Letters to The Boys’ Children

[Dani1923]

Andrew,
In one of the letters to you from Polly, it says she had a letter from JMB to Peter’s son Rivvy. I assume he wrote to the other children of the surviving Davies’ boys that were old enough to read or at least appreciate being sent letters, so that would mean Rivvy, possibility George Jr., Timothy, Jane, and Laura. Are there any of these letters that survived?

[andrew]

None that I am aware of, although as you say, he must’ve written to some of them. If any have been sold, they’re bound to wind up at Beinecke, so it’s worth checking in with them from time to time to see what new acquisitions they’ve made.
I’m amazed that you discovered my cache of letters so quickly – I thought I’d squirrel them away, and let some future biographer discover them. Let me know if and when you finish trawling through them, and I’ll upload the next batch for what they’re worth ...

[Dani1923]

Since I’m a big fan of JMB and you, I try to check this site pretty often for new material that you upload! So I saw that you uploaded the letters and just glanced at them all and read some that caught my eye and peaked my interest and that letter from Polly happened to be one of them!
Not sure when I will actually read every letter since there are so many of them, but please upload all the letters that you have! I am excited to (eventually) read them all!

[ecb]

Yes! Do upload any and all letters you have!  I found the newly uploaded letters recently and was (as usual) delighted 😁

[andrew]

Will do, although they're unedited so some might be relatively boring and/or off the point. The next batch is for 1977, when "The Lost Boys" was in limbo with the BBC owing to a strike. I used the time to head off to California and write some other rubbish to pay the bills. The delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Ian Holm was struck down with cbhicken-pox and couldn't have played Barrie had we shot in then ...

As you may have noticed, Tom Owen and I are putting in a big chunk of time and effort to bring the site into the 21st century. I'm reuploading/rescanning loads of images, as well as adding many new photos, without splattering them with watermarks; moreover they can now be viewed in chronological order rather than a random jumble. It'll take many weeks, but I'm determined to create a site that's finally worthy of its subject ...

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[Dani1923]

Very excited about this! And thanks for sharing those interesting facts about The Lost Boys! I’m curious, was the strike a writer’s strike similar to the Hollywood strike in 2007?

[Dani1923]

Never mind! I just glanced through the recent letters and saw the article explaining the situation! Also I was greatly surprised that you added a letter from Sacha! The letter was so sweet and shows the great relationship that you two had!

[andrew]

I haven't added - nor taken away - anything (as they say on the Shedded Wheat packets).  I put the whole lot through an auto scanner, crossed my fingers they didn't contain anything too embarrassing, and hit upload.  I've also just uploaded the first chunk of my letters to and from Nico, also unvetted ...

Sacha was indeed a sweet boy, and still is - his daughter is good friends with my 11 yr old. Not only was he my living conduit to childhood at a time when I had none of my own (I've since had 5) but he also suggested I make Sredni Vashtar as a short - it's on youTube should you be interested, with Sacha playing the boy (and my mum as the unfortunate Mrs de Ropp) ...

[Dani1923]

I’ve seen Sredni Vashtar on YouTube quite a few times already, and love it!! And Sacha is the best part of it! He was a talented young actor! I know he grew up to be a composer, a very talented one too from the music I’ve heard!
Your mother was very excellent and intimidating as Conradin’s Aunt Augusta as well!

[ecb]

Dear Andrew - thank you so much for beginning the monumental task of uploading the full correspondence between yourself and Nico!  It is fascinating to see the story “develop” in real time as it were. I am also grateful that Nico had such a clear handwriting  - sometimes I have to squint for a minute, but usually I can just read it through.  It was so lucky that one of the boys was still around to help you with the story- and the cheeriest one too!  He seemed to take pleasure from it as well, which is wonderful.