CORRESPONDENCE

Indiana, 25 Feb. 1978. Dear Michael, … I gather from GG that they have actually refused to print one of your letters. Shame on them! [The Savoyard.] You should have noted that John Wolfson is not the only person who has suggested that the Walters Table ought to be revived - it was one of the things I most enjoyed when I first started taking The Savoyard. Comments on Royston Nash's recordings review in Savoyard and now in Selwyn Tillett's in GG spur me to remark that I have noticed, when I have both seen the production & listened to the recording, that frequently the players who come across best on stage come across worst on the recording and vice versa. Indeed, it has almost become a rule of thumb with me. It seems almost as if the talents required for turning in a good stage performance are slightly different from those required for turning in a good strictly vocal performance. Perhaps this is why I would rather have "studio" recordings than "live performance" recordings. (Tho' I seem to be in a minority on this point.) This leads me to comment on Richard Moore's extremely interesting article. I have long felt that Childs' great mistake in collecting the English & Scottish ballads was in scorning the music as unimportant. I find that folk ballad after folk ballad which leaves me absolutely unmoved or downright amused in a way never meant by the lyric when I read it, becomes a thing of splendid haunting beauty when I hear a reasonably good singer sing it [Almost all early nineteenth century English opera is a perfect illustration of this point. Ed.] Somewhere I read that G&S shares many of the best qualities of good folk music - this may be one. I am, however, an exception to Mr. Moore's observation that "everybody apparently got hooked on both at once" - in my case, Gilbert definitely came first ... I do not agree with Violet Brown's choice of Gilbert's best lyrics, I would strike off 1,3,4 & 6; but what I would substitute would change from day to day. The Ruddigore madrigal, Try we lifelong, There was a Time, would rank high; so would There lived a King (and yet Gondoliers is one of my least favorites) - but I really do not think Gilbert's "best lyrics" can be limited to six.

I can't tell you how much I sympathize with the copyright tangle over Shadbolt's song. It has been my experience that those who hold copyrights after the authors' deaths get absolutely paranoic about infringements, protecting the rights of authors whose very dependants are now as dead as the authors themselves, and stifling living authors and artists for the sake of authors to whom it has long ceased to make any earthly difference. If I die leaving a body of literature and no immediate dependents, I hope that perhaps I can so contrive it thro' wills and legal provisions as to throw all my literary remains published and unpublished at once into public domain. With all best wishes, PHYLLIS KARR

Pembury, Tunbridge Wells.

Dear Michael, … I don't know if I have ever said how much I appreciate receiving your G & S newsletter, which is most interesting. I can contribute to "Things said at G & S rehearsals" if you don't know it already. I heard it from Donald Adams. ISIDORE GODFREY (to Jeffrey Skitch, who has come in a bar early in "I am a broken hearted troubadour") "Don't do that, Jeffrey, or I'll be a broken-hearted Isidore." All the best, CHARLES HAYNES

London, 29 March 1978. Dear Mr. Walters, You might like to tell your correspondent Mr. Skelly that the statement that £20,000 was spent on the set of Iolanthe alone is completely untrue. The actual cost was a long way less than half of that amount, Yours truly JAMES LAWRIE.

Pembury, Kent. Dear Michael, Your delightful anthology of bizarre names (GG 9) prompts a response from the Tunbridge Wells area where improbable names abound. The telephone book lists a Mr. Squelch, the local paper reports occasionally on the doings of Henry Rabbit … The Pearl records G & S mailing list is also a source of innocent merriment: should I accept a cheque from Miss A Swindell? Just how accurate is the catalogue number quoted in the order from Mr. Vague? How much of a mental struggle was it for Mr. Meanly to persuade himself to sign his cheque? Miss Jasmine Plant speaks for herself. Happily Mr. Auders orders, and there is one customer who ensures prompt attention to his wishes by signing his letters simply but correctly (he is from the Balkan States) I. Bite. Pride of place must however surely go to Mr. R. Mortis who has the delightful good taste reside in a house known as "Mutton Close". My only regret is that this dwelling is not located at Bury St. Edmunds. Regards, CHARLES HAYNES.

Woking, Surrey. Dear Michael, Thank you so much for GG. 9 which always makes such interesting reading, but I was dismayed to see that Iolanthe has been redressed, and I hope it has not been "killed" for me as was Gondoliers, as it is my favorite... Yours sincerely, BARON CHARLES DE WORMS.

22 April 78, Dukinfield, Cheshire. Dear Michael, I heard the £20,000 from the lips of *** at the Stage Door after the gala performance in July. Admittedly he was talking to someone else, but I could swear that was the figure. I hope I haven't put the cat among the pigeons. Best wishes DAVID SKELLY

Aberdeen, 27 April 1978. Dear Michael, I hope Roger Thompson discovers the bookshop he dreamed about, and Thespis is in it. If Thespis were discovered by a dream, think what distinguished company it would be in - the last cantos of the Paradiso, no less. Yours aye, DERRICK McCLURE

Long Beach, California Feb. 22.1978

Dear Michael, The Gondoliers records just arrived (the 1927 Henry Lytton Pearl reissue) much to my pleasure and surprise. I was very touched and honored that my name was so prominently displayed both on the record jacket and in the advance flyer. It has been my desire for so many years to see these recordings back on the market and to have played a part in that realization of that dream does more than I can say. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it to you, but I make wax figures for a living ... I suppose sooner or later I will get around to doing busts of Gilbert and Sullivan, just for my own satisfaction. The only trouble is that good pictures of them are so difficult to obtain. If you can put your "feelers" out and see what you can unearth, I would be most grateful. The most difficult thing to find are profile shots, the most needed angles for a good likeness. As usual, DAVID CELLITTI

Tring, 28 Feb. 1978.

Dear David, Thank you for your letter, lovely to hear from you again … I understand so well when you speak of your dream of seeing the records on sale again, it was a dream of mine since I was a child, but I thought nobody else cared. It is marvelous to know that you and I, thousands of miles apart, have been dreaming the same dream for so many years, and that it was this fact which brought us together ... All the best, Michael. [David Cellitti first wrote to me in May 1977, having found a copy of the Pearl reissue of The Mikado in a shop in California, and offering to lend copies of the Victor (American) pressings of these recordings for future reissues, as the Victors are pressed on better quality shellac than the English HMV pressings. There can be no doubt that the sound on the Gondoliers recording is better than that on any of the recordings reissued previously.]

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