Christopher Isherwood Diaries Volume 1

by Christopher Isherwood

  209 Proprietor of a chain of ice cream parlors in Los Angeles.

  210 A mountain on Oahu.

  211 His dachshund.

  212 A slight misquotation from Wordsworth, “Immortality” Ode, 1. 161.

  213 His agent.

  214 “Sincere Sympathy.”

  215 At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  216 The model for Ronny.

  217 English novelist and playwright.

  218 The technique of understatement that Isherwood admired in Forster’s work; see Glossary under Forster.

  219 In Three Sisters.

  220 In The Seagull.

  221 James Leo Herlihy, novelist and playwright.

  222 The English actress who married Laurence Olivier in 1961.

  223 Warner Brothers, where Masselink was working on The Crackerjack Marines.

  224 Starring Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand.

  225 Tony Richardson’s production of Shelagh Delaney’s play, at the Biltmore; later headed for New York.

  226 Isherwood thought Robards dreary; Albert Finney played Luther in London and New York.

  227 Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, her husband.

  228 By Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Edward Albee, and Tennessee Williams respectively.

  229 Auden and Isherwood’s The Dog Beneath the Skin.

  230 Current temporary title for Down There on a Visit.

  231 Studio executive at Columbia; formerly a literary journalist and RKO story editor and, later, a lecturer and writer on Hollywood.

  232 Houseman was then artistic director for the Professional Theater Group of the UCLA Adult Education Extension. He later produced a film of This Property Is Condemned (1966).

  233 Playwright and screenwriter, often with his twin brother Philip.

  Textual Note

  In editing these diaries, I have used American style throughout because this was the style that Isherwood himself gradually began to adopt as soon as he arrived in America. English spellings largely disappeared from his diaries by the end of his first decade in California, and I have altered anomalies in accordance with this general trend. However, I have retained idiosyncrasies of phrasing, even some which are notably English, so that Isherwood’s characteristic voice might resound in his work. A few English idioms which might read as typos to Americans are altered using square brackets. Otherwise, square brackets are generally reserved for information that I have added to the text, such as surnames or parts of titles abbreviated by Isherwood and for alterations and deletions made to preserve the privacy of individuals still living. In the remarkably small number of instances where Isherwood made what appear to be errors or omissions, I have made minor corrections for the sake of clarity. I have also spelled out a great many names and other abbreviations which I believe he himself would have spelled out for publication. Only occasionally have I marked a correction with square brackets or a footnote, and these instances should explain themselves. In the 1939–1944 diaries, and in the 1945–1949 outline, a slight indent marks material Isherwood wrote and added later than the dates of the diary entries themselves.

  Readers will find supplemental information provided in several ways. Footnotes explain passing historical references, identify people who appear only once or possibly twice in the diaries, offer translations of foreign passages, gloss slang, explain allusions to Isherwood’s or other people’s work in progress, give references to books of significant interest to Isherwood, occasionally provide information essential for making sense of jokes or witticisms, and so forth. For people, events, terms, organizations and other things which appear more than once or twice, or which were of long-term importance to Isherwood, and for explanations too long to fit conveniently into a footnote, I have provided a glossary at the end of this volume. The glossary gives general biographical information about many of Isherwood’s friends and acquaintances and also offers details of particular relevance to Isherwood and to what he recorded in his diaries. A few very famous people—Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin—do not appear in the glossary because although Isherwood knew them quite well, he knew them essentially in their capacity as celebrities. There are any number of other famous or highly accomplished people whom he knew as intimate friends, and readers who already know, for example, Igor Stravinsky’s work or Aldous Huxley’s, may find some quite familiar material in the relevant glossary entries, but they also will probably find some lesser known facts and observations which pertain to or explain particular passages in the diaries and whose importance will become clear at different points in Isherwood’s text. (The direction “see Glossary,” which sometimes appears in a footnote, occurs only if the footnote itself gives enough information to prevent readers from recognizing that there is still more information at the back of the book. Readers who do not find what they want to know in a footnote must generally seek out the glossary on their own.) Isherwood has audiences of widely varied ages, interests and backgrounds all over the world, and ideally his diaries should be equally accessible to every one of them, including those who may now be reading his work for the first time. Wherever Isherwood himself fully explains in the text the appearance of a new friend, acquaintance or colleague, I have not included such a person in the glossary unless he or she reappears sufficiently further on in time that readers may then wish to be reminded who the person is. In such cases, some of the material in the glossary is in fact derived from Isherwood’s text and serves as a kind of cross-reference to it. Since Isherwood himself revised and polished the first part of these diaries, 1939–1944, and even added passages of explanatory narrative to his diary entries, there are a number of significant personalities from these early years who are not included in the glossary because Isherwood introduced them adequately himself. In the later parts of the book it is more usual for people to appear unannounced, as it were, and readers may wish to refer more frequently to both footnotes and glossary. A few names have been changed, again to preserve the privacy of the living, and these are indicated either in the glossary or in a footnote.

  All the Hindu terms mentioned in the text are explained in the glossary in accordance with the way these terms are understood and used in Vedanta. Readers will also find in the glossary brief explanations of a few international political events to which Isherwood refers. The events of World War II, though, are generally not included in the glossary partly because they are more widely familiar and partly because it would have been practically impossible to do this. Instead, many of the main events of the war—particularly those Isherwood wrote about in his fiction as well as in his diaries—are mentioned in the chronology, which appears just before the glossary at the back of the book. The chronology gives a skeleton outline of Isherwood’s whole life, but concentrates especially on the years leading up to and described in his diaries for 1939–1960.

  The material in this book was written over a period of more than twenty years, and naturally Isherwood’s life, interests and friends changed a great deal during this time. Many readers will probably notice and enjoy the changing texture and discontinuities of the diaries; apart from settling on American style, I have done little to minimize these characteristics. I have aimed to enable readers to approach the text on its own terms by supplying them with information readily in the minds of Isherwood or his friends at the time that Isherwood was writing the diary entries. In any book of this size there are many details which do not fit systematically into even the most flexible of structures, but I hope that my arrangement of the supplemental materials will be consistent enough that readers can find help when they want or require it.

  Glossary

  Ackerley, J. R. (1896–1967). English author and editor. As well as drama and poetry, Ackerley wrote several autobiographical works, and he is well-known for his intimate relationship with his dog, described in two of them. He was literary editor of The Listener from 1935 to 1959, and published work by some of the best and most important writers of his period; Isherwood contributed numerous reviews d
uring the thirties. Their friendship was sustained in later years partly by their shared intimacy with E. M. Forster.

  AFSC. American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker relief organization Isherwood worked for during the early 1940s.

  AJC Ranch. Carter Lodge, John van Druten, and the British actress and director Auriol Lee, who had directed several of van Druten’s plays, bought the ranch together in the early 1940s. They called it “AJC” for Auriol, John, Carter. Lee died in a car accident not long afterwards. Van Druten also owned a forest cabin nearby, in the mountains above Idyllwild. Isherwood sometimes used it, and he also stayed in another cabin nearby, with Vernon Old in 1941.

  Akhilananda, Swami. Hindu monk. Head of the Vedanta Center in Providence, Rhode Island, for many years.

  Aldous. See Huxley, Aldous.

  Alec. See Beesley, Alec.

  Allais, David. A monk at Trabuco during the mid-1950s. Later he left, married, and joined an engineering firm.

  Allan. See Hunter, Allan.

  Allgood, Sara (1883–1950). Irish actress. At the Abbey Theatre, Allgood created the parts of “Juno Boyle” in Juno and the Paycock and of “Bessie Burgess” in The Plough and the Stars, both by Sean O’Casey. Isherwood evidently saw the first London run of Juno and the Paycock between November 1925 and May 1926 and was greatly impressed by its melodrama. The “Sacred Heart of Jesus” speech (in act 3, near the final curtain) laments the death of Juno’s son, Johnny, swelling to its climax with these lines:

  What was the pain I suffered, Johnny, bringin’ you into the world to carry you to your cradle to the pains I’ll suffer carryin’ you out o’ the world to bring you to your grave! Mother o’ God, Mother o’ God, have pity on us all! Blessed Virgin, where were you when me darlin’ son was riddled with bullets? Sacred Heart o’ Jesus, take away our hearts o’ stone, and give us hearts o’ flesh! Take away this murdherin’ hate, an’ give us Thine own eternal love!

  Allgood repeated the role of “Juno” for Hitchock’s 1930 film, and later settled in Hollywood.

  Amiya. Ella Corbin was hired by Swami Prabhavananda and Sister Lalita as housekeeper at Ivar Avenue when she was newly arrived in Hollywood from England in the early 1930s. By the time Isherwood met her at the end of the decade, she had received her Sanskrit name “Amiya” from Swami and become a nun. She became a particular friend of Isherwood’s when he lived at the Vedanta Center during the 1940s, partly because they both were English. Amiya’s first marriage had failed before she arrived in Hollywood. In the early 1950s she met George Montagu, ninth Earl of Sandwich (then well into his sixties), when he visited the Vedanta Center, and a few weeks later Swami gave them permission to marry. So Amiya returned to England to become the Countess of Sandwich. She became close to Isherwood’s mother and his brother Richard, bringing news of them when she returned to visit the Vedanta Center.

  Ananta Chaitanya. See Schenkel, John.

  Andrews, Betty and Oliver. American actress Betty Harford and her husband, a promising California sculptor on the art faculty at UCLA. She acted for John Houseman in numerous stage productions and made a few movies, including Inside Daisy Clover. Betty was a close friend of Iris Tree; Oliver knew Alan Watts well and travelled with Watts to Japan. Oliver died suddenly of a heart attack during the 1970s, while still in his forties. Their son, Christopher, born in the 1950s, was named after Isherwood.

  Andrews, John. English ballet dancer. Isherwood met Johnny Andrews in February 1937 during rehearsals for The Ascent of F6 at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill. The Ballet Rambert, in which Andrews served as assistant stage manager as well as being a dancer, rehearsed in the basement while the Group Theatre used the stage. The two traveled to Paris together one weekend and took a trip with W. H. Auden to Threlkeld in March 1937. Auden mentions Andrews in “Last Will and Testament” in Letters from Iceland, and Isherwood describes the friendship in Christopher and His Kind, though he does not name Andrews.

  Ananda Bhavan. See Sarada Convent.

  Anhalt, Edward (Eddie) (b. 1914). American screenwriter. Anhalt wrote war, crime, and spy thrillers but also adapted Beckett (1964), The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), and many others. He began writing with his first wife, Edna Anhalt, during the 1950s and later worked successfully by himself. His second wife, whom he married later in the 1950s, was called Jackie George. In 1958, Selznick hired Anhalt to work on Mary Magdalene, replacing Isherwood, but the film was never made.

  Archera, Laura. See Huxley, Laura Archera.

  Arup, also Arup Chaitanya. See Critchfield, Kenneth.

  Aseshananda, Swami. Hindu monk. Assistant minister during the early 1950s in the Vedanta Society of Southern California, helping Swami Prabhavananda both at the Hollywood center and at Trabuco; in about 1955 he became head of the Vedanta Society at Portland, Oregon.

  Ashokananda, Swami. Hindu monk, from India. Head of the Vedanta Center in San Francisco, where Isherwood visited for a few days in 1943.

  Asit. See Ghosh, Asit.

  Atman. The divine nature within man; the immanent, indwelling God; the self or soul, which, in Vedanta, are at once the Supreme Soul and the individual soul. The Atman can be known through the self, and faith in the Atman must be achieved through direct self-knowledge, not through faith.

  Auden, W. H. (Wystan) (1907–1973). English poet, playwright, librettist. Arguably the greatest English poet of the century; his technical virtuosity and formal range are unrivalled, and his output, including a large body of critical prose, is enormous and uniformly brilliant. Auden’s mastery of the English and European literary and cultural traditions is evident throughout his writing, yet his work is original and contemporary, making him an ideal librettist for Stravinsky, for whom, with Chester Kallman, Auden wrote The Rake’s Progress. The pair also produced two librettos for Hans Werner Henze, and Auden, alone, also worked with Benjamin Britten. Auden and Isherwood met as schoolboys towards the end of Isherwood’s time at St. Edmund’s School, Hindhead, Surrey, where Auden, two and a half years younger than Isherwood, arrived in the autumn of 1915. Auden finished his education at Gresham’s School, Holt, and Christ Church, Oxford. He and Isherwood met again in 1925. They wrote three plays together—The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935), The Ascent of F6 (1936), On the Frontier (1938)—and an unconventional travel book about their trip to China during the Sino-Japanese war—Journey to a War (1939). A fourth play—The Enemies of a Bishop (1929)—was published posthumously. As well as several stints of schoolmastering, Auden worked for John Grierson’s Film Unit, funded by the General Post Office, for about six months during 1935, mostly writing poetry to be used as sound track. Auden and Isherwood went abroad separately and together during the 1930s, most famously to Berlin (where Auden arrived first, on his own, in 1928), and finally emigrated together to the United States in 1939. After only a few months, their lives and interests diverged (Auden settled in New York where he became a U.S. citizen in 1946, while Isherwood went on to California), but they remained close friends until Auden’s death. Auden is caricatured as “Hugh Weston” in Lions and Shadows and figures centrally in Christopher and His Kind. Their influence upon one another during the first half of their careers is incalculable.

  Aufderheide, Charles. Younger lover of Albert Grossman. The pair shared a series of rented houses with Sam and Isadore From in Los Angeles. Aufderheide worked at the Technicolor laboratories in Hollywood. After twenty years, Grossman, who was wealthy, met an even younger man and the relationship ended in the early 1970s. Aufderheide then moved to San Francisco.

  Austen, Howard (Tinker). Companion to Gore Vidal from 1950 onward. Austen worked in advertising for a time, and studied singing. He has devoted much of his life to Vidal, managing Vidal’s business and social life.

  Avadhuta. Wandering monk. The story “Avadhuta Had Twenty-four Teachers” appears in the Indian devotional text the Bhagavatam Purana, adapted and translated into English by Swami Prabhavananda as The Wisdom of God (see chapter 3). Avadhuta’s twenty-four teachers include the likes of ea
rth, air, ether, water, fire, moon, sun, pigeon, python, the courtesan, the child, the maiden, the arrow-maker and many more animals; each by its nature has taught him a lesson of spiritual wisdom, described in the story, and the lessons have helped him to overcome the gunas and become free from attachments.

  Ayrton, Michael (1921–1975). British artist and writer. Ayrton worked as a sculptor, painter, stage designer and book illustrator, wrote fiction and art criticism, and made films. He drew Isherwood on a commission from Methuen in 1956, but the result was not satisfactory.

  Bachardy, Don (b. 1934). American painter; Isherwood’s companion from 1953 onwards. Bachardy accompanied his elder brother, Ted Bachardy, on the beach in Santa Monica from the late 1940s, and Isherwood occasionally saw him there. Ted, with other friends, first introduced them in November 1952. They met again in early February 1953 and, on February 14, began an affair which quickly became serious. Bachardy was then an eighteen-year-old college student living at home with his brother and his mother. His parents were divorced. He had studied languages for one semester at UCLA, then transferred at the start of 1953 to Los Angeles City College in Hollywood, near his mother’s apartment. At first he studied French and Spanish but dropped French for German as a result of Isherwood’s influence. He had worked as a grocery boy at a local market, and, like Isherwood in youth, spent most of his free time at the movies. In February 1955, Bachardy went back to UCLA to begin his junior year, and almost immediately changed his major from Languages to Theater Arts. Then in July 1956, he enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute, supplemented his instruction there by taking classes with Vernon Old, and within a few years got his first work as a professional artist, drawing fashion illustrations for a local department store. During this period he began to do portraits of Isherwood, close friends, and favorite film stars, and began to sell his own work. He drew a set of Hollywood personalities to accompany an article in the Paris Review in 1960, but his first major commission as a portrait artist came from Tony Richardson, who asked him to draw each of the cast members in his 1960 stage production of A Taste of Honey. During 1959 and 1960, Bachardy worked a few days a week in a studio in West Hollywood loaned to him by Paul Millard. In 1961 he attended the Slade School of Art in London; this led to his first individual shows, in London in 1961 and in New York in 1962. Since then he has done countless portraits, both of the famous and the little-known, shown his work in a number of cities, and published his drawings in several books including October (1983) with Isherwood, and Last Drawings of Christopher Isherwood (1990). Together, Isherwood and Bachardy wrote the script for the TV film Frankenstein: The True Story (1973).