Felix Cherniavsky - SSHRCC Applications

Added 19th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 19th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 1336a 51 2008-2-76.jpg
Maud Allan 1336a 51 2008-2-76.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - SSHRCC Applications

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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From Mrs D. Langley Moore , O.B.E. , F.R.S.L. Founder Museum of Costume ( Assembly Rooms , Bath ) 5 Prince Albert Road London , NWI 7SN 01-485 1037 3rd July 1986 Dear Felix , I received your excellent last chapter on Maud Allen today and 106 se no time in telling you how good I think it . I wish I had seen it before I wrote to you about your sample on June 23rd . I should still have questioned some of your intentions - such as your proposed title and • sub - title , but I should have been more aware of the total effect of the finished book . You have really done a splendid piece of research which deserves the appreciation of a big public . If I were you , instead of presenting either a precis or the extensive preliminary pages I had been reading last time I wrote to you , I should have the whole thing typed out and submitted directly to a publisher , having of course first made any extensions or alterations called for by the discoveries you have brought to light since your original articles appeared . Naturally , if you do this , you can only send out one copy at a time . Certainly , if you had the book fully shaped up for publication I would write to John Murray on your behalf , highly recommending it . You have enlightened me as to many things in Maud Allen's life and character which I did not know . The picture of her relationship with the unfortunate Verna is a startling one . Can it be possible that her adoration of Maud was based on a lesbian infatuation ? It seems so odd for a woman quite advanced in years to be able to fascinate a much younger one and hold her in thrall for so long . You describe Verna as naive and that she must have been whatever the nature of her emotion . But then , Maud did seem to have retained a sexual attractiveness till late in life . I was always quite unable to see it . The way she turned on Verna when that poor soul was no longer of use to her is really shocking , and makes it wonderful to me that she had friends like your aunt , uncles , and father , who stood by her for so long . I seriously think she had inherited some strain of the insanity which possessed her brother . She had a friend , whose name I forget , from whom she relentlessly borrowed money . I had no idea that this lady had financed the tour we made in 1925 - after which Maud began to drop her . I was astonished last time I travelled on a liner to see my parents in South Africa to meet the financial supporter travelling second class while I , then married to a rich young man , was in the first class . We had a conversation in which Maud's cast - off friend disclosed to me how ruthlessly she had been treated . This was in 1933 . I see you know much more than I do about Maud's appearances on the legitimate stage , including her performances with Lady Diana Manners in the ' Miracle ' . At the time when I recommended you to consult Lady Diana , who had impressed me profoundly as a personality , she was actually dying or just dead . I had a conversation with her in her late 80's when Jan Morris ( sex - changed from John Morris ) was also present and actively participating , and I thought how remarkable these two brilliant women were . Your remarks about me are very flattering and I'm glad you found my memoirs of some use . Alas ! I have not been able to go on with that book . I still spend most of the day lying on my bed with various painful