ELIOT, T. S.
Typed Letter Signed ("T. S. Eliot") to "Miss [Elizabeth] Barber", of the League of Dramatists, about The Cocktail Party,
Royalties for The Cocktail Party
ELIOT, T. S.
Typed Letter Signed ("T. S. Eliot") to "Miss [Elizabeth] Barber", of the League of Dramatists, about The Cocktail Party,
Eliot queries the royalty structure for his play, The Cocktail Party: “thank you for the Statement of the League of Dramatists … I notice at the bottom of the first page the statement ‘less 10% to the Pilgrim Players’ and ‘5% to the League’. Should this not be the other way round? … I should also like to know whether the payments to the Pilgrim Players on account of The Cocktail Party performances should not come to an end about this time, since it must be quite ten years since the contract was signed?”
As a previous bookseller’s note attests, “Eliot is right. The play was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival 22-27 August, 1949, the book version being published on 9 March 1950. In The Cocktail Party Eliot succeeded where, in his own opinion at least, he had failed before: he created a poetry of “strict dramatic utility”, a poetry which on the printed page is unmistakably poetry but which - - as spoken by skilful actors - - has the subtlety and variety of prose rhythms.”
The first production of The Cocktail Party included Alec Guinness in the role of the unidentified guest. It was the most popular of Eliot’s plays during his lifetime.
Pin holes top left, eraser mark top right, folds.
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