Reading the private letters of a historical figure is a privilege, especially when you’ve read the subject’s memoirs and opinions from a range of their peers. This week I’ve been struck by the language and skillful communication that can be seen in letters written 80-90 years ago and I would like to share some of the wonderful examples I found whilst researching Basil Dean’s private papers in the magnificent John Ryland’s Research Institute and Library, Manchester. The archive contains correspondence sent by the great and the good of British society to Dean – from Lord and Lady Mountbatten to Binkie Beaumont, from General Alexander to Ernest Bevin and Duff Cooper. In these letters, language is used to show deference, as a weapon to influence ideas, and to bestow power. Given that many of the correspondences were also written by playwrights and authors, there are some beautiful turns of phrase. I may start using some of these phrases in my emails today!
Basil Dean (1888-1978), producer, writer, and director was Director of the National Services Entertainment (ENSA) during the Second World War. Among his many achievements, Dean established the first Garrison Theatres for British troops fighting in the First World War and founded Associated Talking Pictures, which later became Ealing Studios. This unassuming looking, bespectacled man had a fearsome reputation in theatre-land. He was known as having a short temper, being autocratic, and some called him, ‘Bastard Basil’.[1] Joyce Grenfell referred to Dean’s “pinsized heart” in her memoirs.[2] At various times in his career he attracted criticism, courted controversy, and even had questions asked about him in Parliament.[3] Despite his reputation for being a dictator, many people, such as Virginia Vernon, were fiercely loyal to Dean throughout the war (see previous post). “I should say that in all probability Basil Dean is terribly shy.”, wrote Naomi Jacob, ENSA Welfare Officer, “That kind of shyness which makes you self-assertive, that kind of inability to say what you really want to say because you are afraid that people will think you “soft”.”[4] Basil Dean was a complex man, with powerful friends in the military and government, who was driven by a single focus to provide entertainment for the good of the nation during the war. I was therefore very curious to read the letters that landed on the doormat of this mercurial Mussolini of Drury Lane.
Language is used in the letters as a formal display of etiquette, rank and position in society. Katharine Seymour, a lady in waiting at Buckingham Palace, writes to Dean on 5th June 1945 to arrange a royal performance by the soprano Marjorie Lawrence. She opens the letter with, “The Queen commands me to write to you about the following matter.” Dean’s replies are answered with, “Thank you so much for your letter of June 6th which I will lay before The Queen at the first opportunity.”.[5] Such courtly language must have seemed slightly anachronistic, even in 1945. “I am commanded…” is also used in communications to Dean by the Under Secretary of State, Air Ministry when writing in 1940 making their role as a civil servant very clear.[6] Here the language is formal and considered. Etiquette is used to great effect in the apology letters Dean receives from various people – many of them from members of parliament on being asked to attend meetings or support ENSA. When the honourable Lionel Berry, MP was asked in December 1943 to act as vice-president on the ENSA Council his brush off is worthy of note:
“I have given this matter my very careful consideration and am sorry that I must disappoint you by declining the office. My many other interests make such demands on my time that at the moment I feel I ought not to add to my commitments.”[7]
People concerned with taking too much on, take note! The formal language used conveys a very clear purpose and leaves no room for doubt.
As expected from a character like Basil Dean, many of the letters deal with disagreements and the language of diplomacy is used to great effect as a form of persuasion. On being asked by Dean to facilitate the transportation of Gracie Fields and Gertrude Lawrence from New York to England on 4th June 1941, the Minister of Information, Duff Cooper, highlights his reservations:
“It occurs to me, however, that some jealousy might be aroused and some criticism voiced if much publicity were given to any special arrangements made for these ladies’ convenience which would not be available for humbler people. It might be suggested that they had spent a profitable and pleasant war in America while many of their professional sisters were working hard in danger and discomfort for the cause and that they were therefore hardly entitled to a Government controlled joyride to Britain and back again in order to put themselves right with their publics.”[8]
Cooper is concerned with the ‘optics’, but ends the letter by agreeing to Dean’s request whilst making sure that he understands that these leading ladies of entertainment were not to travel back to Blighty in any public display of luxury. Dean often dug his heels in when he did not support an idea or request. In early 1943 he refused the requests by Charles B. Cochran, the English impresario, to use Gracie Fields as part of a Talbot House concert. In a series of increasingly exasperated letters, Cochran tries to change Dean’s mind. On March 8th, 1943, Cochran signs off his letter:
“I am sure you will be happy to be relieved from the necessity of taking your present attitude, which must be distasteful, as we are working for the same ideal.”[9]
The tautological acrobatics in this language is remarkable. Dean still refuses even when Cochrane escalates his request by asking a Lord to intervene. When the English playwright, Ronald Jeans, complains to Dean in early 1940 that ENSA has linked his name incorrectly with a piece of work, it is clear that diplomacy had all but failed and the language is weaponised. “Your letter skillfully evades the issue,” writes Jeans on 26th March 1940, “by suggesting some personal attitude on my part which contrasts, to my detriment, with the patriotic and self-effacing co-operation of yourself and your staff… That you have met this genuine grievance on my part with no hint of understanding or apology but with a blast on your own little trumpet seems to indicate that any charge of bureaucratic methods was amply justified.”[10]
At the time, Dean was visiting the BEF in France and Belgium and being on the front line with the troops may have meant that he had little patience for such artistic niceties as copyright or reputations. There was a war on after all!
Some of the highlights from the collection are those letters that convey power on Dean to go about his business organising entertainment for the troops. Most notably, General Alexander provides almost unlimited power to Dean in his letter of 11th May 1943:
“The bearer of this note is Mr. Basil Dean, Director of National Service Entertainment (DNSE) who is proceeding today to Tunis on my orders to find suitable theatres and places of amusement for concert parties and cinemas. He will also require to be assisted in finding suitable accommodation for his artistes, and, in addition, he requires office accommodation for his work. He will be much obliged if you provide him, anyway temporarily, with a good clerk with shorthand experience.”.[11]
As if that was not enough, the letter also mentions that Dean also had the backing of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC. As a civilian working in a foreign land that had been very recently a war-zone, such a letter was invaluable to Dean and his ENSA team, giving them freedom of movement and the ability to cajole junior officers into helping them. The importance that the military authorities placed on entertainment can also be seen in the Far East theatre when General Auchinleck wrote on 25th May 1945:
“… I can only reiterate that my Command will do all in its power to place facilities at the disposal of ENSA parties so that our forces can enjoy the entertainment they deserve.”[12]
Such letters conveyed real power to ENSA, making it possible to operate effectively, whether to commandeer theatres and cinemas in recently liberated cities, arrange transportation, or find accommodation for their administrators and artists.
It is a great privilege to be able to read these private papers and I will be continuing to work my way through Dean’s private papers in the coming weeks to find out more about the man behind ENSA. Although the language used in these letters is often formal, there is clarity of purpose that is often missing in our communication today. More to come as my research continues…
[1] Oliver Soden, Masquerade: The Lives of Noël Coward (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024), p. 166; Eric Ambler, Here Lies: An Autobiography (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985), p. 188.
[2] Joyce Grenfell and James Roose-Evans, The Time of My Life: Entertaining the Troops 1944-45 (Coronet, 1990), p. 288.
[3] ‘Variety: ENSA Squabble May Go to Parliament’, Variety (September 1945), September 1945 edition, section International, p. 18.
[4] Naomi Jacob, Me and the Mediterranean, First Edition (Hutchinson & co., ltd, 1945), p. 26.
[5] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–147, Rylands Research Institute, DEA 5.
[6] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–1.
[7] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–44.
[8] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–84.
[9] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–79.
[10] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–135.
[11] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–6.
[12] ‘Basil Dean Private Papers: DEA 5 - ENSA Papers’, fols 5-1–12.