Christopher Isherwood Diaries Volume 1

by Christopher Isherwood

  For help with individual queries relating to their particular areas of interest, knowledge or expertise, I would like to thank Monique Beudert; The Viscount Boyd; David Bradshaw; Helen Brunner-Spira; Elizabeth Carmichael, Curator of the Latin American Collection at the Museum of Mankind; Colin Clark; John V. Cody; Alison Falby; Flora Fraser; Philip Hurst; Dr. Abbas Kelidas; Mr. Roger Marwood; Harold E. Masback III; Ian Patterson; Emeritus Professor John Postgate FRS; Andreas Reyneke; Dr. Jonathan E. Rhoads; Ian Rod; James Taylor of the Imperial War Museum; Margaret Bradham Thornton; and Joan Weeks, Public Affairs Specialist at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Sally Brown, Curator of Modern Literary Manuscripts at the British Library, gave me special assistance with Isherwood’s manuscripts and typescripts, and also at the British Library many members of the Reading Room staff repeatedly furthered my research.

  Some friends can always be relied on for help, and I am once again grateful to John Fuller, Nicholas Jenkins, Richard Davenport-Hines, and, in particular, Christopher Phipps for tracking down information for me. I am especially grateful to Edward Mendelson for engaging in so many discussions with me and also for reading several parts of this book in typescript and offering his usual demanding observations. Peter Parker, Isherwood’s biographer, has been generous and forbearing, not only in the tact with which he has awaited the completion of this volume but also in the tact with which he has commented on nearly everything I have done in it with Isherwood’s text; he has also shared his chronology with me. Christopher Potter has also worked particularly hard to make a contribution to this book. A number of friends and acquaintances gave valuable time translating and identifying texts: Francis Lamport, David Luke, Axel Neubohn, and above all Thomas Braun of Merton College, Oxford.

  Somehow or other, various members of my own family knew things I have never known, and they have at last shared them with me so that I could use them in this book. I would like to thank Lucy Bucknell, Dr. Edward Carter, Louise Carter, George E. B. Maguire, J. Robert Maguire, Dr. Pauline T. Maguire, and Dr. Frank Reilly. I would also like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, my husband, J. Robert Maguire, Jr., my children Bobby and Lucy Maguire, and Sally Whitaker and Alison Lovegrove.

  I have had very strong support throughout this project from Caroline Dawnay, and I would like to thank a number of hardworking editors who became more and more involved in this book as it neared completion, Mary Chamberlain, Michael Earley, and Douglas Matthews. I would also like to thank Helena Beynon, Harvey Starte, Jim Fox, Michael di Capua, and above all, Geoffrey Strachan, who seems to have understood and cared deeply about every nuance in this volume and many nuances that are not in it.

  Index

  The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

  NOTE: Works by Isherwood appear directly under title; works by others appear under authors’ names.

  Abel, Mrs. (Haverford refugee), 210–11, 215

  Abell, David, 816

  Acheson, Edna, 168–9

  Ackerley, Joe Randolph, 391, 583

  Acosta, Mercedes de, 68

  Actors’ Studio, 613, 768n

  Adams, Dick, 793

  Adelaide Drive, Hollywood, xlv, 827, 829

  Adler, Buddy, 657

  Adler (Haverford refugee), 227

  Adler, Polly, 881

  Adrian, Gilbert, 688–9, 765–6

  Adventure in Baltimore (film, originally Judgement Day in Pittsburgh), xxiv, 384, 391

  Affair to Remember, An (film), 732

  “Afterwards” (C.I.; story), xlv, 816, 820–2, 827, 830–1, 835, 858

  Agar, John, 384

  Agate, James: A Shorter Ego, 574, 576

  Agee, James, 450

  Ahmed, Jalal, 700

  AJC Ranch, 492, 685–6, 699

  Akhilananda, Swami, 298, 708

  Albee, Edward: The Sandbox, 899

  Aldeburgh Festival (1948), 387, 393, 406

  Alderson, Nik, 129

  Alderson, Wroe, 186–7, 204, 208, 216

  Alessandria (Italy), 555–7

  Alexander, King of Yugoslavia, 36

  Alguadiche, Madame (Haverford refugee), 210–11

  Ali Khan, 564

  All the Conspirators (C.I.), xxxiii, 689, 691, 701, 762–3, 811

  Allais, David, 496

  Allen, Mrs. (Hollywood landlady), 148

  Allen, Gracie, 727, 731

  Allen, John Edward, 405

  Allen, Rita, 530

  Allen, Steve, 844, 894

  Alvensleben, Werner von, 7

  Amann, Dorothy, 189, 208

  Amann, Eva, 189, 208

  Amann, Paul, 189, 200, 207, 227

  Amann, Peter, 189, 200, 207, 225, 227

  “Ambrose” (C.I.; section of Down There on a Visit), xlv–xlvi, 811–12, 814–16, 822, 825–6, 827, 830–1, 834–6, 836, 840, 845–9, 852–3

  American Friends Service Committee, 140, 157, 160–2, 164–5, 171, 184, 206, 221, 224

  American Red Cross, 106

  Ames, Bill, 553

  Amis, Kingsley: Lucky Jim, 586; That Uncertain Feeling, 578, 586

  Amiya (Ella Corbin; later Countess of Sandwich): works with Prabhavananda, 150, 257, 268, 270, 315; on learning submission, 290; at Peggy’s, 292; and blue jay, 296; relations with C.I., 302, 371–2; Madhabi opposes, 306, 314; looks after Bok boys, 322; Christmas preparations, 330; C.I. treats for birthday, 333; and John Latham’s death, 338–40; neglects worship, 357; and Vernon Old, 360, 371–2, 378; Sudhira gossips to, 362; hurts leg, 367; on Mrs Kellog, 373; and Sister’s death, 412; C.I. meets in London, 566, 594–5, 607; and C.I.’s mother, 570, 860, 865; C.I. discusses with Heard, 612; fails to write to C.I., 623; reports C.I.’s jaundice to C.I.’s Mother, 629; drunkenness in California, 782–4; at cinema with C.I., 783; C.I. gives party for, 785–6; egomania, 787; writes from Wyberslegh, 870

  Amsterdam, 91

  Ananda Bhavan (house), Ladera Lane, Montecito, 359, 363, 367, 369–74, 466

  Ananta see Shenkel, John

  Anastasia (film), 623

  Anatomy of a Murder (film), 731

  Andelson, Sheldon, 683

  Anderson, Judith, 805

  Anderson, Maxwell, 4

  Andrea Doria (ship), 539, 544, 634

  Andrews, Betty, 599, 666, 739, 873–4

  Andrews, Christopher, 739

  Andrews, John, 400, 562

  Andrews, Marinette, 816, 818, 820–1

  Andrews, Oliver, 599, 698, 744, 873

  Andrews, Robert Hardy, 533

  Andy Hardy Comes Home (film), 783

  Angeli, Pier, 478

  Angelo see Ravagli, Angelino

  Angelo, Waldo, 417

  Angelus Silesius (Johann Scheffler), 302

  Anhalt, Edward, 706, 782

  Anhalt, Jackie George, 706

  Anne Frank (film), 873

  Anouilh, Jean: The Lark, 537, 650–1

  Anstee, Paul, 563

  Aparna, 291, 293

  Appelbaum, Gertrude, 882

  Approach to Vedanta, An (C.I.; earlier Approach to Ramakrishna); 771

  Archer, Mr. and Mrs. John, 505

  Arensberg, Walter, 390

  Argo, Leif, 417

  Arlen, Michael, 792n

  Armendariz, Pedro, 408, 485, 487, 499

  Arnold, Benedict, 819

  Arnold, Edward, 134

  Arnold, Edwin: The Light of Asia, 287

  Arnold, George, 47

  Arup see Critchfield, Kenneth

  Arvin, Newton, 386, 392

  Ascent of F6, The (C.I. play; with Auden), 13, 308

  Asheshananda, Swami, 446, 496

  Ashokananda, Swami, 240, 323–4, 326–7, 447, 765

  Asit (Prabhavananda’s nephew) see Ghosh, Asit

  Astaire, Adele, 111

  Athenia (ship), 65

  Atman, 127

  Auden, Wystan Hugh: in New York, xxvi, xx
xv, 9–13, 99, 441, 469, 537, 595–6; agrees to write lyrics for C.I.’s Berlin musical, xlv, 803, 809–12, 814; in C.I. dream, xlvii, 841; emigrates to USA with C.I., 3–4; view of C.I., 3; Anglo-Catholicism, 6; pacifism, 6–7; finances, 9; and Vernon Old, 9, 12; considers return to England in war, 10, 115–16; takes drugs, 10; supports war, 16; visits to California, 43, 115–16; and Homer Lane, 48; Nicolson attacks for staying in USA, 55; Viertel and, 66; on wartime hatred, 82; and Rodakiewicz, 89; remains in USA during war, 99, 101, 116, 365, 369; disavows pacifism, 115–16; suspicion of Heard’s ideas, 116; smoking, 151; C.I. visits (1941), 180; stays with Caroline Newton, 181, 229, 231; recommends A Winter’s Tale, 204; poetry reading, 229; broadcast, 304; C.I. visits on Fire Island (1947), 386, 391–2; in Paris, 393, 400, 402, 562; appearance, 402, 537; house in Italy, 407, 547; C.I. considers living with, 439; friendship with C.I., 442; in China with C.I., 489; C.I. spends 1954 Christmas with, 793; character, 815; and Rake’s Progress libretto, 850; dieting, 865; moles removed, 865; The Ascent of F6 (with C.I.), 13, 308; The Dog Beneath the Skin (with C.I.), 900; “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” (poem), 11n; Journey to a War (with C.I.), xi; Look, Stranger! (in USA as On this Island), 82n, 304; Poets of the English Language (ed., with Norman Holmes), 629, 638; “Spain” (poem), 494

  Auerbach, Frank, 569

  Aufderheide, Charles, 394

  Aumont, Jean Pierre, 716

  Auriol, Vincent, 399

  Aurobindo (Ghose), Sri, 149

  Austen, Howard (Tinker), 521, 527, 532, 720–1, 777, 801

  Austin, Dr., 607

  Avadhuta, 703

  Avery, Stephen Moorehouse, 383

  Ayrton, Michael, 585

  Babin, Victor, 713

  Baby Doll (film), 604

  Bacall, Lauren (Betty Bogart), 467, 495, 498–9, 675, 749, 757

  Bach, Frau (Gottfried Reinhardt’s secretary), 76, 78, 80, 82, 90; death, 361

  Bachardy, Don: on C.I.’s troubled sleep, ix; relations with C.I., xxxvi–xxxix, xli–xlii, xlvi, xlix, 389, 466–7, 469, 472, 482–3, 489, 491, 500, 508–9, 513, 515, 519, 527–9, 533–5, 578, 603, 611, 613, 616–17, 633, 638, 644, 650, 664, 669–70, 680–2, 686, 688, 696–7, 699, 707–8, 720, 726–7, 742, 745, 751, 759, 764–7, 776–7, 779–82, 790, 820, 823, 826–7, 829, 837, 841, 845–7, 852–3, 862, 884–5, 889, 901; 1955–6 visit to Europe with C.I., xli–xlii, 536, 538, 544, 547–95; takes hashish, xli, 541–3; in hospital with hepatitis, xliii, 610–13; art studies, xliv, xlix, 597, 600, 621, 626–8, 629–30, 635, 639, 644, 655, 675, 680, 692, 700, 733, 739, 744, 752, 782, 786, 836; round-the-world trip with C.I. (1957–58), xliv, 726, 732–3; drawings and sketches, xlix, 503, 581, 752, 811, 816, 820, 858, 861, 865–6, 869–70, 875, 879–80, 888, 890, 893, 900; C.I.’s affection for, 454–5, 458; and brother Ted’s breakdowns, 454, 484; trip with C.I., 456; damages C.I.’s car, 458; draft problems, 465 & n, 466, 472n; lives with C.I., 465; Caskey’s jealousy of, 470, 489; in Mexico, 471–6; education, 476, 480; studies theater arts, 482–4; depressions, 483–4, 494, 501–2, 523, 568–9, 602, 633, 636–7, 655, 670, 694, 708–9, 743, 745–6, 788, 860, 898; untruths, 484; career prospects, 488, 491, 493, 495; outbursts and resentfulness, 491, 493, 496–7, 505, 506, 513–14, 518, 528, 530, 551, 564, 567, 584, 599, 603, 617, 632, 794, 809, 813, 827, 830–1, 838, 843–4, 858, 867, 879–80, 898–9, 900–1; visits Marion Davies, 491; decorates for Harry Brown party, 494; works for Duquettes, 497–8, 500, 502, 508–9, 512, 515, 519, 520, 522–4, 526; C.I. gives jewels to, 498, 679, 681, 734; photographs of stars, 501; drinking, 506, 556–7, 713, 779; and brother Ted, 509, 634, 644, 652, 845–6; Speed Lamkin advises, 511; visits fortune-teller, 520; in Tangier with C.I., 541–6; black tongue, 547–8, 551, 554–5; hemorrhoids, 565; remains in London during C.I.’s visit to Wyberslegh, 569–71, 577–8; C.I. assesses, 575; play writing, 578; relaxes in friendly company, 581; in Cambridge, 582–3; agrees to see psychiatrist, 585, 603, 609; self-criticism, 592; meets C.I.’s family, 593; disagreement with Spender, 594; return to USA, 595; dolls, 596–7; contribution to Sycamore Road house, 602–3, 608, 610; polio vaccination, 609, 613; reads C.I. letters to Caskey, 614; registers at UCLA, 614; nurses C.I., 620; and Prabhavananda, 622, 623–4; hurts back, 626; physical development, 631; insecurity, 633, 635–6, 720; parking ticket, 634–5; August 1956 holiday with C.I., 640–2; redecorates home, 646, 668–9, 693, 695, 854, 895; sees old films, 652; attends costume ball, 656–8; flying with Vance Breese, 659, 662; and C.I.’s impotence, 660, 688; in C.I.’s will, 675, 677; visits Vedanta Place, 684–5; keeps journal, 693, 752; visits to New York alone, 696–7, 702, 705–8, 756–9, 762; 1957 birthday, 699; patronized by Michael Barrie, 701; nausea, 716, 718; paintings, 718, 736, 740, 767, 769; quarrels with brother Ted, 718; and Thom Gunn, 724n, 771, 844; classes with Vernon Old, 734, 739–40, 744, 751; moustache, 736, 745; quarrels with mother, 743; avoids spiritual exercises, 746; meets Joan Fontaine, 749; birthday party (1958), 752; stays with Lamkins, 757–8; independence, 763, 779, 782–3, 786, 853, 857, 879; paints C.I., 772, 796; trip to Yosemite, 773; at Santa Barbara exhibition, 778; discontinues studies with Vernon Old, 782; character, 791, 823; fortune told, 792, 808; celebrates 1958 Christmas, 793; slaps C.I., 794; in New York with C.I. (January 1959), 799–800; sells drawing of C.I. to Stravinskys, 804; traffic offenses, 808; exhibits at Chouinard, 810; employed by May Company, 811–14; birthday presents from C.I., 813; dismissed by May Company, 815; works for California Stylist, 816, 819; accompanies C.I. on 1959 trip to Europe, 822–3; resents Elsa Lanchester, 827; at Adelaide Drive, 829; draws hats for LeMaire, 832–3; C.I. nurses, 846; Hollywood portraits, 848; birthday (1960), 855; interest in astrology, 858; sells drawings, 863, 880; artistic ambitions, 865; and father, 867; stomach pains, 875; Charles Laughton dismisses, 877, 879n; incident over Millard’s studio, 881–2; The Monsters (play; with C.I.), xlv, 785–92, 794–8, 800, 827

  Bachardy, Glade (Don’s mother), 499, 503, 532, 600–1, 630, 671, 698, 714, 743, 792

  Bachardy, P. Jess (Don’s father), 630, 867

  Bachardy, Ted (Don’s brother), breakdowns, xxxvi, xl, 454–5, 480–2, 484, 630, 843–6; C.I. meets, 417; photographs, 501; relations with Don, 509, 634, 644, 652, 813, 845–6; on leave from hospital, 511; and Hoover, 529, 535, 610, 624; visits C.I., 529, 535, 662; at beach, 625; attends Chouinard Art Institute, 627; arrested for shoplifting, 667–8, 683; C.I. rude to, 671; quarrels with Don, 718; relations with Bart Lord, 718, 749, 760, 845; Brando refuses autograph to, 837

  Bacon, Francis, 580, 584, 665n

  Bagnold, Enid (Lady Jones): The Monsters, 892

  Bailey, Bill, 385, 392, 408

  Baker, Mrs. (of Sam Jaffe Agency), 31

  Baker, John, 579

  Balanchine, George, 835

  Balchin, Nigel, 649

  Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski), 673

  Balzac, Honoré de: La Comédie humaine, 484n; Le Curé de Tours, 695, 697; Vautrin, 849

  Bankhead, Tallulah, 436, 727

  Barada (Doris Ludwig), 296, 331, 684, 866–7

  Barbarian and the Geisha, The (film), 634, 638, 649n

  Barbellion, W. N. P. (i.e., B. F. Cummings): Journal of a Disappointed Man, viii

  Barber, Mrs. (Kathleen Isherwood’s helper), 572–4

  Barbirolli, John, 93

  Bard, Ben, 709

  Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead), 27, 80

  Barnes, Alfred, 202

  Barnes, Jimmy, 496, 759

  Barrie, J. M.: Peter Pan, 565

  Barrie, Michael: friendship and meetings with C.I., 481, 531–2, 593, 597, 700–1, 709, 767, 828, 855, 887; and Harry Brown’s birthday party, 494; helps cook, 504; Don Bachardy likes, 505; entertains Thom Gunn, 506; and Heard, 509, 631, 828, 855; advises C.I. on finances, 530; drinking, 535; talks of God, 536; Tom Wright maligns, 599; and Stroud, 600–1, 611, 631, 679; helps C.I. move to Sycamore Road, 613; avoids C.I. with hepatitis, 622; flu, 625; relations with C.I., 628, 631; on taking LSD, 701; puts on weight, 709; takes mescaline, 746; operation, 758; at Vera Stravinsky’s exhibition, 75
8; gives party, 764; trip to Hawaii with Heard, 888

  Barrow, Ethel H., 97

  Barrows, Guy: Chindee, 495

  Barrymore, Ethel, 390

  Barth twins, 537

  Basher, Phil, 148–9, 176

  Basserman, Alexander, 91

  Bateman, Lady, 250

  Bates, W. H.: eye exercise method, 834

  Bautzer, Greg, 757

  Baxley, Barbara, 639

  Baxter, Anne, 503, 692

  Bayley, Mrs. (Hollywood landlady), 46, 61, 75, 117

  Bayley, Bud, 61, 117

  Bayley, Happy, 46, 61, 74, 93, 103

  Baz, Ben, 385, 392

  Beaton, Cecil, 546n, 724–8, 730, 800–1

  Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau film), 437

  Beckett, Samuel: Act Without Words, 899; Waiting for Godot, 570

  Beery, Wallace, 130

  Beesley, Alec: C.I. occupies apartment, xxii, 383, 390; C.I. meets, 258–9; as conscientious objector, 259–60; friendship with C.I., 292, 294, 328, 356, 360, 375, 379, 390–1, 393, 439; Benedict Canyon home, 328; suggests I Am a Camera as play, 388; moves to Malibu, 390; C.I. sees in England, 567–8, 580–1, 591; fails to write to C.I., 623; C.I. sends play to, 798–9; C.I. writes to, 808

  Beesley, Dodie Smith: C.I. discusses novel with, xxxiv, 418; suggests I Am a Camera as play, xxxv, 388; C.I. meets, 258–9; and dogs, 258, 582; and Alec’s advice to conscientious objectors, 260; friendship with C.I., 292, 294, 328, 353, 356, 360, 375, 379, 390–1, 393, 439; Benedict Canyon home, 328; on Heard, 379; moves to Malibu, 390; disenchantment with van Druten, 457; Easter greeting, 489; C.I. sees in England, 567–8, 580–1, 591; fails to write to C.I., 623; tame thrush, 711; in Don Bachardy’s diary, 752–3; C.I. sends play to, 798–9; C.I. writes to, 808; The Hundred and One Dalmatians, 667; I Capture the Castle, 661; Letter from Paris (play), 457n; These People, Those Books (play), 774

  Behr, Mrs. (of Yucca Loma ranch), 94

  Behrendt, Heinz, 357

  Behrman, S. N., 87

  Bekassy, Stephen, 639

  Belfrage, Cedric, 64, 81

  Belfrage, Mrs. Cedric, 64

  Bell, Book and Candle (film), 783

  Below the Equator (film), xxv

  Belur Math, Calcutta, 305

  Ben Hur (film), 699–700

  Bennett, Arnold: Journals, 612, 618