Leigh Vivien



Vivien Leigh Archive Mentioning Ship of Fools, Tovarich, and La Contessa - Superb!







An archive relating to the later work of British actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967). The lot is comprised of five letters (13pp total) from 1960-1966 which were handwritten and signed by Leigh as "Vivien." All of the letters were addressed to Leigh's friend and work associate Joy Small. Mounts include onion skin stationery with red "Vivien Leigh" letterhead; watermarked cream paper with Leigh's London address; and two postcards. Three original transmittal envelopes are also included bearing assorted American and British postage. Expected wear includes paper folds, else very good to near fine. The larger letters measure 8" x 10".







Leigh's correspondent Joy Small was a fellow habitué of the theatre world, so their correspondence provides us with many insights into Leigh's later stage and film work. In the six years of correspondence reflected in this archive, Leigh either explicitly mentions or implicitly refers to several stage and film projects, including Ship of Fools, Tovarich, La Contessa, and Duel of Angels. Small and Leigh would reunite professionally during the 1963 Broadway production of Tovarich, in which Leigh starred and Small served as one of two assistants to director Peter Glenville.







All excerpts have been reproduced with Leigh's original spelling and punctuation.







1. Postcard of the Jefferson Memorial postmarked from Brooklyn, NY on April 27, 1960. In part: "The play goes beautifully, Much fond love Vivien."







"The play" referred to Duel of Angels, co-written by Jean Girandoux and Christopher Fry, which had just opened at the Helen Hayes Theater a week earlier. Leigh starred as Paola and played opposite fellow actor John Merivale (1917-1990), who was also her devoted partner between 1959 and her death in 1967.







2. 6pp ALS inscribed overall and signed as "Much much fond love ever Vivien" at the bottom of the last page. On onionskin paper with red "Vivien Leigh" letterhead. Dated November 29, 1963 and accompanied by an original Air mail envelope postmarked from Uckfield Sussex on the same day.







In part: "As far as the Theater is concerned - the present plan is to do Paul Osborne's 'The Film of Memory' with Gunters directing starting rehearsals early March for 6 months - Then - I hope I hope 'Tovarich' (for a limited run) Bobby Helpmann directing - he cannot do it (as originally planned) now - as the American producers are demanding such greedy + absurd percentages - (are you surprised?) Wolf Mankowitz is writing a musical for me based on the Life of Mata Hari…which sounds v exciting -"







Leigh would star as Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna in Jacques Deval's and Robert E. Sherwood's musical comedy Tovarich, just as she had hoped. The play opened on Broadway in March 1963. Leigh won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical before suspending production seven months later due to illness.







Leigh also worked with American playwright Paul Osborn on the project mentioned in her letter, but much later than anticipated. She starred in the title role of La Contessa, a play adopted from Maurice Druon's The Film Memory, in the spring of 1965.







3. 3pp ALS inscribed overall and signed as "Your Vivien" at the center of the third page. On onionskin paper with red "Vivien Leigh" letterhead. Dated December 16, 1963 and accompanied by an original Air mail envelope postmarked from South Kensington two days later.







In part: "Once again my fondest thanks for your marvellous invitation but we have decided - that as I have about 8 weeks free time - we will take advantage of it + go as far afield as Tobago - Where we had such a wonderful holiday 3 years ago…"







Leigh and her partner Jack Merivale had first visited Tobago after Leigh had wrapped up filming The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone in 1961.







4. 2pp TLS with a 13-word note pen-inscribed at the end and signed "Vivien." On watermarked cream stationery with "54, Eaton Square, / S.W.1. / Belgravia 1955” letterhead. Dated April 17, 1964 and accompanied by an original Air mail envelope postmarked from London.







In part: "I have decided to do the film of 'Ship of Fools', which Stanley Kramer is directing and producing in California this summer, and leave her in mid-June…I just long to see you again + send my fondest love as ever, Vivien."







Leigh's portrayal of Mary Treadwell in the Stanley Kramer directed Ship of Fools would be her final film role. Based on a 1962 novel by Katherine Anne Porter, the film is set on a 1930s transatlantic ocean liner and follows the lives of its tortured passengers. Leigh costarred with Jose Ferrer, Lee Marvin, and Simone Signoret.







5. Postcard featuring a Reynolds painting at the National Gallery of Art postmarked from Washington, D.C. on April 19, 1966. In part: "Joy my dear - I am so distressed to hear from Munro that you have undergone an operation…I look forward to seeing you with fond love Vivien."







Vivien Leigh was a well-respected theater and film actress by the mid-1960s. She had studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London before accepting her first movie role as an extra. She achieved success in English theatrical productions before trying the movies in the mid-to-late 1930s. Her break-out success as Scarlett O’Hara in 1939 Gone with the Wind made her an international star. Throughout the next twenty-five years, Leigh would act in numerous productions, but she focused on the stage during her final years, starring in adaptions of William Shakespeare, Noel Coward, Anton Chekov, and Jean Girandoux. Leigh died from complications of tuberculosis in July 1967.







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