cantabile (1960) and Marco the Magnificent (1965).
651 The Tibetan Book of the Dead, containing Buddhist instructions for the dying.
652 I.e., the University of California at Riverside.
653 Then in his twenties; he often posed for Bachardy. Later he moved to San Francisco.
654 Kanin (1912–1999), American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, theater and film director, described his friendship with Maugham in Remembering Mr. Maugham (1966); Gordon (1896–1985), American actress, playwright, and screenwriter, was Kanin’s wife and collaborator, for example, on A Double Life (1947), Adam’s Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and The Marrying Kind (1952).
655 I.e., Balanchine.
656 Satori is the moment of illumination, like samadhi in Vedanta; koans, given by the Zen master, are sayings—typically fragmentary or puzzling—on which the disciple meditates in order to reach satori.
657 American actor and director (b. 1935), best known for directing Where Eagles Dare (1968).
658 Sean was the passenger in a friend’s small sports car. The back of his head was torn open, and he had to lie absolutely still so the wound would drain. The friend was not injured.
659 American film and T.V. director (b. 1926); he produced the 1968 film.
660 And from The Sound of Music.
661 In the preface to the final section “Stories”; see Glossary under Wintle.
662 American poet and art critic Frank O’Hara (1926–1966) died in a sand buggy accident on Fire Island; Joe LeSueur (192[4]–2001), aspiring playwright, screenwriter, and critic, originally from California, had been his companion since 1955.
663 “Silent Night” was first performed in the church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria, near Salzburg; the melody was composed by the church organist, Franz Gruber, for words by the priest, Joseph Mohr.
664 The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings (1963), edited by John D. Rosenberg.
665 Madeleine, or Et Nunc Manet in Te (And Now Dwells in Thee) was the title of Justin O’Brien’s 1952 English translation. So Be It, or The Chips Are Down, was O’Brien’s 1959 translation of Ainsi soit-il, ou les jeux sont faits (1952).
666 The Portable Nietzsche (1954), selected and translated by Walter Kaufmann.
667 Alban Berg’s 1922 opera.
668 Requiem Canticles for alto and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra; completed August 13 and performed at McCarter Theater in Princeton October 8. It was also performed at his own funeral.
669 Where he was continuing to recover from the car accident.
670 Buddhi is the discriminating, classifying intelligence; ahamkar or ahamkara, the sense of self or individuality, lays claim to impressions as personal knowledge.
671 I.e. Lufthansa as it is known now.
672 Himalayan location of the Advaita Ashrama of the Ramakrishna Order; usually spelled Mayavati.
673 End of typescript; Isherwood labelled the next one, “Sep 21 1966–Jan 30 1970.”
674 She was an aspiring actress and played bit parts in several films, including My Fair Lady.
675 Goose liver paté.
676 Several Austrian towns have this name, including one near Salzburg.
677 Horse pond, to wash and water the royal horses once stabled nearby.
678 Hostess.
679 “I’m only an American.” “Only!”
680 Fortress.
681 I.e., Frank Isherwood’s father, John Bradshaw Isherwood.
682 Belgium, northeast of Ypres.
683 Sir Graham Greene, Permanent Secretary of the Admiralty through most of the war, a favorite cousin of Kathleen’s on her mother’s side; his nephew, the writer Graham Greene, was named after him. Their Majesties were then King George V and Queen Mary.
684 Isherwood used all of these passages, with minor changes, in Kathleen and Frank, where they can be found by date.
685 A sixteenth-century tower built as a hunting lodge in the 1,400-acre medieval deer park around Lyme Hall.
686 The Mark Taper Forum.
687 Cabaret—book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb—opened November 20 at the Broadhurst Theater; British actress Jill Haworth (b. 1945) starred as Sally Bowles.
688 Eiger Direct (1966) by Haskell and Peter Gillman.
689 The Ascent of the Matterhorn (1880) by Edward Whymper.
690 At UCLA.
691 Not his real name.
692 Around 1948, at MGM, as Isherwood tells in Lost Years. Brooks (1912–1992) was a novelist, screenwriter, director, and producer; his other films include The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Elmer Gantry (1960), Sweet Bird of Youth (1964), and Lord Jim (1965).
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