Category: travel

general discussion lists london photography the oliviers travel

Year-end Wrap-up, 2010!

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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!

—Kendra


Hollywood


Classic film poster exhibit at AMPAS

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travel

The Oliviers in Scotland

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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

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

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london the oliviers travel

Watch This Space!

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Well, friends, the time has come: I’m leaving for London tomorrow to embark on a career as a professional student.  Just kidding, I’m going to graduate school for Film Studies at King’s College London!  I’m so excited for this new chapter in my life; I feel like it’s something I’ve wanted to do or talked about doing for years, but now it feels like it’s finally the right time!  The classes I’ll be taking sound really interesting:

  • Formations in Film Studies
  • Traditions in British Cinema
  • The Heritage Film
  • London Film Cultures
  • British Cinema in WWII
  • and I’m writing my dissertation on British cinema in the 1940s

I love research and learning, so I’m excited (albeit a little nervous) for school but I’m also excited to share my adventures with you!  I’ll be blogging here about anything to do with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier!  I don’t anticipate having much time to update the main vivandlarry.com website, but if you’d like to follow along or keep in touch while I’m overseas, I’d recommend following this blog (see widget to the right —->) and also joining the Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier facebook page as it’s easier to post links there.  This blog will be the most updated portion of the site.

You can also find me at the following places:

Thanks for all your support of vivandlarry.com over the years, and I hope you stick around for new adventures 🙂

Kendra