Liberation (87 page)

 

June 8.
Very warm. I went to see John Lehmann to talk about his book and mine. We went to Howard Schuman to see part of his “Rock Follies” on T.V. Tim Curry
⁶⁹
was there. We had dinner with Marguerite Lamkin. David Hockney was there.

 

June 9.
Very warm. Drove with David Hockney to have lunch with the Beesleys, leaving at 10:30 a.m. and arriving 12:20. We left for Aldeburgh at 3:00, arrived 5:00. We stayed at the White Lion Hotel. We had supper with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears at The Red House—Pauline Princess of Hess[e].
⁷⁰
We saw
Paul Bunyan
at the Maltings.

 

June 10.
We left with David at 9:30 for Stow-on-the-Wold, arriving 1:30 (via London)—Tony Richardson was filming
Joseph Andrews
there. In the afternoon we saw Blenheim, drove into Oxford and punted on river. We stayed at the Hillside Farm, Adlestrop, with Tony, Neil Hartley, David Ford,
⁷¹
Bob Newman. Peter Firth was also at supper.

 

June 11.
We left with David at 7:45 a.m. and drove to Edinburgh, via Leicester (The Fosse Way), Durham, where we stopped to see the cathedral and have lunch, and Berwick-on-Tweed. We arrived at 5:45 p.m., stayed at Caledonian Hotel. We had supper at the Café Royal, ate haggis.

 

June 12.
We went with David to the National Gallery in the castle, had lunch with George Lawson at the Café Royal; then saw the portrait gallery, drove up Arthur's Seat and all had tea with George's mother,
⁷²
aunt,
⁷³
and Evan Crui[c]kshank.
⁷⁴
Supper with David, George, Evan, and George's uncle, Robin Stark,
⁷⁵
at Chez Jul[es]. Then Robin took us to see the Water of Leith,
⁷⁶
then to see his apartment.

 

June 13.
Left at 7:45, driving via Glencoe, Fort William (lunched Alexandra Hotel), Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, to Inverness. Back via Blair Atholl, Perth (supper at Station Hotel), Forth bridges, arriving back in Edinburgh 10:30 p.m.

 

June 14.
Left Edinburgh at 10 a.m. Visited Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, lunch at Stable (White Swan) near Warenford, walked on Roman wall near Housesteads (Cuddy's Crags)[.] 7:00 reached Keswick, stayed at Royal Oak Hotel, took motor boat on Derwent Water.

 

June 15.
We left Keswick at 8:00 a.m., saw Wordsworth's Dove Cottage. Drove via Hawes to Haworth—bad road over the fells above Semer Water. We had lunch at Ponden Hall (original of Thrushcross Grange) with Roderick and Brenda Taylor.
⁷⁷
We saw the Brontës house at Haworth. Saw David's mother at her home in Bradford. Then to Thornway, Highlane, arriving 6:15, to stay with the Bradleys and Richard. (David and Don drove back to Bradford, where they stayed the night and saw David's father in hospital.)

 

June 16.
Rain, on and off. Walked down to the bank to cash traveller's check. Watched T.V. with Richard, Dan and Evelyn Bradley. (Meanwhile David Hockney drove Don back from Bradford to London. Don returned to stay at 31 Maida Avenue.)

 

June 17.
Left by 12:20 train from Stockport, arrived Euston 3:00. Rejoined Don at 31 Maida Avenue. We had supper with Patrick Woodcock; Keith Vaughan, Edward Albee and his friend John.
⁷⁸

 

June 18.
We went to see John Cullen at Methuen's about my book. We saw Franju's
The Sin of Father Mouret
. We had supper with Francis Bacon at Wheeler's in Old Compton Street, met Lucian Freud and his son.
⁷⁹
We all went to Muriel's
⁸⁰
then to an after-hours bar.

 

June 19.
We had drinks with Beatrix Lehmann at her home; then had supper at Odin's with David Hockney, George Lawson and Wayne Sleep. Peter Lang[a]n was there.

 

June 20.
David Hockney and we had lunch with Stephen and Natasha Spender. Don drew Wayne Sleep. Then Don joined David and me for drinks with Ron Kitaj. We and David had supper with Patrick Woodcock. Peter Coni
⁸¹
and John Brewer
⁸²
came in later.

 

June 21.
Don drew Stephen. We went with him and Natasha Spender to have lunch with Marguerite Lamkin. Dudley Moore,
⁸³
Tuesday Weld (his wife)[,]
⁸⁴
Mary Dunlop
⁸⁵
were there. Don drew Natasha. We had supper with David Hockney and Peter Schlesinger at Tandoori's, then walked in Hyde Park, then watched some films at David's studio. David Chambers measured Don for a suit.

 

June 22.
Very hot. We had lunch with Alec Guinness at L'Étoile. We went to National Portrait Gallery and met Dr. Hayes.
⁸⁶
We saw Nick Furbank. We had supper with Andrew Brown. Howard Schuman, Leo Madigan, Graham McDonald
⁸⁷
and Ron Davis,
⁸⁸
Neil Kennedy
⁸⁹
were there.

 

June 23.
Very hot. To Platypus Films to see the film Alan Wallis made about us. We had lunch with him at the Inigo Jones. Jane Burkett was there. David Hockney picked us up in his car at 5:30 and drove us to John Gielgud and Martin Hensler's house, The South Pavilion, Wotton Underwood, where there was a dinner party.

 

June 24.
Very hot. Press conference at National Portrait Gallery— Young Writers of the Thirties exhibition. We had lunch with Richard Buckle at La Scala. We lay in the sun in the garden. We went to the opening party of the Thirties exhibition (saw John Auden,
⁹⁰
Mrs. C. Day-Lewis,
⁹¹
William Coldstream, etc.). We had supper at Wheeler's with Robert Medley, Gregory Brown, Peter Schlesinger.

 

June 25.
Very hot. Got plane tickets made out. Don drew Mrs. Mary Montague. We had supper with Neil Hartley at Spot Three.

 

June 26.
Very hot. We went to
Watch It Come Down
( John Osborne). We saw Julian Jebb. We went to a party at David Hockney's. Peter Schlesinger, Eric Boman, Nikos Stangos, George Lawson, Wayne Sleep, Maurice Payne, Norman Stevens,
⁹²
David Plante, Celia Birtwell.

 

June 27.
Very hot. Patrick Cain[e]
⁹³
(Neil's friend) arrived to stay. We had lunch with Sir Alfred and Lady Dee Ayer. 3:20 left Waterloo for Isle of Wight. To stay with Edward and Hilda Upward at 3 Hill Street, Sandown. We arrived at 6:10.

 

June 28.
Very hot. Don drew Edward. We walked with him along the cliffs. We left Sandown at 5:46, arrived Waterloo 8:57. Had supper with Marguerite [Lamkin and her companion. He] was leaving for Ulster in the morning.

 

June 29.
A little cooler. We had lunch with Michael Laughlin and Jim Katz at Mr. Chow's in Knightsbridge. We had tea with Verity Lambert
⁹⁴
and Andrew Brown at the Ritz. With Don to National Portrait Gallery, where Stephen Spender and I spoke. Professor R.D. Smith
⁹⁵
was the chairman. Then there was a dinner given by Dr. John Hayes at the gallery's branch at Carlton House.

 

June 30.
We went to the National Gallery, had lunch with John Lehmann and Tommy Urquhart-Laird. To see
Three Sisters
directed by Jonathan Miller; left at intermission. To National Gallery. We had drinks with Waris Hussein—Ian Goodjohn was there. We had supper with Patrick Woodcock—Rosamond Lehmann and Brian Masters
⁹⁶
were there.

 

July 1.
Jim Gates phoned to say that our house had just been burgled. Don drew Freddy Ayer. Dee (Wells) Ayer drove us to the Star and Garter at Putney, where we met Dicky Buckle and went with him to Hampton Court. On the way back we saw Nancy [Ackerley] West. We had supper with Stephen and Natasha Spender. Baron Philippe de Rothschild,
⁹⁷
Andy Warhol.
⁹⁸

 

July 2.
David Chambers brought Don's suit. We had lunch with Erik Falk at the Reform Club. We talked to Frank Konigsberg about Gertrude Stein film.
⁹⁹
We went to the National Gallery. We went to see Amiya Sandwich. We went to see David Hockney— Anne Upton, her son Byron and her friend, David [Graves].
¹⁰⁰
We saw
Blithe Spirit
. Supper with David Hockney and Peter Schlesinger at Odin's.

 

July 3.
Left London at 9:30 a.m. by British Airways, arriving Tangier 11:45 p.m. Gavin Lambert met us and took us to stay with him at the Villa Tingitane. He took us to lunch with Peggy Hubrecht. David Herbert and Adolfo de Velasco were there. Later we had a drink with Gavin's friend Mohamm[e]d Cherrat. Then we had supper at the Nautilus.

 

July 4.
We drove with Gavin to Asilah and had lunch there, then returned to Tangier. About 5:00 p.m., Jim Gates called to say that Swami died, early today. Later we visited Paul Bowles, Mrabet
¹⁰¹
and Dan Bente
¹⁰²
were there. We had supper at Gavin's.

 

July 5.
Saw about plane tickets home. We had lunch at Chuck Pringle's house in the Casbah with Noël Mostert, Peggy Hubrecht, Adolfo de Velasco. Supper with Gavin at the Nautilus.

 

July 6.
David Herbert showed us his house. We had lunch with Marguerite McBey.
¹⁰³
Peggy Hubrecht was there. At 5:30 we left with Gavin to drive to Chaouen and arrived there at 7:45. We had dinner and stayed at the Parador Hotel.

 

July 7.
We left Chaouen at 10:15 and drove to Fez, arriving there at 1:15. We had lunch at the Tour d'Argent. Stayed at the Grand Hotel. In the afternoon we visited the Medina.

 

July 8.
We left Fez at 7:00 a.m. We lunched at Hotel Chems outside Beni Mellal. Arrived Marrakech at 4:30. Stayed at Grand Hotel Tazi. Walked through the souks and had supper at restaurant overlooking the market place.

 

July 9.
We left Marrakech at 9:30 a.m. We had lunch at the Auberge Savoyard outside Rabat. Arrived back in Tangier at 6:00 p.m. We had dinner at the Nautilus with Gavin, Peggy Hubrecht and Noël Mostert.

 

July 10.
We flew by Iberia to Madrid, leaving Tangier at 11:00 a.m. and arriving an hour later. Stayed at the Ritz. We spent the afternoon at the Prado. We had supper at the Ritz.

 

July 11.
We went to the Prado again in the morning. We left Madrid by TWA at 1:50 p.m., arrived New York at 3:00 p.m. (N.Y. time). We stayed at the Chelsea Hotel, room 814. We saw
Murder by Death
(Truman Capote). We had supper at the Sheraton Pavilion coffee shop.

 

July 12.
We had lunch with Bob Regester at the Rotisserie. We saw
The Tenant
(Roman Polanski). We had supper at El Quijote. We saw
Chicago
(Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera).

 

July 13.
We spent the morning in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had lunch at the Fontana di Trevi. We left New York by TWA at 5:00 p.m. and arrived Los Angeles at 7:00 p.m. Jim Gates and Warren Neal met us at the airport.

 

July 14.
We talked to Carl Day about the studio building. We went to the gym. Ate at home. We had breakfast before 6:00 a.m. at Zucky's.

 

July 15.
We went to gym. Don had supper with his parents. I had supper with Jo Lathwood at Casa Mia; Don joined us later.

 

July 16.
Special worship and homa fire for Swami. Swamis Asheshananda (Portland), Shraddhananda (Sacramento), Sarvagatananda (Boston), Swahananda (Berkeley), Prabuddhananda (San Francisco), Adiswarananda (New York), and Bhaskarananda (Seattle) were present. Don and I both went.

 

July 17.
Don and I drove up to the Santa Barbara temple, where the swamis and I spoke at a memorial service for Swami. We had lunch at Oxnard on the way back. We had supper at home.

 

July 18.
To Vedanta Place for the memorial service. Don and I came later. The swamis and I spoke. I had lunch at the monastery. We had supper with Paul Sorel (who is now living in Chris's former house) at the Brown Derby. He gave us a tape recorder and cufflinks.

 

July 19.
154½. Went through accounts, to bank, etc. We saw
Stay Hungry
(with Jeff Bridges), went to gym, ate at home. Started watering plants. Saw Dr. Glenn Dayton about my sore left eye.

 

July 20.
152. We ran down to the beach, went in water. Don bought new T.V. set—a nineteen-inch Sony.
¹⁰⁴
We had supper with Billy Al Bengston and Penny Little. Karen Carson
¹⁰⁵
was there.

 

July 21.
We re-registered for unemployment payments. We went to the gym. We had supper with Jo Lathwood. Anne Baxter was there. Saw Dr. Dayton.

 

July 22.
153½. We went to gym. Greg Harrold came and we had supper with him at Casa Mia. Don went with him to see films. Natalie Leavitt cleaned house.

 

July 23.
We went to a dinner party for Tennessee Williams at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Hellman
¹⁰⁶
in the Malibu Colony (68). Jack Larson came with us. Some of the other guests were John Schlesinger, Joan Didion and John Dunne, Leonard Rosenman.
¹⁰⁷

 

July 24.
152½. We had supper with Brian and Marlene Finney at their house.