Decca, p.25
Decca, page 25
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
Oakland
October 16, 1957
Darling Muv,
Sorry not to have written for some time. Life here is much as usual, except for one exciting thing—I’ve sold an article to THE NATION (sort of U.S. equivalent of the New Statesman). It’s about a San Francisco case in which the newspapers went after a suspect in a crime and almost had him executed, then it turned out someone else entirely different was the criminal, anyway of course I’ll send you a copy. They’re paying $75 which is rather good for an article here.148
I’m trying to get a few things arranged about Dink’s trip to Europe next year.…
Luckily I’ll be able to pay for all this out of my Fortune, which ought to be all settled by then. Anyway, Dinky has quite a lot of money saved up for her as I’ve saved the whole amount of the pension from the Canadian Government149 for her since she was born…
She is really thrilled over the prospect of the trip, as she is finding school and life here awfully boring. I tell her what you always told us: childhood is a miserable time of life, you have to live through it, next year you’ll be grown-up and out of the woods.…
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
Oakland
December 26, 1957
Darling Muv,
… Nancy has turned out quite hopeless as far as arranging anything for the Donk in Paris. She now writes to say “what if the Donk should make Communist speeches in Paris, it would make things very awkward.” Since I’ve already told her the Donk is not a Communist and knows no French, she knows perfectly well that would be not only unlikely but impossible. The thing is I think Nancy liked the idea of having the Donk when it was all in the dim future but now it’s coming close to reality, the idea appalls her. So I’m sacking her as a helper in making the arrangements, I think my Solicitor will be a far better one and plan to entrust the Donk to him.150 If only I could go with them! Perhaps in a year or two.
Do write and tell about your Xmas at Henderson’s. We went to the Lapins151 for the day (remember, he was one of the fat healthy Communists you met here but you thought his wife was too pale)…
Love from Decca
To Aranka Treuhaft
Oakland
March 16, 1958
Dear Aranka,
…We are having such a time with Dinky’s college applications. The latest, to Sarah Lawrence, requires a parent’s statement and a great deal about her forebears, their education, employment etc. Since both Esmond’s parents and mine were quite uneducated and unemployed, that part of the form is full of dreary blanks. I thought it necessary to add a note of explanation, as follows:
“The education and occupations of Constancia’s forebears unfortunately do not make a very good showing. We were uncertain as to what occupation to list for her maternal grandfather, as he never worked. However, from time to time he was fairly active in the House of Lords; and once he invented and patented a special kind of garage door. The female forebears did not attend school as education was considered unnecessary for girls in those days.”
Do you think that will help? I could have put down about my father’s gold mine, where he went to mine occasionally, but as there was never any gold in it thought it best not to mention it…
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
Oakland
March 19, 1958
I am so awfully sorry.152 I know you must be feeling terribly sad & depressed. Now I wish more than ever that Dinky was coming this year because I think she might cheer you up, but I’m sure she’ll come in a year or two and we all will if things turn out as we hope.
I have no idea where you are, I hope you are with Debo or someone, I’ll send this to the Mews.
Do write soon, & tell me how you are. One other thing: you once mentioned you might be too poor to live on the Island. Please let me know about this because I will gladly share my Fortune with you. I don’t seem to be using it up much though I did get some fairly nice clothes.
Best love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
Oakland
June 4, 1958
Darling Muv,
Thanks for your letters, I’m awfully glad the blouse fit all right.…
Re. the island, of course I’m not rushing about it,153 and hope you’ll stay there as long as possible. I just thought it would be a good idea for me to inform the Glorious that he would have to be prepared to deal with yet another inadvertent inheritance; as I explained to him, I seem to be “inheritance prone” in the way some people are “accident prone.”
The Donk’s college154 is in New York, about 30 minutes from Manhattan.… She is going absolutely mad with excitement about it, and about the Tor to Mexico which starts June 15th…
All the Good Bodies155 have been inoculated for everything under the sun, typhoid, small pox, tetanus etc. etc. For some reason Drs. always seem to think one is going to catch millions of diseases as soon as one steps outside one’s own door. The car has been readied with new brakes and tyres, and the whole thing has taken up great time. Do you remember the Tors you and Idden and I used to go on, and Idden always complained you used to say, “Mmmm, children, have a choc. bar, it’s a meal in itself,” and she was half-starved all the time? But now I’m beginning to see the point, feeding all those people is going to be fearfully expensive, and I’m hoping to get them to live on choc. bars most of the time. It turns out we’re taking 2 Donk friends along (17-year olds) so there’ll be 5 of us going down, then Bob will come later by Aeroplane as he doesn’t like long drives.
I must be off now, will write from Mexico,
love from Decca
To Pele de Lappe and Steve Murdock
Mazatlán, Mexico
June 21, 1958
Dearest Neighbors,
Sorry about the relative non-writing. For some reason the driving, seeing to things, & seeing to people seeing to the De Soto, which is being goosed carefully forward every inch of the way, has seemed to take up most of one’s time & energy. The Dear Girls156 are fair on the way to becoming Dear Mechanics, unlike the Dear Mexican Peons who seem to be more like one in that respect. Namely, when anything needs doing with the car, such as it not starting or such as it needing water, the D.M.P’s tend to shriek with laughter & sort of throw up their hands. Result: Avril and Dink have learned to fiddle with wires under the bonnet hood to get it going (the starter conked out over 1000 miles ago), & they now know about the tank boiling over & not letting it do so by putting some water in from time to time. As for me, I feel like an inefficient version of the Swiss father in Swiss Family Robinson, alternately calling on the Almighty for succour & prodding the children to practical measures for the good of all.157
Meanwhile, as of today the vacation part is really beginning. Guaymas is a beastly place, American prices combined with the ultimate in Mexican discomfort. No sooner had we arrived than old Eye to the Main Chance Benj took it upon himself to inform 3 youths he met on the beach that he was travelling with 3 beautiful girls. He offered to fix up dates for the 3 youths if they would find a girl his age for him. Somehow his whole jolly scheme fell through, just as well, probably. We left Guaymas at 5 a.m. for the II hour drive (as the guide book laughingly calls it) to Mazatlan. Arrived here at 9:30 p.m. Mostly desert (maximum temp checked by us was 110°) with occasional pieces of oasis & amazing tropic scenes. The recent opening up of this part of the country to tourist trade has resulted in some rather odd goings-on—such as, yesterday we stopped at a fantastically plush gas station, resembling a palace or my idea of the Moscow subway, a modern architectural gem flooded with neon lighting. We asked for Super Mex, which is the name of the gasoline here. A dozen attendants, all under 20, held deep conference for several minutes; finally they produced a small glass bottle of some sort of lubricant. We countered by pointing out that it would never begin to fill the tank, & might not be too good even if it did. We then pointed to the Super Mex, & showed them how to fill the tank. They had no idea how the water thing worked, so the girls did that part; ditto the air for tyres. Everyone was roaring hilariously throughout, & finally the boys admitted they had just opened for business that day & didn’t know how to work any of the equipment.
Neighbors, Mazatlan—it is sheer bliss. This hotel158 ($5.44 a night for the 5 of us) is a huge, cool, breezy place, we have a large bedroom, a closet the size of a small room, a very comfortable sitting room, & on & on. Also there is an immense swimming pool (if one should tire of the sea, which is right outside) surrounded by tropical plants & a bar. Everything is giant size, which is what makes it so cool in a boiling sort of way—jugs of coffee & hot milk, fresh orange juice & rolls, brought up for breakfast. Have just finished the following lunch: 2 glasses of Tequilla for me, beer for the Girls, a thing called Iron Shrimp in the English translation on the menu (it seemed that the words “to iron” & “to broil” are the same in Spanish) of a quality not often found outside of somewhere like Trader Vic’s159 —under $1 each. There are 2 boa constrictors kept here by the hotel to kill the mice. Benj has just been down to say hello to them. There is a mouse in our room so we are debating whether to ring for a boa constrictor or keep it. There is also a printed notice on the wall which reads in part, “IF LIVING PLEASE RETURN KEY TO OFFICE.” …
Well neighbs, do write.… I long for news, such as: … Is everyone being decent to old Bob? How was the PW160 picnic—oh we were sorry to have missed it.
Best love, Decca
To Lady Redesdale
Mexico City
June 30, 1958
Darling Muv,
… The Tor is being simply heavenly. From Mazatlán we drove to a tropical fishing village called San Blas. The hotel there had parrots on bars instead of flowers on the tables. It’s the first time I’ve been in the tropics, oh the fascination of it. The children hated it because of the gnats & mosquitoes & general boilingness, but I loved it. We went for a long boat ride down a jungle river, everything amazingly bright & green & overgrown, with occasional weird screeches from tropical birds, just like in films about Africa.
You can imagine all the packing & unpacking & fitting the suitcases into the car properly each time…
We are all learning Spanish, I find I can speak fairly well & understand the newspapers.… Did you know the Supreme Court acted favourably on the passport cases? That means we should be able to get ours back. Shall we come next year for the last Island year? I would so love to. I’d love Benj to see it, too…
Best love, Decca
Isn’t it sickening of Nancy to be pro-de Gaulle, I never really thought she was, now I suppose I’ll have to go off writers with her again.
To Pele de Lappe and Steve Murdock
Colonia Santa María, Mexico
July 9, 1958
Dearest Neighbors,
…Today has been a fair riot, phone never stopped ringing about the non-legacy.161 Really you must say the papers are pretty odd in their concept of what constitutes news. Also, their interviewing techniques were stupid, they wasted most of the time (at $20 a minute or whatever it is) asking things they could have found out about at the nearest public library, such as the names of one’s sisters, etc. Señora was flabbergasted, she kept hovering round saying “Ai! Ai! Ai!” (Spanish for Ouch, according to the phrase book) “What this must be costing them! Twenty, thirty dollars!” Steve, I was a little hurt that no call came thru for a PW exclusive on the Lord Aneous162 will, but such is life. I suppose that if the ball had bounced differently (as Pele would say), & I had ended up with Mucking Creek & £10,000 a year,163 I would have received frantic wires—J.V. QUOTA IN JEOPARDY. MONEY URGENTLY NEEDED.164
Anyway, after the 4th call (Bob, Chronicle, Washington Post, Toronto Star) I had to be off to a reception at the Spanish Loyalist Embassy. Cuca wrangled me an invitation. The whole thing was most surprising.… I didn’t realize they maintained an embassy here, & have not as yet been able to find out what are the duties of the ambassador, who pays his salary & why, etc.… It was an all female affair in honor of Señora Cardenas for the work she’s done for the Spanish war orphans. As you can see by a bit of ready reckoning, these orphans are by now not getting any younger. In fact they range in age between about 25 and 40.… The crowd at the reception was reminiscent of a very fancy PTA sort of thing. Almost all had furs & a lot of jewelry & beautifully dyed hair of various shades of auburn. Cuca explained that most of them have made mints of dough in Mexico in various businesses. … The whole thing was completely disorganized, & the phonograph soon broke down—but the poor dancers continued in spite of all with no music! Trays of Spanish sherry & hors d’oeuvres were passed thru the throng, with enormous difficulty. This all went on for hours, 6 to 9:30. All so unlike the sort of thing we used to put on for Spanish causes…
So, neighbs, do write soon…
Your loving Neighbor
To Constancia Romilly
Oakland
September 25, 1958
Darling Chickadee,
I just got your lovely, mammoth letter, and hasten to answer. You are good to write so promptly.165 This morning I decided that if I rushed off first thing to the Co-op and got the beastly shopping out of the way before the mail came, I might be rewarded by some interesting letters. So, sure enough. I read the nonDonk letters first to savour fully the one from you!.…
Believe it or not, Mother has joined Pele and Do’s gym class! I’ve been twice, so far. As I told Bob, the instructor pointed me out and stopped the class to inquire, “Where did you get your physical education training. Never have I seen such exquisite fluidity of movement, such excellent and sustained understanding of the rhythm…” (Actually, she only said, “You in the 4th row! You’re doing it all wrong, can’t you keep time to the music?”;) Anyway, it’s rather fun and probably good for one’s poor old muscles…
Do write again soon, you can’t think how it cheers me up. I’ll buckle Benj down to writing you one of these days.
Your loving Dec
To Constancia Romilly
Oakland
October 1, 1958
Darling Dinkydonk,
I can just imagine you having your old wits sharpened by the minute at Slawrence, I do hope you are loving it now that all has really started. It’s now 2:30 p.m.—about 5:30 your time. You are probably cloinking about in your little sloping-roofed room, getting ready to be first in the food line before all the meat runs out … or isn’t it quite like that?
Though longing to hear, I can imagine you are frightfully busy.…
I just got a letter from Robin (Fles’s assistant)166 and it looks as though the St. Peter article has been sold to Frontier,167 not definite yet. She likes the 2 chapters I sent, is holding them for the outline, will present the whole thing to Barbara Kamb (editor at Dodd, Mead) when I send the outline.168 So, now the outline is finished, awaiting a final sprucing by Betty Bacon169 this evening, should be in the mail tomorrow.…
Marge and I are working like mad on the Powell Defense Com.170 party for Sat. night—the Silent Auction. Bob thought for ages it was the Salad Auction, because that’s what it sounds like in Marge’s Southern accent…
The Govt. has just asked for an extension in the Powell trial, set for Oct. 13, till January. This looks like a very hopeful sign from the point of view of the defense, as the Govt. seems to be on the run. However, all the principals in the case are crying because they have made the most extensive arrangements for the trial to start in October: Both the Powells’ mothers are out here from the East to look after the children during the trial, a house has been rented in the country for the grandmas and children to live in during the trial so they won’t suffer in school from the publicity, several people arranged to take their vacations just then so they could give full time to working with the defense staff…
Goodbye darling, do write when you have a minute, I simply long for more news,
Your loving Mother
To Constancia Romilly
Oakland
October 13, 1958
Darling Dinky,
… The book went very badly last week. I guess you are in the throes of having to do a lot of writing, and are becoming familiar with the cold, hostile look of the typewriter when you are stuck! It doesn’t bother me quite so much as it used to, as I now know from experience that a “break” will come and somehow one will get back on the track. Sometimes, though, writing seems almost more physical than mental—that is, the pages, and the need to fill them and the typewriter and pencils seem like the whole thing—if you follow me.…
Your loving Mother
To Aranka Treuhaft
Oakland
October 20, 1958
Dear Aranka,
…Benj will be writing soon to thank you for his Birthday present. Guess what the sweet boy did with Margit’s $5? Took Bob and me out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. He telephoned ahead for reservations, did all the ordering etc. He put down all his favorite things and added them up before giving the order, but was sad to find that he had to omit the duck because it would have made the bill come to $1 too much. We underlined this sad lesson, reminding him how often we’ve said (when we were paying) “Oh you don’t want duck, vegetables are so much better for you!”
His birthday party was a fair riot, 20 kids were invited, I provided for 25 just in case, and we ended up with 30! There was one little boy, dressed up to the nines, sitting out on the steps. I asked him, “Who are you?”; He answered, “Clarence’s brother.” I said, “Why aren’t you at the party?”; “Because I haven’t been invited—yet.” So now I know the origin of the expression “everybody and his brother.” …
I am working away on my book, and just learned that the article I sent in this summer has been sold to Frontier, a small West Coast magazine. No great shakes, but I’m glad it will be printed somewhere.171 …
