ENTERTAINMENT: (x10)

ENTERTAINMENT: (x10)
ENTERTAINMENT: Selection of T.Ls.S., A.Ls.S. (2) etc., by various film and stage actors and actresses, including Laurence Olivier (stating that he has just returned from filming in Tunisia and is about to start work on a television series, March 1976), Michael Redgrave (declining an invitation to take part in a debate as he has to deliver the first of a series of lectures at Bristol University, September 1952), Yvonne Arnaud (stating, in part, ´I am NO ORATOR, and certainly I would be no good as a speaker. I can, in a weak way, answer questions, that is all. I wish I could come.....not only would I enjoy my visit to you, but Miss. Gingold is a very amusing and witty person, and I am sure she would have put me on the spot most amusingly. But (these "buts" are very tiresome, aren´t they?) I shall be away on tour trying out a new comedy....´, September 1952), Irene Handl (replying to a proposal for creating ´The Dickens International Theatre´and stating, in part, ´Dickens is my favourite author. I have read him with acute enjoyment (for all sorts of reasons) from when I could first read to the present day, and I am well over 80. But. Sadly I must disapoint (sic) you. I don´t think the present is the right moment to expand Dickens. The Nat. Theatre´s N. Nickly (sic) and the countless films & T.V. serials have already done that.....Only Shakespeare seems capable of standing up to non-stop production.....I must further disapoint (sic) you by saying that, in essence, Dickens is for reading . That way anyone can make their own pictures from his teeming imagination. I would have loved to hear Charles Dickens reading, but not anyone else. I didn´t enjoy Emlyn Williams. I hated "Nicholas Nicklby" (sic) All were false for me. There´s only one Dickens between the covers of his splendid works´, September 1986, accompanied by the printed 8vo Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Irene Handl at the Actors´ Church St. Paul´s, Covent Garden, 14th March 1988), Hermoine Gingold (2; politely declining an invitation to participate in a debate owing to radio and cabaret committments etc., June & September 1952), Gladys Cooper (signed sepia 4 x 5 magazine photograph, neatly mounted) etc. A few letters with some minor age wear and creasing, G to generally VG, 10