Graham Greene (15 page)
Authors: Richard Greene
75
This title, which Greene preferred, was used for the American edition. It was retitled
England Made Me
for the English market.
76
‘The Bear Fell Free’.
77
Journey Without Maps
was published in May 1936.
78
He travelled with his cousin Barbara Greene (later Countess Strachwitz), who bore the physical strains of the trek better than he did. Without her presence he would probably have died of fever. Her book about the journey is
Land Benighted
(1938).
79
Rodney Ackland’s and Roy Lockwood’s plan to follow Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, whose independently produced
Crime Without Passion
had been released in August 1934, failed. Greene later sold the rights for a token sum to Ralph Keane, who had worked with him on a publicity film for Imperial Airways, because Keane was looking for an opportunity to make his first feature film. Unable to finance a production, Keane resold the rights to Sydney Box, who brought it to the screen in 1947 with an appalling script that represented torture with branding irons as part of the legal system in the nineteenth century. ‘After the experience I added a clause to every film contract forbidding a resale to Mr. Box’
(Ways of Escape
, 14; Falk, 48).
80
Ingeborg was the girlfriend of Nils Lie, the Norwegian translator of
The Man Within
. Greene dedicated
It’s a Battlefield
to them. She also worked in Russia as secretary to Nordahl Grieg.
81
Dame Kathleen Simon, later Viscountess Simon (1863/4–1955), an Irish campaigner against slavery. As a researcher, writer and lecturer, she worked closely with Sir John Harris and was comparably devoted to the cause. Her husband, Sir John Simon, later 1st Viscount Simon, was the Foreign Secretary (ODNB).
82
Hugh had married his first wife Helga (née Guinness) 24 October 1934 in Chelsea (Tracey, 47).
83
RKN,
110
–11.
84
Purna’s full name was Krishna Raghavendra Purna. He was born in Bangalore in 1911 and educated in Mysore. He came up to Exeter College in 1932 to prepare for a career in the civil service; his record card notes that he was ‘popular in his year’. An engaging man and a hard drinker, he died in June 1948. (Information from John Madicott, archivist of Exeter College; for further information see Susan Ram and N. Ram,
R. K. Narayan: The Early Years
1906–1945 [New Delhi: Viking, 1996], esp. 143–5)
85
Dennis Kincaid (1905–37) was a novelist and historian of India.
86
His full name was longer than Greene knew: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami.
87
The Gates of Hell: An Historical Novel of the Present Day
, trans. I. J. Collins (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1933). Greene reviewed it in the
Spectator
(15 December 1933).
88
A pseudonym Graham had used since his student days. See p. 355.
89
John Grierson (1898–1972) was the central figure at the GPO Film Unit and was largely responsible for such films as
Night Mail
(1936).
90
Lotte Reiniger (1899–1981), German film director and scriptwriter.
91
Journey Without Maps
and
A Gun for Sale
.
92
‘The People’s Pilgrimage’, an article about George V lying in state at Westminster Hall
(Daily Mail
, 23 January 1936; reprint,
Reflections
, 37–9).
93
People of Britain
(also known as
Peace of Britain
and the
Peace Film)
was directed by Paul Rotha in 1936, with music composed by Benjamin Britten; it was a propaganda film urging people to work for peace.
94
Strike Me Pink
, starring Eddie Cantor and Ethel Merman.
95
The manuscript of Narayan’s second novel
The Bachelor of Arts
, in which the main character is named Chandran. Greene wrote highly appreciative introductions to editions of this novel appearing in 1937 and 1978 (see
Reflections
55–7 and 299–302).
96
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) had taken a position in 1934 as assistant editor of the
Calcutta Statesman
.
97
Margaret Wilson (1882–1973) won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel
The Able McLaughlins
(1923). She also wrote extensively about India, where she had worked as a missionary. Her husband Colonel G. D. Turner was a prison inspector who had arranged for Greene to visit Wormwood Scrubs in preparation for writing
It’s a Battlefield
. Colonel Turner’s daughter by his first wife married the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis (Mockler, 701).
98
‘My Worst Film’,
Reflections
, 318. In this essay of 1987, Greene quotes his own comments on the film in a
Spectator
piece of January 1940.
99
Greene had worked with the screenwriter Edward O. Berkman on the film of
The Green Cockatoo
(1937). Although he wrote respectfully of his collaborator, it is hard to imagine Greene satisfied with a man who could write
Bedtime for Bonzo
(1951).
100
Leonard Alfred George Strong (1896-1958) was a well-known poet and novelist.
101
Narayan’s ‘A Breach of Promise’ appeared in the
Spectator
(4 September 1936).
THE POWER AND THE GLORY
TO MARION GREENE
With Lucy (called ‘Bear’) in the care of her grandparents, Vivien gave birth to their second child, Francis, on
13
September 1936. Having recently completed the film treatment of the Galsworthy story, Graham was looking forward to the journey to Mexico that would lead him to write
The Lawless Roads (1939)
and
The Power and the Glory (1940).
North Side. Clapham Common. | London. S.W. 4 |
August 29 [1936]
Dearest Mumma,
It’s a long time since I’ve written, but I’ve been in a rather inert condition. My run-downness culminated about a week ago in a poisoned face, which swelled up in a most embarrassing way. Painful too, like continuous tooth-ache. The day before yesterday I couldn’t stand it any longer and had a cut made by a doctor, and yesterday and today a good deal of the poison has been coming out. I think the swelling will be a lot down tomorrow, as I find I can get my toothbrush round this morning! Martha seems admirable, nice and a very competent cook. I only hope she’ll stay. I feel it must be rather dull for her until we get a second girl. There’s no chance now I’m afraid of having Bear back till the end of the month, I mean the end of Sept. We miss her a great deal.
When everything’s settled down, I shall try to take a week’s holiday. I’ve got to learn Spanish too [in] the next few months, for rather to my agent’s surprise Sheed & Ward, the Catholic publishers,
have accepted our terms, £500 advance on English language rights, for a Mexican book on the religious persecution, and D.V. I shall be going off in January. I shall go via New York to pick up introductions and information and try to arrange a lecture tour for later in the Catholic states.
I can’t help hoping too that something might turn up from Hollywood when I’m actually in America. If I get across to Sonora in Mexico, where they had the Indian war in 1928, I shall be only about 300 miles from H.! I’ve just turned in the film treatment of the Galsworthy to Basil Dean. I expect we shall argue about it this coming week and then I’ll have to set to work on the shooting script, a thing I’ve never done before. Every camera angle has to be described, each angle being a scene, the average film having about 550 scenes. A long business. I find it very tiring, as you have to visualise exactly the whole time, not merely what the person is doing, but from what angle you watch him doing it. Vivien is very well, except for a nasty stye, and Dr Pink is pleased with her. Can you let us know how one sets about national insurance for a foreign maid?
A Gun
seems to have been doing pretty well.
1
I’m trying to follow up with another thriller, scene to be set at Brighton.
Our love to both of you,
Graham
North Side, Clapham Common, S.W.4 [September 1936]
Dear Narayan,
A hasty line to say that I have placed a second story for you with
The Spectator:
‘Gandhi’s Meeting.’
2
Today I forwarded you a cheque from
The Spectator
by airmail for the first story. A copy of the paper went off to you a week ago. I feel sure your luck has turned now. I
spoke to David Higham
3
to-day on the phone about your book & asked him to arrange for payment to be made on signing the contract – so as not to wait for publication. I have to write a preface of a thousand words, & I would welcome any information from you: your age, etc. Your other short stories are now in the agent’s hands. Did you ever hear from
New Stories
or receive a copy of the paper containing the story they printed – or at any rate accepted?
Hamilton tells me that he only sold 230 copies of ‘Swami’. Never mind: I think it is quite possible that we shall see this book revived.
[…]
14 North Side, Clapham Common, S.W.4 | Oct. 31 [1936]
Dear Hugh,
I should dearly love to come, but I don’t think it can be managed – either from the point of view of work or finance. These bloody boils have been going on for more than two months, four days in seven painfully, & one has no certain feeling that one day they will stop. At the moment I have them on me, all just broken – the lip, the thigh & the scrotum – so they’ve ceased to hurt.
I may have to decide between Mexico & the literary editorship of a new paper – if it gets all its finances by Christmas. A horrid decision. I’d much rather have Mexico, but the L.E. would be worth £600 a year.
I have to decide too between buying this house or leaving next year: the lease won’t be renewed.
I had to see Hitchcock the other day about possible work for G. B. A silly harmless clown. I shuddered at the things he told me he was doing to Conrad’s
Secret Agent.
4
The baby is crying, & I have ten books accumulated for review & this damned thriller to write.
I have broken with Doubleday’s more or less, & have tried to buy back from them, without success,
Journey Without Maps
, which the Viking Press offered to take on. They, the V.P., are going to have my next book anyway, though D’s keep on sending anxious cables.
Auden’s new book of poems (I haven’t had time to read it yet) looks very good.
5
I had a painful purgatorial lunch yday with Grigson, Spender & Rosamond Lehmann, my mind clouded with aspirins. I hadn’t met S. before: he struck me as having too much human kindness. A little soft.
6
Love,
Graham
In his reviews, Graham savaged the films of Alexander Korda
(1893
–1956), who decided to deal with his harshest critic by hiring him as a writer, so in late
1936
they began a close, if unlikely, friendship. Greene wrote the original story and scenario for
The Green Cockatoo
, an initial foray into the world of homicidal racetrack gangs that would provide the material for
Brighton Rock
. This film, directed by William Cameron Menzies, with John Mills in the lead, was not actually released until 1940, when it was universally panned.
7
14
North Side, Clapham Common, S.W.4 | Dec. 19 [1936]
Dear Hugh,
This is to wish you from both of us a cheerful Christmas. We are sending you a compilation which seems intelligent and amusing: forgive the thumbmarks on the jacket. We both wanted to read it before sending it.
Have you heard that I’ve got in with Korda. I had to write him an original film story in three weeks, for which he pays 175 down whether used or not. This runs to 12,000 words. I hear today all is O.K. Shooting to begin in Jan., so he now has to pay me a salary of 125 a week for 4 weeks to work on the film. With an option on my services for the same salary for 6 months. There is a typical Korda snag. The story is a fairly realistic low-life thriller about race gangs, the hero a stool-pigeon. Korda wishes me to write in a part for George Robey!
8
The other fly in the ointment is a libel action. I don’t know whether you remember the drunk party at Freetown in
Journey Without Maps
. I called the drunk, whose real name was quite different, Pa Oakley. It now turns out that there is a Dr P. D. Oakley, head of the Sierra Leone Medical Service. The book’s been withdrawn (luckily all but 200 copies have been sold), writs have been served, and he’s out for damages! Anxious days.
9
This and Korda are delaying my Mexican trip. I shan’t get out there now till the autumn.
I hope you have good news of Helga. We’re having Christmas at home, so Crowborough will be very quiet this year. How is Graham?
10
Love,
Graham
14
North Side, Clapham Common, S.W.4 | Dec. 26 [1936]
Dear Hugh,
A thousand thanks for the Book Token. I collected a shelf-ful of books this Christmas. A very nice old edition of Gibbon in 12 volumes and the new Boswell from Vivien – oh and Bryant’s anthology of Restoration letters, Frost’s poems and Dylan Thomas’s, and
Rare Poems of the 17th Century
, and the
Letters of Byron
.
I’m thick in scenario. Medium Shots and Insert Shots and Flash backs and the rest of the racket. Korda, I’m glad to say, has given up the Robey idea and seems to be leaving us alone. Casting is proving very different. Menzies finds lovely people with appallingly tough faces, but when they open their mouths they all have Oxford accents.