The Leonard Bernstein Letters

by Leonard Bernstein

Bless you & be well.

  Love,

  L

  I adored Jamie's letter, especially the lentils.

  382. Felicia Bernstein to Leonard Bernstein

  [Santiago, Chile]

  “Tues. & Wed.” [August 1957]

  My own blessed wonderful darling,

  I refuse to write about “latas”45 so I'll skip the whole miserable bit and only tell you that we're on the mend. Jamie has been up for two days and is fine again and Rosalia got up today.

  Too incredible! Just got your cable this minute. I suppose there must have been something in the papers about this monstrous epidemic – thank God it wasn't anything worse, just la grippe but in spades. I now read in the paper that it has spread all over the world and that even you may get it – if there is a vaccine handy take it!

  I bless the day you couldn't come – I went to Klecky's [i.e. Paul Kletzki's] concert last week and oh Lennuhtt! What a shampepuhls … Granted a lot of the musicians were sick, but still! Klecky made “Un grand scandal” – stopped the orchestra in the middle of Beethoven's Fourth and screamed, ranted and then apologized to the audience and started again. We later had dinner at the house of a Canta Maya46 type lady with the upper echelons of Chilean music, Vincente Salas Via, Juan Orrego etc. and he let them have it! I wanted to crawl under the groaning böwewehd – it was ghastly and embarrassing, said he didn't want to finish out his contract etc, etc. But he's right – like everything else in this insane place it is a hit or miss affair (mostly miss), no musicianship or love of music, no discipline (since they can't be fired) and a devil take it attitude which is hardly conducive to good music. So, with a heavy heart I must say don't did it!

  That Catholic priest you made friends with in Washington called Father Woolen is here – we met this afternoon and a charming fellow he is. He adores you and talks about you with enormous respect and enthusiasm. He's been all over South America giving concerts of all sorts – organ recitals, chamber music, piano concertos with different orchestras. Madeleine is in charge of him here (part of her job) and is giving him a small dinner party tomorrow.

  Last night I had dinner at an old friend's very old rich family – ancient Milan type mausoleum house – much marble, Aubussons, great food, old retainers and in the midst of all this, a passion for jazz! He's an authority, has a fabulous collection of old and recent records among them your Omnibus which he says is the greatest thing to come into his life since the birth of his son – we listened to it in religious silence, eight of us, and it is really so wonderful. You can't imagine what hearing your voice did to me – so much of your personality and warmth comes through it and then the clarity of your mind and your articulateness. I was so proud of mine Lennuhtt!

  Alexander woke up in the middle of the night and carried on a long telephone conversation with you – he's managed to avoid the flu but has a cold and a cough and can't go out. Jamie is up and about and looks beautiful but is also coughing as is everybody else. Honestly what shit luck. We haven't been able to do a thing or go anywhere – oh well!

  I adore your letters and literally live from one to the next – please don't stop or I perish.

  Mï laü dü

  Tia

  Fely

  383. Leonard Bernstein to Felicia Bernstein

  [New York, NY]

  11 August 1957

  Dearest Fely,

  It's 4:00 a.m. & I've just finished another of those incredible nights (which begin in the early morning) – work & work & work. I'm so sleepless by now I'm punchy. And I'm beginning to miss you seriously. And I feel a little bit uncomfortable about you all in that place with no milk and the economy of post-war Germany, & medieval plagues rampant. And then – you POÖAH – the Valparaiso episode, which I just heard about, an accident, yet, and no trunks, & – God, what are you clothing yourselves with? What are you eating? What a ghastly way to have a restful summer! Why not just chuck it all, as soon as you're all well again, and come home? I'm sure the trunks will be here by Xmas. Why feel you must stick it out just by way of meeting a challenge, a whatever? You've had a good sound month of what sounds like sheer penance. Basta!

  Burtie and Ofra are weeking it up in Stony Point, & Shirley weekends with them and still knows nothing! Incredible. We had our run-through for People yesterday, & it was a smash. But I'm worried: there is so much that doesn't work – for me – & I'm sure for [Walter] Kerr & others. But there's a great show there. Darling, think seriously about coming home. I love you & miss you.

  L

  384. Burton Bernstein to Felicia Bernstein

  [early August 1957]

  Dearest Feloo,

  By far, your last letter was the grimmest single document I've perused since the publication of the famous Abe Miller letters.47 Even the Abe Miller letters failed in many respects to equal the bathos and pain – nay, the utter desperation – of yours. Needless to say, you have my pity, sympathy and concern; in fact you have everyone's. Now, obviously, all that's left to do is come home, and quickly – even if your trunks haven't arrived in Valparaiso yet. Sergeant, you have done your duty – now get the hell out of there … and come back to New York in time for the annual Influenza Festival which is about to begin here any day now. (Chuck [Solomon] claims to have a new vaccine ready in three weeks time.) Really, do what Lennuhtt says and come home. The Chile country is “basheert” by you – I've never heard such a tale of woe. I hope everyone is better by now. Has Alejito gotten it yet?

  The news from here is, to say the least, markedly better than your dispatches. Firstnik, West Side Story is going to be a large hit and lives up to our highest expectations. Steve even went as far as to say, “It's so good even Felicia will like it.” The run-through I saw was before an ideal audience of theatre folk, so one shouldn't really gauge it by audience reaction – but still, it was quite exciting. The strange thing (something I've never experienced before) is that B. Lennuhtt comes off as second best: the show actually is a monster ballet (a jot repetitious in spots) where no one is actually directed but choreographed instead. It's too much of a good thing, if you know what I mean (you know what I mean?). There's so much balletics going on on stage that the music is shunted into second place by the sheer physical force of arms, legs and torsos. But on the whole (and you know how I hate to say this about a run-through from past experience) the show is in frighteningly good condition and looks like a sure thing. I hope that by the time I see it with sets and costumes and everything in Washington next week Jerry will have been convinced that there's too much ballet for the show's own good – or am I being naïve? Anyway, there's very little to fix outside of Lennuhtt's nose … So come home already.

  […]

  The New Yorker's still fun and I got a raise, or did I write you that already? I've really been accepted there as a permanent fixture; the senior editors talk to me in terms of five or ten years from now. Good luck.

  I've been doing a lot of flying and I'm well on my way towards getting my private license back. Just a question of time.

  So come home. Get well. Abrazos for all.

  Mu lau du,

  BB

  385. Felicia Bernstein to Leonard Bernstein

  [Santiago, Chile]

  “Monday” [12 August 1957]

  My darling,

  Tomorrow you're in Washington – with my meager and distorted sense of our capital I see you all rehearsing in a gleaming white Grecian temple with marble steps to spare just across the street from the White House – what I'd give to be there with you, misery and all! After all somebody has to cart in the sandwiches or would I be homing in on weepy Sylvia's domain? By the time this reaches you the sets will be up – with the accompanying gestures. Oliver [Smith] and Jerry [Robbins] won't be speaking. Irene [Sharaff] will arrive (avec la petite Japonaise) and you will keep calling her Gloria. The dancers will find they can't move in their costumes etc. etc. – from way down here it sounds like sheer heaven. But you must be so tired! Who's helping with the orchestration – and wh
y do you always have to do everything yourself? Are you living on dexamils48 – what else?!

  Tony's new song sounds delicious – but can he sing it? I thought you were going to change the name – have you made any cast changes? Someone sent me the pictures of the Sunday Times – it all looks so exciting! Oh Lennuhtt – maybe maybe – I don't dare hope. What theatre, what hotel – nobody tells me these things!

  Jamie calls me Tia Fely – what can you do? She is going to an English kindergarten […] in the mornings. She has an incredible capacity for enjoying herself – at least one member of this safari is having a whale of a good time! As for “muh” I am bored senseless – my friends are all sick in bed, it's been raining and cold, no activities are possible and I ain't got nothing to read! Faut[e] de mieux I'm reading Mario the Magician and Death in Venice. I miss the New Yorker – I read Time mag. avidly from cover to cover, even the financial section!

  Your Father Woolen turned out to be a pest – plus there's something about a priest who is so unpriestlike which is rather off-putting.

  Had a rather Mexican-type afternoon – a dear old maid of ours who lives with Mamita was like everyone else sick with the flu but it developed into pneumonia and there wasn't a hospital bed to be had or an ambulance free in all the city! We finally got a hospital to put in an extra cot in a large room and waited till 10 p.m. for the ambulance – she could have died and there was nothing one could do.

  I was asked to give an informal talk on theatre and TV at the Catholic University but it had to be postponed because there were no pupils. I also went to a rehearsal of the Teatro Experimental and the same thing – no director, no leading lady, no nothing! Most frustrating as you can imagine – but, c'est la vie! God, I hope it is nice and warm in Israel (they've had the “Japan 305” there already). I will lie on the beach with […] [Zvi] Haftel and live it up! I hear Sam isn't going – do I hear sighs of relief?

  I've just taken my first sleepenküdü and I'm beginning to feel a deliciousness – I know that from now on there'll hardly be time for you to brush a tooth but please, please let me know how it goes.

  Everyone is thinking of you.

  P.S. I love you I love you I love you pshh, pshh, pshh.

  386. Leonard Bernstein to Felicia Bernstein

  Jefferson Hotel, Washington, D.C.

  15 August 1957

  Dear Beauty,

  Well, look-a me. Back to the nation's capital, & right on the verge. This is Thurs. We open Mon. Everyone's coming, my dear, even [Richard] Nixon and 95 admirals.49 Senators abounding, & big Washington-hostessy type party afterwards in Lennuhtt's honor. See what you miss by going away. Then next Sunday, which is my birthday, there is the Jewish version – a big party for me, but admission is one Israel bond. All helps the show. We have a 75 thou. advance, & the town is buzzing. Not bad. I have high hopes. I also have a new pen, as you can see, which I adore, because it writes every time, & without a ball-point.

  If I sound punchy it's because I am.

  Up all night trying to put together an overture of sorts, to carry us through until I do a real good prelude. Orchestra reading all day yesterday – a thrill. We have surprisingly good men, who can really play this terribly difficult stuff (except one or two of them) – the orchestrations have turned out brilliant. I tell you, this show may yet be worth all the agony. As you can see, I'm excited as hell – oh so different from Candide.

  Now – how about my plan that you all come home?

  Lou Silverstein is getting us (cast, authors, orchestra) all Asian-flu shots – black market, of course – so we won't conk out. I don't know what we do in this show for understudies (we have them – but …) or for substitutes in the orchestra. If the guitarist gets sick, it takes a week for another to learn the part. Same for all the winds. It's a tough show.

  What else is new? The show the show the show …

  I want to see my three Kats!!

  Love, Daddy

  387. Carol Lawrence50 to Leonard Bernstein

  Washington, D.C.

  19 August 1957

  [Telegram]

  I'm so lucky to be me, to have the privilege of singing your music and to know you. I shall always be a most ardent fan. I thank you for letting me be Maria.

  Love,

  Carol

  388. Felicia Bernstein to Leonard Bernstein

  [Santiago, Chile]

  “Tues.” [20 August 1957]

  Sweetness!

  Oh joy oh bliss oh rapture. Your cable with the frabgeous news has just arrived – thank you! I'd been desperate for some word all day long. Congratulations to one and all – how happy, how marvelously happy you must be.51 As for me I'm busting with pride and frustration – of all the moments to miss sharing! Last night I spent the evening looking at my watch and imagining the proceedings – Oh God! How exciting it must have been! Were you very nervous – did you sit through it or pace? Did anyone go to Washington to hold your hand? Is there still a great deal to be done apart from an Overture? Did you get my wire? I was miserable cause I didn't have your address or name of the theatre but your letter arrived in the nick.

  Why haven't we left? I sure had a good excuse. Jane Broder cabled about a Studio One,52 rehearsals beginning this week and CBS called me on the telephone no less! But though sorely tempted I just couldn't do it to Chita – she looked so crushed and depressed. I simply had to wait for the sick to get well, the sun to come out and give everyone the chance to show us a good time – the epidemic was such a blow to them all and they felt so guilty and miserable. You will understand I know. Anyway things are better. I spent the day in the country which I'd been pining to do since I arrived. It was more beautiful even than I remembered – a glorious jewel of a day, trees blossoming in profusion, lambs grazing, a soft smell of eucalyptus in the air and for the first time I wished desperately that you could see it, because that is Chile – the earth, the smells, the snow-covered mountains, the country bread baked in outdoor ovens – all this I will yearn for always just as I don't care if I ever see Santiago again.

  Even the orchestra managed to sound like something – the last concert was quite good. Firebird, no less, and a [Goffredo] Petrassi piece which I rather liked. Klecki [Kletzki] is good but that's about all I can say for him – pas très grande chose.

  Then there are the parties being given and planned and we hope to get to do some skiing this weekend with the children. Their noses have stopped running and they're blooming once more. Alexander is so beautiful and naughty and funny I could eat him! Jamie has become so Chilean it's disconcerting – her Spanish is incredible, full of imagineses de repentes and Por Dioses! They are both really frightfully clever – the Alessandris think Jamie is a genius – God forbid!

  Darling, I hope this reaches you for your “Jewish” birthday and that it is a delicious one. I will get you a great present (I wonder where?). In the nonce my boundless love will have to do – and many many kisses of all sorts. I do so long for you.

  Tia,

  F.

  389. Leonard Bernstein to Felicia Bernstein

  Jefferson Hotel, Washington, D.C.

  23 August 1957

  Darling,

  It's all too exciting. I never dreamed it could be like this – reviews such as one would write for oneself – the whole town up and doing about the show – the delicious long lines at the box office – morale high – dignitaries every night – the Senate practically in toto – parties – hot newspapers – all the atmosphere of a mid-season opening – gala-emeralds, furs – the works. Only thing missing – you. How I longed to have you there & share the excitement! Of course, as they say, it's only Washington, not New York – don't count chickens. But it sure looks like a smash, & all our experiments seem to have worked. The book works, the tragedy works, the ballets shine, the music pulses & soars, & there is at least one history-making set. It's all too good to be true.

  I've just got lunched at the White House – no más. Invited by Sherman Adams53 & the whole gang. Aga
in – you should have been there! What a beautiful place – such credenzas, such breakfronts. I really felt “in”. Adams & Rabb & Gen. Snyder – all were talking of nothing but West Side Story – I think the whole government is based on it. Jim Hagerty (Ike's press secretary) turns out to be a fan of mine! It's all so crazy and unexpected. Even Adams turns out to be an amateur musician.

  Now listen! When are you coming home? I have a constant feeling you're about to turn up any minute – but look, the time is drawing near. Only 10 days to Labor Day and the summer's over. What I hope is that you'll be back for the Philly opening (Monday the 9th) which is our anniversary, for Chrissake – or even for Jamie's birthday on Sunday. Please try to manage it, huh? Why stick around that plag[u]ey place, bored as you are, after Labor Day? Let me know right away when you plan to return, and darling, hurry home. I can't stand not seeing the children, and I need my girl!

  I love you,

  L

  I'm 39 in 2 days!!

  390. Cole Porter54 to Leonard Bernstein

  Los Angeles, CA

  23 August 1957

  [Telegram]

  Dear Lenny,

  I hear glowing reports about your new show.55 All my congratulations to you and Jerry.

  Best,

  Cole Porter

  391. Felicia Bernstein to Leonard Bernstein

  [Santiago, Chile]

  “Montag” [Sunday, 25 August and Monday, 26 August 1957]

  Dearest Lennuhtt,

  And today is the Baroness' birthday and I'm not yet there yet! Like the idiot, fool, ridiculous ass that I am I made a special trip at 2 a.m. to send you a cable, address it to the theatre so you'd be sure to get it – forgetting completely that it is Sunday and probably the only day off you've all had for months!

  Anyway, it is sure to be a happy birthday – such reviews! My God! I carry them around with me to read over again in my free moments. How has Arthur taken it all – one of the reviews gave the book to Jerry – oh my! I hear from B[urton] B[ernstein] that there's little to fix apart from your nose.

  Next day – why does one ever telephone – such a frustrating five minutes! What do you mean Flora Robson?