One of my resolutions for 2011 is to keep a film diary. I did well for a good portion of 2010 by posting the films I’d seen on facebook, but stopped after I went back to school. This year, I’m determined to keep up with it. I’ve got my Moleskine Film Journal, which is a great little diary for any film fan (they also have passions journals for recipes, music, literature, wine, and wellness), and I’m going to keep a running list at this blog as well. Hopefully it will spark discussion among fellow film fans as well as provide recommendations! Check out the full list here.
2010 was a pretty wild year with lots of life changes. I spent the first half in southern California and the second half up north and then in London! It was last January that I found out it’d been accepted to grad school, and now here I am about to start my second semester. It’s crazy. I miss California, especially the warm weather, my friends, and the beach, my cat and my family, but I’m loving being in England so much. I really feel like this was meant to be, like some strange force is pushing me toward my goals. I have a lot I want to accomplish in 2011, a good deal of which has to do with the subjects of this website.
One of the cool things about pond hopping (and continuing with the location scouting theme from previous posts) is that I saw a lot of places where Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier lived, worked, played, etc, as well as exhibits and other things. So, to wrap things up for 2010, here are some photos I took this past year.
I hope you all have a bright, joyful, and prosperous new year! Thanks for all of your amazing support in 2010!
In keeping with the theme of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier location scouting, I’m excited to share this guest post with you. Tanguy is a Vivien and Larry fan from France, and he has researched and written a fascinating history of the Oliviers’ adventures in his home country. Vivien Leigh fans most likely know Tanguy from his amazing youtube video tributes, which I highly recommend watching for rare footage and photos. Thanks, Tanguy! Now, who wants to take a field trip to Paris?
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The Hôtel de France Choiseul is a four floor building located in rue Saint Honoré. The very simple and nearly common facades don’t compete with the high elegance of the Lutecia, or Georges V, both of the same period. The main entrance is discreetly set between beautiful luxury boutiques. And you could pass in front of the carved dark brown door without paying attention or getting the slightest hint of its past popularity with a prestigious and international clientele. President and Mrs Franklin Delano Roosevelt honeymooned there. People still leave nostalgic posts on the Hôtel’s website, remembering the warm atmosphere and the beautiful bedrooms with little flowery Victorian wallpaper overlooking Paris rooftops, with a curious mention of a domestic turtle which roamed around the interior garden room and ate lettuce.
The register doesn’t mention if the turtle was already there when Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier visited for the first time. Neither did anyone talk about the haughty and snobbish staff which drives a regular customer to prepare her best “I’m snottier than you” attitude just to fit in every time she stays there. But Denise Tual, a very famous literary figure on the Parisian scene, remembers being slightly shocked when hearing first from Alexander Korda that Vivien and Larry had settled there for their first post war trip to the capital of France.
This year, not having enough money to fly home to California, I decided to spend Christmas in Scotland. My friend Rohit and I caught a very early bus from London Victoria to Stanstead airport, and made it just in time for our flight to Edinburgh. I love Scotland, I think it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. For what it was, I had a great holiday–my first white Christmas! And even though it was totally freezing, the ambiance couldn’t have been lovelier.
What does this have to do with the Oliviers, you ask? Though they were based in London, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier traveled north to Scotland on several occasions. In 1942, Vivien toured Scotland and northern England in The Doctor’s Dilemma before it opened at the Haymarket in London in 1943. Cecil Beaton met up with her in the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where he photographed her preparing for her performance.
Vivien Later said that this was a time in her life that she cherished very much:
“I realize that the memories I cherish most are not the first night successes, but of simple, everyday things: walking through our garden in the country after rain; sitting outside a cafe in Provence, drinking the vin de pays; staying at a little hotel in an English market town with Larry, in the early days after our marriage, when he was serving in the Fleet Air Arm, and I was touring Scotland, so that we had to make long treks to spend weekends together.”
Vivien Leigh photographed by Cecil Beaton in her dressing room at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, 1942
The holidays are here! Snow has blanketed the ground, and everyone is going home or elsewhere for Christmas (or trying to–the airports are closed!). I’m spending Christmas in Scotland, but before I go, I wanted to leave a little gift to all of the lovely Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier fans out there.
I know updates at vivandlarry.com have been lacking since this past summer, but hopefully bigger and better things will be happening soon. As a Christmas gift, here are 20 new photos of Larry and Vivien. I hope you enjoy them. Some are quite rare! Huge thanks to my good friend Mark for sharing some of his amazing collection with me and therefore you as well 🙂
Happy holidays!
—Kendra
Vivien Leigh waves to her fans and photographers in 1946
