Who was the Original of Lucia?

[BENSON, E.F.]

Beschreibung

Three autograph letters, all speculating about the original of E.F. Benson's Lucia from his famous comic sequence of letters set in Tilling (i.e. Rye), Sussex. 1. Autograph letter, 4 pages, from Sir Richard Rodney Bennett [1936 - 2012] composer, from his home in New York dated (later) 2005 in pencil writing about his love of the Lucia books of Benson's. Mentions of his musical "Tilling" which he wrote with the actor Aubrey Woods. He claims to have met a woman who know Benson and who suggested that Lucia was based on a woman who worked at Maggs, the antiquarian book dealers. Her friend Reggis Smith is put forward as the original of Lucia's friend 'Georgie'. "She was a colossal culture slob, who couldn't tell Mozart from Wagner." He also claims to have invented a board game based on the4 Mapp & Lucia series of books called "Tilling', but I can find no trace of commercial production. Letter in good condition with faint tea[?] stain to pages. 2. Autograph letter from Beverley Nichols [1898 - 1983] English author, dated 1983. Apologising for not being able to reply properly as he is ill. He refers his correspondent to an interview he carried out with E.F. Benson in 'Are They the Same at Home?" a book of interviews. He writes that he corresponded with Michael MacLiammoir when he wrote prefaces for reprints of Benson's books and with John van Druten when he adapted the Lucia books for the theatre. He states that he always thought that Lucia was 'roughly inspired' by Margot Asquith. "I do know (because he told me) that he consulted Melba, when he was creating the character of Olga. But Olga was not based on Melba who was not a very appealing character!" Nichols had worked for Dame Nellie Melba, the opera singer and ghost wrote her autobiography. 3. Autograph letter from Harold Acton [1904 - 1994], aesthete and author, the original of Evelyn Waugh's Anthony Blanche in 'Brideshead Revisted'. Letter dated November 1981. He writes that he has little knowledge of Benson's work, but his mother sent Nancy Mitford some of Benson's novels when she was ill. "It was rumoured that his "Lucia" was based on Lady Sybil Colefax, one of the last lion-hunting hostesses of London." He goes on the discuss the writer Eleanor Mordant and Marie Corelli "E.F. Benson is infinitely her superior and Henry James puts them all in the shade.". Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 45048

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Who was the Original of Lucia?