What Success has Taught Me

articles vivien leigh

What Success has Taught Me

by Vivien Leigh
Everywoman, April 1951

*NOTE* The images below were published with the actual article, but these original prints by Tom Blau were scanned from Vivien Leigh’s personal albums, part of the Kendra Bean Collection.


The snag in success is that the nearer you get to it the farther away you feel yourself to be. The world may call you successful, but in your heart you know that you never fulfil your own hopes. Which is perhaps all to the good, for complacency is a fatal state, though a very pleasant one, if you can remain in it. I never can.

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Collections Cataloguing: Box 7

collecta-belle the oliviers

Collections Cataloguing: Box 7

Hello!

I hope you’ve all had a lovely summer and are enjoying the final few weeks of warm weather before autumn officially starts (although I did see yesterday that Starbucks has already rolled out the pumpkin spice latte, so maybe autumn has already “started” and I’m the one who’s clinging on to the last vestiges of my favorite season).

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Collections Cataloguing: Box 6 (and other things)

collecta-belle general discussion

Collections Cataloguing: Box 6 (and other things)

Hello!

I hope you’re all having a lovely summer and aren’t sweating it out in the heat too much. Maybe you’ve been on a nice beach holiday? Climate change: not a Chinese hoax (sorry, Trump). The past few months have been hectic. Here’s what’s been happening — in life and work — since my last update:

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Collections cataloguing: Box 5 (and Vivien Leigh in Chinese)

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Collections cataloguing: Box 5 (and Vivien Leigh in Chinese)

Has spring arrived where you are? We still seem to be stuck in the doldrums of winter here in Northern England. There was a metaphorical bright spot about a week ago when I learned that my book, Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait, was translated into simplified Chinese and published in China! They’ve apparently changed the title to something like Vivien Leigh: Forever Gone With the Wind (because sure, why not!) and the cover is different as well. But the photos and, I’m assuming, the content remain the same. I quite like the design!

What do you all think?

  • Vivien Leigh in Chinese

In other news, the weather is horrible today, a perfect excuse to say in with a cup of tea and a box of Viv and Larry ephemera. Work on digitising and cataloguing the Richard Mangan Laurence Olivier Collection continues apace. I’m currently finishing up with box 7 and have repackaged 11 boxes of material, thanks to the support and generosity of the Viv and Larry Patrons. Some people may find cataloguing archives to be boring and tedious, but I actually really like getting stuck in with this sort of work. It gives me an opportunity to carefully look at and consider each photograph, playbill, etc. Plus, it’s kind of soothing. I do it all the time during my day job. Just stick my headphones in, turn on Spotify, and off I go.

Here are some highlights from Box 5. As of this writing, I’m up to 1947 in Olivier’s stage career and have catalogued 784 individual pieces of ephemera.

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Collections Cataloguing: Box 4

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Collections Cataloguing: Box 4

During the past month I’ve steadily continued with repackaging, cataloguing, and digitising the Richard Mangan Laurence Olivier Collection. As a result, I’ve happily managed to get ahead with a few of the boxes, which means I can share updates more regularly. As of this writing I’ve catalogued 605 individual pieces of ephemera (!!). That’s taken me up to…1945 in Laurence Olivier’s stage career. But hey, it’s not a race!

Here are some highlights from Box 4 (1935-1937), when Vivien Leigh finally enters the picture. As ever, special thanks to the Viv and Larry Patrons for helping me to afford archival supplies! You guys are the greatest.

I hope you enjoy!

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