by Colin Clark
Today we have a new set in StudioB — a small sitting room of the Embassy, downstairs, leading off the Grand Hall. It has an attractive garden at the rear, completely false, of course, with a summer house. There was a lot of preparation going on. Carmen and Dario like to keep adding things up to the last minute, thereby driving Elaine crazy. Elaine actually never loses her cool manner (but she does get very severe).
By lunchtime SLO and Tony B were quite cheerful. Milton had warned Lee, and Lee had been upset but contrite. He had rushed across the Atlantic at MM and Paula’s frantic bidding only to realise, in the cold light of an English October morning, that there is no magic wand where MM is concerned. The truth is that MM is unhappy here. She no longer thinks that the film will transform her career from dumb blonde to serious actress (as if . . .). She doesn’t trust SLO, or think that she can learn anything from him (this is probably true). She has mixed feelings about Milton, and suspects his motives (wrongly I think). She is not even that happy with AM and looks as if she thinks he isn’t really in love with her (also probably true). She does not even know what she does want, so how can Lee give it to her? Lee is a really clever man. I met him outside the star entrance and we had a long chat while he was waiting for the car (which had immediately returned to Parkside, like a brainless homing pigeon). I asked him about Susie and told him what a fan of hers I was. (She came over with him and is staying at the Dorchester.)
I said if he could just persuade MM to finish the film, which is halfway through, then everyone could relax and be happy again. Luckily he agreed. Seven more weeks of hard work seems a lot, but he is sure MM will do it. He is only staying two nights, but Susie is staying two weeks, so I am sure to meet her. (Currently one of my life’s ambitions!) I think Lee’s visit has been ‘cathartic’ and may actually help quite a lot. It has allowed everyone to put their cards on the table. He is one of the few intelligent people who can get through to MM, and he doesn’t have an axe to grind. We’ll see.
THURSDAY, 4 OCTOBER
MM did come in this morning, and quite bright and cheerful she was, if a little forced. So far so good. She always likes a new set too. Today we were out in the garden, with Jeremy whom she still (just) gets on with, so we were all full of fresh hope. The garden has a nice sunny feel to it when the lights are on, but to achieve this effect means more light than usual and therefore more heat. MM had to wear the raincoat over her dress in these scenes, and that meant she perspired a lot, and had to change clothes a lot,73 with consequent delays. Nothing is easy in the film business. But MM’s nerve held. Jeremy was as charming as usual and SLO was in a more confident mood. He felt he had achieved a victory over the Strasbergs, and this he badly needed. He became more avuncular with MM, and not so tense and tetchy, which I am sure she appreciated.
After lunch, who should appear but Susan Strasberg. I have always been looking forward to meeting her more than meeting MM. Even seeing MM in the nude had left me cold – well not exactly cold, to be honest, but not in love. But Susie had stolen my heart, in her movie. Susie is not exactly pretty, but she is luminously beautiful. She has huge brown eyes, a very full mouth with a wide grin, and skin so pale that it is almost translucent. She arrived on the set with Paula, looking like a real little star. Luckily Paula and I have always got along – I’ve made sure of that – and I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Lee, so I got a very good introduction: ‘This is Colin, who has been so helpful. He’s the son of the Lord, Kenneth Clark.’ (Americans never understand English titles.) I was completely tongue-tied and could only gulp, as usual. Susie was enchanting.
‘I love film studios. Do show me round. Marilyn won’t be ready for ages.’ (True.)
The film crew watched in amazement as their 3rd Ast Dir gulped off into the distance with this ravishing little creature. In fact she was so nice to me that by the end of the day I had bucked up courage to ask her to have dinner with me, and been invited to come to the Dorchester next Tuesday evening.
Having said all this, I have to admit that Susie is out of my league. She’s a Star. She’s used to mixing with Stars, like William Holden, and although she is no older than me (or younger?74), I can only relate to her the way I do to Vivien. Adoration and devotion, but embraces are unthinkable. Even so, I am very excited. I can dream of it even if I can’t think of it.
Jack and Mrs C are invited for the night at Saltwood this weekend, so I will drive down there immediately after work tomorrow.
RUNNYMEDE, SUNDAY, 7 OCTOBER
I got to Saltwood too late for dinner on Friday night and had to go to the pub for sausage rolls. The Castle Arms is not to be recommended for its food, but if I asked for a late supper at home the servants would all give notice. M and D were very sweet and understanding about the Cardiffs’ visit. Papa even said that he had heard of Jack (from The Red Shoes) and was looking forward to meeting him. When they arrived on Saturday at noon, they were immediately taken round the garden by Mama. Not many flowers, but the roses are pretty on a good second showing. It was sunny and the castle always looks impressive in the autumn. Jack and Mrs C are really charming. They were both very appreciative and Mama was delighted. Then we had drinks in the drawing room and Jack waxed lyrical about the Renoir until lunch. I could see Mrs C was more taken with the idea of our own cook and butler. M and D, who usually only have guests as sophisticated as themselves, enjoyed the visit thoroughly. In the afternoon, I took the Cardiffs over to Canterbury, which they had not seen. Then in the evening Papa took Jack round the other pictures and over to the Great Hall, while Mama had a good heart to heart with Mrs C. (I dread to think what she told her about me!) After dinner, when Papa had announced ‘Bed for all’ and started turning off the lights, I held Jack back and we both stayed in the small library for a whisky and soda. Jack was extremely mellow and we had a long chat about work. Naturally he is worried. He can see that MM is driving SLO nuts, and this is having a bad effect on the production as a whole. This is a very important film for him.
Then Jack told me a secret. Evidently, a couple of weeks after filming started, MM found an open notebook on AM’s desk at Parkside. In it, AM had written some pretty bad stuff about MM – how disappointed he was by her etc. MM had been absolutely shattered. No wonder she took pills and came on set as Ophelia instead of Elsie Marina. I guessed that AM didn’t love her enough. Whatever he felt, he shouldn’t have written it down and left it for MM to discover like that. Jack had comforted MM as best he could.
Jack told me this to show how deeply he was in MM’s confidence. I wish she could have told SLO. It might have made it easier for him to understand her behaviour. But now it is definitely too late. If SLO heard what AM had written he would just say ‘She’s a disappointment to me too!’
Nevertheless I did ask Jack to share everything with me in the future. I am the only person who picks up all the little bits of information and can put it to SLO when I know he will listen. If he explodes at me it doesn’t matter. He never stays angry for long. Of course I will never tell SLO anything unless Jack agrees, but at least he and I can talk over the problems. I only have SLO’s interests at heart. Jack is more concerned with the film, but it is SLO’s film, so we all have the same purpose in the end. Jack and I went to bed firm friends and that must be a good thing.
When I got back here, Tony broke it to me that he and Anne are giving up this house in two weeks’ time. Somehow I had assumed that they had it for the duration of the film, but they don’t want the responsibility in the winter. I can’t blame them.
They have been wonderfully tolerant of me. I have used their house like a hotel – and I haven’t shown them enough gratitude. Evidently Anne’s grown-up son (Ned, I think) is coming back, and they have to be in London. I must find somewhere else round here. I could not do this job if I had to commute from the West End.
MONDAY, 8 OCTOBER
MM arrived quite early this morning and completed a long scene with SLO before lunch! In fairness to her, I must record that she did
it well and was really quite professional. This was partly due to her being clear in the head for a change, and partly due to this bit of script being much more suitable to her talents – also for a change. I’ve always thought that this was a lousy vehicle for MM as well as for SLO.
Rattigan couldn’t write the menu on a fish and chip shop blackboard. The Prince and the Showgirl is all so light, it’s like a sort of ‘in-joke’. If it’s Larry or Vivien in the theatre, the audience can join in. But for the film-going public? I very much doubt it.
Today MM had something she could get her teeth into. She had to tease, and she had to control. When the Grand Duke lost patience, and swore in German, she had to slap her hand on the table and cry: ‘Well done. That’s the best yet!’ She clearly enjoyed it and it showed.
SLO thinks that all the top stars should be able to act anything. Actually everyone else in the film has been carefully chosen to match their roles – Dicky W and Dame S are obvious examples. Did he ever think if this was the right role for MM? Did Milton? Was MM consulted on that, or did they all think that as MM was an ‘actress’, she could easily play a song and dance girl? That is what she is acting, of course, but what she is meant to act is Elsie Marina as created by Rattigan. Where her concept and Rattigan’s concept don’t fit together the friction causes her (and us) pain. I suppose they all leapt at the chance of Olivier and Monroe in the same film, and then slotted in a script that seemed suitable. There were similar-ish roles for SLO and MM, and only four major sets so it looked quite cheap to make. Olivier also knew exactly how to play it and on whom he could rely to make it work. Roger, Bumble, Tony, and Rattigan himself, Billy Chappell and Addinsell. But did MM read the script and think ‘This is me’ or ‘I can impersonate this girl’ or ‘I have a deep feeling for this character and long to portray her on film’ or indeed anything at all? Whenever there is a scene which suits her mood, she can do more than we expect. Even in the love scene this afternoon, she surprised us by how well she performed. But if she had spent a few days going through the script before we started with a really sympathetic director, things might be very different now. Those rehearsals were really only for her. The other actors don’t need them. It was a smoke screen put up so she wouldn’t feel singled out. But in the event, and because the others were so professional, she was made to feel uncomfortable, and the rehearsals had the opposite effect to that intended. It’s easy to be wise after the event, but I don’t think SLO thought enough!
TUESDAY, 9 OCTOBER
A series of ‘tender’ scenes between SLO and MM made for a gradual deterioration of MM’s morale and confidence level, and a consequent shortening of SLO’s fuse. MM doesn’t seem to mind the actual kiss as much as SLO does. It was shot over SLO’s shoulder, to favour MM, and SLO does not actually kiss her lips. In all the embraces, he just kisses her between the lips and her chin. (This is a theatrical trick, I suppose. SLO is not the first leading man who cannot stand his leading lady!) MM has probably had more experience of being kissed by someone she doesn’t like, or even doesn’t know. But SLO gets completely rigid, as if it is agony for him to get so close to her. His performance has been too severe, for my taste, all through the movie. I’m sure royalty were like that in 1911, autocratic and self-centred, but this is a Fairy Story, for heaven’s sake, not a historical drama.
I had a long discussion about this with Susie S tonight. She invited me to the Dorchester and when I got to her room, she announced that she didn’t want to go out for dinner, and we would eat there. This sounds like a cue for romance, but alas it was not. Susie is a beautiful person – intelligent, sensitive, full of life and fun, but her heart is more mature than mine. It has probably been broken a few times already, and it works on a different level. So we ordered dinner (the waiter was incredibly rude; so much for the Dorchester) and chatted about the film, and her parents, and all the problems in between. Susie has great insight into MM. She is nearer to MM’s age than the rest of them, and must face many similar challenges. The two ‘girls’ obviously get on very well. Of course Susie doesn’t see the desire for control in her own Mum that drives AM and Milton to distraction. The trouble is that MM simply cries out for someone to control her, and no one can resist trying to do so. She dumps her problems in Paula’s lap, and then while the wretched woman is trying to sort them out, MM goes and dumps them on someone else, and they start working on them, and so on.
Susie says that Paula is going back to NYC in a week. Her permit to stay in England will expire soon, and anyway she needs a break. Then all MM’s problems will be our problems. Hedda is going back too, but she has never been much help. Susie has promised to come down to Saltwood for the night next Saturday. I feel thrilled. I know I can’t remotely possess her but I still can’t resist her charm. I stayed up too late tonight but I’m happy. It’s my 24th birthday. I didn’t tell Susie, though. I want her to think I’m older.
WEDNESDAY , 10 OCTOBER
MM was very troubled today. She had the greatest difficulty remembering even the simplest line – again. We were shooting the continuation of the farewell scene and there were some long takes.
‘Oh dear. This time it is up to me to be grown up’ gave her a lot of difficulty. She got it in her head that the scene was tragic, and it really isn’t written that way.
At one stage, she had to ask: ‘Poor darling, do you feel terribly disconcerted?’ This was said tenderly but lightly by Vivien in the play. It is a sort of Rattigan joke because ‘disconcerted’ is one of the Grand Duke’s favourite words. Poor MM could not get the point. Because she wasn’t allowed to play it as a tragedy, she simply failed to remember it. Her frantic hesitation, as she searched her memory and grabbed the line out of the air, may look like passion. We will see at ‘rushes’ tomorrow, but it was the best we could get.
THURSDAY, 11 OCTOBER
Dame Sybil back, punctual as ever despite her play. It is pitch dark at 6.45 a.m. now and very cold, but the red scarf is still all I need over my jacket.
Dame S had a great scene, sweeping in to the downstairs sitting room, giving MM a photograph and a medal and lots of advice before sweeping out again, with Dicky Wattis and the ladies-in-waiting in her wake. Her line ‘You may kiss me, my dear’ reminded me of Papa’s story about Empress Eugenie in Menton.75 MM looked as surprised as Papa had been. I think she’d forgotten about that bit, as she had no line to speak, but she managed it well. She still responds to Dame S’s uncomplicated warmth of character. After lunch we did Elsie Marina’s farewell to the Grand Duke in the hall. She is standing alone in the doorway of the sitting room, and she looked a forlorn figure. I wish we could have ended the filming then. It would have made a nice memory. But there is still a long way to go. The coaches, the Abbey, the Grand Ball and the theatre, not to speak of the exteriors on the ‘lot’.
At least I have found somewhere to live. It is just a room over the pub a couple of miles from here, but I can get supper there too. They’ve asked if I can help behind the bar! Free beer?
FRIDAY, 12 OCTOBER
There are two separate sets of scenes in the coaches – each with a back-projection screen to make them look as if they were going along the road. The first were done in the morning, while MM was getting ready. SLO, Dame S, Jeremy and the Ambassador (who only appears once again and never speaks, poor man) took turns to feature in close-ups which will fit into the stuff we shot outside the Foreign Office. The coach party salute and bow gravely to non-existent passers-by, but of course they do not speak. No sound always makes for a very easy shoot, even though we all stay quiet as mice. It means that Mitch doesn’t have to fuss where his boom can go, without it casting a shadow on the stars. Then the BP film was changed from St James’s Park to the crowded stands of cheering people on the way to the Coronation. In squeezed Dame S and MM on one side, SLO and Dicky opposite them, prepared to be rocked gently up and down and cued to react as ordered. Dame S had a funny speech about her last coronation: ‘Happily no fatalities – except in the crowd’
– turning to wave to them. MM had to ‘silent act’, or react, a lot, which is not her ‘forte’.
I’m not surprised she was a little hysterical. She went to the first night of AM’s play – A View from the Bridge – last night and she must be exhausted. The papers are full of her ‘low-cut crimson dress’. Evidently it brought the house down more than the play. Plod said AM didn’t mind a bit. His ego is impregnable.
I dined this evening with Al at the club. Quite a relief to feel civilised again. Al takes a pretty jaundiced view of ‘Showbiz’ and is not too sympathetic when I describe my lack of love life either. ‘You should be tougher, old boy.’
I know he is right. He is wonderful company, much cleverer than I am, but that’s what’s great. Talking of unsuccessful love life, I am driving Susie down to Saltwood tomorrow morning. At least I have the new Lancia Aurelia GT to take her in, but I don’t expect she’ll notice.
CARPENTERS’ ARMS, SUNDAY, 14 OCTOBER
Susie was a magical weekend guest. She chattered away merrily on the drive and enchanted Mama and Papa as soon as she arrived. She is a good talker but also a very good listener, and there is nothing Papa likes more than a pretty girl who listens.
After lunch I invited her for a walk along ‘the white cliffs of Dover’ in the sunshine. As we were whizzing in to Folkestone an elderly car in front of us pulled over to the right, signalled a right turn by hand and indicator and then turned sharply left. Only the Lancia brakes saved me from the dubious distinction of putting Hollywood’s most promising actress straight through the windshield. Even so, we banged the left side of the other car. A policeman on a motorbike actually witnessed the whole event from the other side of the road and came over. It turned out that the combined age of the four occupants in the other car was over 320, and the whole thing quickly developed into a farce. The driver, who was not the youngest, started to explain to the policeman. ‘I’m just a silly old fool,’ he said. The policeman had his crash helmet on and misheard. ‘Who are you calling a fool?’ he asked menacingly. But the driver was deaf too and persisted. Cross purposes set in all over the place, and Susie and I quickly left before we got complete giggles. But up on the cliff, Susie suddenly went silent and preoccupied, and we hardly spoke until we got back to the castle. Perhaps it was the shock.76