Pillow Talk

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Tonight however, we have followed Lettice’s childhood chum Gerald, also a member of the aristocracy who has gained some independence from his impecunious family by designing gowns from a shop in Grosvenor Street, a business which, after promotion from Lettice and several commissions from high profile and influential society ladies, is beginning to turn a profit. Following Gerald’s little Morris Cowley four-seat tourer* south-west through the illuminated London streets away from his small Soho flat we find ourselves in the tree lined avenue of Hazlewell Road in Putney. Here in a double storey red brick villa with bay windows, set in a garden behind a low brick fence, built just like all the others in the street, lives Gerald’s friend, Harriet Milford, the orphaned daughter with little formal education of a middle-class family solicitor. Gerald met Harriet by chance at a haberdashery one day and they have formed a strong bond of friendship over grosgrain ribbons** and trims, a friendship which Lettice was initially rather jealous of. Since being orphaned, Harriet has taken in theatrical lodgers to earn a living, and millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money***, but like Gerald’s fashion house, Harriet’s business has taken off substantially thanks to Lettice introducing her to a couple of her friends, who have spread the word about Harriet’s skill. Amongst Harriet’s lodgers she has a handsome young West End oboist named Cyril, who like all of Harriet’s tenants, is a homosexual. Since befriending Harriet and being invited to the Hazelwell Road villa and meeting him, Cyril and Gerald have become lovers, and both of them are pleased to have the protective closed doors of Harriet’s Putney villa as a place where they do not have to keep their illegal homosexual relationship**** secret and can be free and open with one another like any couple.

 

Earlier this evening, Gerald joined Cyril, Harriet and several of her other lodgers for a special dinner of mock turtle soup***** with suet dumplings****** and Beef Wellington******* followed by a lavish trifle******** in honour of his and Cyril’s third anniversary, and is now staying the night, sharing the narrow bed in the small room with the oriel window up under the eaves of Harriet’s house. The small bedroom is made cosy by a small coal fire burning in the grate. The floor is scattered with the two men’s clothes.

 

Snuggled under the comforter, Cyril softly sings ‘I'm in Love with You’********* to Gerald.

 

“Skies were grey, ev’ry day,

Nothing seemed to come my way,

Until you came along.

Then a kiss, it was this,

Turned my sorrow into bliss,

And now I sing this song.

 

My heart is light, and days are bright,

For I’m in love with you.

And all the while I wear a smile,

For I’m in love with you.

I’m always glad and never sad,

Because you love me, too,

Thru rain or shine, the world is mine,

For I’m in love with you.

 

Now I’m gay, night and day.

Ev’rything just comes my way.

And we will never part,

No more tears, no more fears.

Only thoughts of after years,

For you are mine, sweetheart.”

 

Cyril stops singing and leans forward in his lover’s arms, kissing him softly on the lips, the action filled with deep love and affection.

 

“That was beautiful.” Gerald murmurs with a gentle smile on his lips as he pulls Cyril closer towards him, which in the narrow single bed Cyril occupies, up under the eaves of Harriet’s terracotta tile roof, is not too hard to do.

 

“Thank you Gerry darling.” Cyril replies softly, his voice woozy with a mixture of affection and red wine served at dinner. “I do love you, you know.”

 

“I know.” Gerald replies matter-of-factly with a satisfied sigh. He pauses for a moment.

 

“What?” Cyril asks. Looking across at his lover. Gerald’s handsome face is shrouded in shadow in the weak diffused light cast by the single heavily festooned shaded bedside lamp illuminating the room, and he cannot read his expression. “What is it, Gerry?” He shifts on the pillow, the starched white pillowcase beneath his head rasping crisply as he raises his head.

 

“Or is it the gold and amethyst cravat pin you love?” Gerald asks dourly.

 

“Oh Gerry!” Cyril exclaims.

 

“Or the invitation to ‘The Nest’ I procured for us, so you can meet your beloved Sylvia Fordyce that enamours you?” Gerald goes on, chuckling mischievously, giving away the fact that he is only teasing his younger lover.

 

“How can you even jest about such a thing?” Cyril exclaims in mock horror, withdrawing his right hand from beneath the blue quilted satin comforter and slapping Gerald kittenishly across his bare chest. “And after I’ve just serenaded you under the moon and stars!”

 

“What moon and stars?” Gerald laughs more loudly, turning his head to the oriel window that during the day overlooks Harriet’s garden – slightly wilder than the well clipped lawns and trimmed privet hedges of her neighbours – and offers views of sprawling suburban London in both a southern and westerly direction. “It’s cloudy out there.” he opines, staring out through the open curtains. “No moon or stars that I can see.”

 

“You do know how to spoil a romantic gesture don’t you, Gerry darling?” Cyril pouts, brushing back his sandy blonde tresses with his free right arm, his left being pinned beneath the weight of Gerald’s warm body.

 

“Well, I could say the same, my dear Cilla!” Gerald remarks, referring to Cyril using his female nickname**********, tapping the tip of Cyril’s pert, freckle spattered nose with the index finger of his left hand playfully.

 

“What on earth do you mean?” Cyril extricates his left arm from beneath Gerald’s side, and with a groan, rolls himself onto his stomach and looks across at his shade shrouded lover. “I make a beautiful anniversary dinner for us, and saved both the Beef Wellington and mock turtle soup from complete ruination, no thanks to Aunt Sally!” Using his female nickname, he refers to his fellow theatrical lodger at Harriet’s, the Shakespearean actor Charles Dunnage, who after being refused the leading role of King Lear*********** in the Old Vic’s************ forthcoming season, promptly got himself thoroughly drunk on a bottle and a half of Gordon’s Dry Gin*************. “And then I invite you into my boudoir to spend the night – an offer not many men have had I’d like to point out.”

 

“I should hope not!” Gerald chuckles. “You’re far too young a man to have a trail of broken-hearted lovers, yet. Anyway,” he goes on. “The least you might have done in the last three years is put my picture into a frame before inviting me into your boudoir!”

 

“What do you mean, Gerry darling?” Cyril repeats.

 

“Well, how is it,” Gerald sinks back into Cyril’s pillow and turns his head as he points to Cyril’s small simple deal pine washstand, used for his morning and bedtime toilette, on which stands a blue and white floral ewer set, his shaving implements and hairbrushes, hair tonics, pomades, a hand mirror and a few photographs in frames. “That in the three years that we have been familiar with one another, you have yet to get an appropriate frame for my photo – an honour extended to your family who threw you out for being an invert**************, I might add.”

 

“Picture frames, at least nice tasteful ones, are expensive!” Cyril defends.

 

Ignoring his protestations, Gerald goes on. “And if that were not bad enough, to add insult to injury, Sylvia Fordyce, a woman whom you haven’t even met – unlike me – has the honour of a frame as well. I’ve a right mind to take her glamour photo out and replace it with mine.”

 

“Don’t you dare remove my photo of Miss Fordyce!” Cyril gasps, gazing up at the black and white studio portrait of a younger Sylvia Fordyce in profile, modishly dressed in the fashions of the early years of the Great War, her bobbed hairstyle a little softer and curlier than it is now, poking out from beneath an extravagant turban. He lunges and places both his hands on Gerald’s shoulders and tries to straddle him in an effort to pin him down. “Only I’m allowed to touch it!”

 

“Then get a frame for my photo, or I will!” Gerald insists, allowing Cyril to scramble on top of him under the comforter and sheets. “I think after three years, I’m entitled to one.”

 

“Oh, do you now, fancy fine?”

 

“Yes, I do.” Gerald smiles smugly at he leans up and kisses his lover, giving him a quick peck. “Perhaps I should take my anniversary tie pin*************** gift to you back to Finnigans***************, and exchange it for a nice, tasteful frame.”

 

“Don’t you dare!” Cyril decries, sitting up astride Gerald and reaching across the small divide between the bed and his washstand, where he snatches up the elegant tie pin which lies beside Gerald’s gold pocket watch. He holds the pretty piece of jewellery in the palms of his hands and admires the amethyst mounted in gold as its facets sparkle and glint in the lamplight. “I don’t think I’ve ever been given such a pretty gift before, Gerry darling! I adore it!”

 

“Very well,” Gerald replies, putting his hands behind his back and exhaling through his nose as he looks up at his younger lover’s face, cast half in soft golden light and half in dark shade as he admires the jewellery in his hands, a look of reverence upon his face. “But I still think I deserve a frame after three years of us having an understanding.”

 

“Well, just be grateful you didn’t end up in my wastepaper basket like that trollop**************** Paula Young!”

 

“Why did you banish Paula Young from your wall of actresses?” Gerald asks surprised at the vehemence in tone and language used by his lover, turning his head quickly to cast a momentary glance at the collection of photographs and carte de visites***************** of moving picture and West End actresses that are pinned to the busy Morris patterned paper of the wall above Cyril’s washstand. “What has she done to you?”

 

“She’s sleeping with the wrong kind of man, that’s what!” Cyril announces indignantly, as he slips the tie pin back onto the surface of the washstand and slides back down under the comforter, pressing his naked body against Gerald’s, leaning down and kissing Gerald deeply. As their passionate kiss concludes, he continues, “Unlike me, who is definitely sleeping with the right kind of man.”

 

“I’m glad to hear it, Cyril my darling!” Gerald laughs. “But I thought you and Miss Young were friends… of a sort.”

 

“We are… or rather we were. She seems to have developed some elevated ideas about her status nowadays, and no longer has time to talk to her lowly old friends in the orchestra pit when she was just an unknown chorus girl.”

 

“Well, regardless of the closeness or lack thereof of your friendship, surely it is Miss Young’s business as to whom she sleeps with, not yours, Cyril my darling.” Gerald strokes Cyril’s tousled waves intimately with his left hand, slipping a stray wave behind his ear.

 

“It would be if she hadn’t been indiscreet enough to be noticed by Evelyn Laye****************** cavorting at the Café Royal******************* like a common strumpet********************! Evelyn saw her and spread the news like wildfire throughout the wings at Daly’s*********************, which is how it reached my ears.”

 

“Goodness!” Gerald exclaims. “Who on earth is Miss Young sleeping with then, to be so scandalous?”

 

“Oh, he’s an awful old lecher really,” Cyril opines as he folds his arms across Gerald’s chest and rests his chin on them, looking Gerald squarely in the face. “More than double her age - an aristocrat rich as Croesus********************** from what I can gather, and certainly well known for his dalliances with pretty Gaiety Girls***********************. For a social climber like Paula, I can well see why she went for him as she did. She thinks, foolishly, that he’s going to marry her and take her away from the theatrical life she leads, but she should know as well as I do, that he just toys with girls and then leaves them when he’s tired of them. He has a string of broken hearts a mile long trailing him.”

 

“Who the devil is this lothario*********************** then?”

 

“Oh, no-one you would know, I’m sure, Gerry darling.” Cyril assures him.

 

“Try me.” Gerald persists. “You’d be surprised, Cyril. We British upper sets, even the likes of the Brutons, who have been sliding down the greasy pole************************* for years now are quite a tightly knit group, you know.”

 

“Very well then,” Cyril says, sliding off Gerald’s chest and slipping back alongside him, gently gliding his left arm underneath him again. “His name is Sir John something-or-other, Hughes. I can’t quite remember the something-or-other part though. It’s something like nettles or nettling.”

 

Gerald turns on his side to face Cyril, the old and lumpy horsehair mattress stubbornly giving way reluctantly under him as he shifts his weight. “Sir John Nettleford-Hughes do you mean?”

 

“That’s him!” Cyril laughs in reply.

 

“Oh.” Gerald’s face falls.

 

“Surely you don’t actually know him, Gerry darling?”

 

“I’m afraid I do, although not by choice, if I’m being brutally honest.”

 

“You weren’t joking then, when you said that you aristocrats are a tight bunch! How do you know him?”

 

“Well, originally Sir John was the pseudo godfather of a mutual friend of Lettice’s and mine from the Embassy Club in Bond Street.”

 

“So Lettice knows him too, then?”

 

“She does.”

 

“But you said originally, Gerry darling. What does that mean?”

 

“Well,” Gerald sighs as he gently runs his left index finger along Cyril’s naked form, tracing the contours of his lithe figure as it is illuminated in the light cast by the lamp. “Lettice and I used to see him on occasion, at parties, balls and that sort of social event, and when our mutual friend married a wealthy American man, at her wedding.”

 

“Yes?” Cyril breathes, hanging on every word Gerald says.

 

“Well, a few years ago, Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, threw a husband finding ball for Lettice, and Sir John was one of her top contenders as an eligible bachelor – even if he is a significantly older one.”

 

“No!”

 

“Yes, Cyril darling.” Gerald sighs and pauses for a moment. “And you mustn’t spread this pillow talk************************** we’re having to anyone, not even Hattie or Aunt Sally.”

 

“I won’t, Gerry darling! I promise!”

 

“Well, of course Lettice didn’t choose him that night because he was so much older than she was.”

 

“Thank goodness!” Cyril replies with a sigh of relief.

 

“However, after an understanding between Lettice and the eldest son of the Duke of Walmsford, Selwyn Spencely, was broken, she became reacquainted with Sir John. He proposed marriage to her not so long ago, probably catching her at a weak moment, and she accepted him.”

 

“No!” Cyril gasps and raises his delicate, elongated right hand to his lips. “Do you think she knows about Sir John’s…” He pauses whilst he tries to think of the right word. “Dalliances?”

 

“Oh, Lettice knows, Cyril darling. Have no fear on that account. Their marriage is not a love match, but rather a business arrangement.”

 

“A business arrangement, Gerry darling? That sounds utterly tiresome and so un-romantic.”

 

“Yes, Cyril my darling. Their marriage will be one of convenience, for both of them. He gets a wife who is prepared to tolerate his philandering, and one who has agreed to provide him with an heir, and she gets independence not usually extended to married women of Lettice’s and my class in return.”

 

“Can she have dalliances of her own?”

 

“I can’t say I’ve asked Lettice such intimate details, and before you say I should,” He holds a finger to Cyril’s lips to silence him. “I’m certainly not going to ask.”

 

Cyril kisses Gerald’s finger before muttering, “Spoilsport.”

 

“But,” Gerald goes on. “Knowing what I do about Sir John, it wouldn’t surprise me if he gives Lettice that freedom too. And the arrangement pleases Sadie at the same time.”

 

“So, Lettice’s mother doesn’t know about Sir John’s philandering then?”

 

“No, she doesn’t! She would be fit to be tied if she knew! And you can’t let on that you know anything either when you meet Sir John, either.”

 

“When I meet Sir John?” Cyril asks in surprise. “When am I, a lowly oboist on the West End, ever likely to meet Sir John Nettleword-Hughes?”

 

“Nettleford-Hughes,” Gerald corrects Cyril gently. “And you’ll get to meet him when we attend Miss Fordyce’s party at ‘The Nest’. As Lettice’s fiancée, it will be expected that he will be in attendance alongside her, of course, but even more than that, Sir John is a very old and good friend of Miss Fordyce, who met Sir John’s younger sister when they lived together in Germany as young ladies. We’ll all be sleeping under Miss Fordyce’s roof.”

 

Cyril’s eyes grow wide.

 

“So, you can’t say anything about his affair with Miss Young.” Gerald repeats his caution dourly. “I’m serious.”

 

“But if Lettice knows.” Cyril responds.

 

“No, Cyril!” Gerald inhales a horrified breath. “It would be indelicate, and embarrassing and humiliating for both she and I, if it became known that I had been gossiping idly about my best and oldest chum’s fiancée, even if it is to a confidant like you. Surely you can see that!”

 

“Yes! Yes of course!” Cyril quickly corrects himself, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I’m sorry Gerry darling. I promise I won’t breathe a word.”

 

“Good!” Gerald releases a pent-up breath.

 

In an effort to change the subject, Cyril asks, “Do you think Miss Fordyce would sign my photograph of her if take it along with us, Gerald darling?”

 

“I’m sure she would, Cyril darling. It’s evident that Miss Fordyce likes holding court and accepting adulation. But don’t you think that’s little gauche?” He looks askance at his younger lover.

 

“Oh, is that not the done thing?”

 

“Perhaps not for me, Cyril darling, but if it will make you happy, of course you must ask her.”

 

Gerald winds his bare, naturally shapely and lightly haired arms around Cyril, the old mattress under him resisting again as he shifts his weight.

 

“God this bed is uncomfortable, my darling.” Gerald mutters. “Whose room was this, to have such an awful mattress? Even my mattress when I was a boy was more comfortable than this lumpy old thing!”

 

“Hattie tells me that this used to be her Scottish nanny’s bedroom when she was a little girl. The old nursery is just across the hallway, shrouded in dust sheets.”

 

“Ahh…” Gerald opines as he glances around critically at the old fashioned, busy William Morris leaves and berries patterned wallpaper around the walls of the tiny room. “That explains a great deal, then.”

 

“I told you, I much prefer the bed at your flat, Gerry darling.” Cyril replies. “It’s a more comfortable feather mattress, and far more capacious, being a double.” He sighs resignedly. “However, we must make the best of it, for tonight at least.”

 

“Of course, my darling.” Gerald nuzzles his lover, inhaling his scent. “Anywhere you are, I will be happy to be too. However, there is one thing I still don’t understand about your living arrangements here.”

 

“And what’s that?” Cyril asks.

 

“Well, if I remember correctly, you told me that you were Hattie’s first border.”

 

“I was. What of it?”

 

“Well, why does Charles have Hattie’s father’s old bedroom. It is bigger than this little box room, and surely must have a more comfortable double mattress.”

 

“I wasn’t going to sleep in the room of a dead man!” Cyril looks at Gerald with wide eyes. “I have no wish to be kept awake by Mr. Milford’s ghost. You’ve seen his photographs downstairs, Gerry darling.” He shudders in Gerald’s arms. “He was such a dour looking old Victorian. He’s positively the stuff of night terrors!”

 

“Ghost?” Gerald chuckles, not unkindly. “But Hattie’s father didn’t die in his bed. He died in his office.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “I never took you for the superstitious kind, my darling.”

 

“Oh it’s not superstition.” Cyril replies matter-of-factly. “Like Arthur Conan Doyle**************************, I am a firm believer in spiritualism***************************, ever since I went to a séance after my brother died at the Battle of Passchendaele****************************.”

 

“Your brother?”

 

“Yes, my elder brother.”

 

“But… but I… I thought you were estranged from your family, Cyril darling.” Gerald says delicately with a sadness in his voice as he tries to tread carefully around a tender wound of his lover’s.

 

“Oh, I am now, but I wasn’t then. I probably would still be living at home with Mother and Father if Bartholemew hadn’t gone and gotten himself blown up for King and Country*****************************. I think Bartholemew knew who and what I was, even before I did, and he didn’t care. Bartholemew was always the peacemaker of the family, and tried to help my parents see that whilst I wasn’t good at games like him, I was musically talented. I really have him to thank for my father spending money on oboe lessons for me. After Bartholemew died, and I was wracked with grief and guilt, wishing I’d taken the shelling rather than him, I saw an advertisement for a séance in the newspaper. Madam Demidov was her name.”

 

“A Russian émigré?” Gerald asks, spellbound by the revelations of his lover.

 

“Perhaps.” Cyril shrugs his slight, sloping shoulders. “I never enquired. She spoke with a strong, smoky accent, wore strings of jet****************************** beads, a black bandeau******************************* to hold back her hair and had heavily kohl******************************** rimmed eyes. Very dramatic I must say!” He enthuses. “She put me in touch with Bartholemew, and he told me through her, that he is fine on the other side, and that I should go and get on with living my life.”

 

“Well! There you go.” Gerald remarks with raised eyebrows. “Even after three years, I am still learning new things about you, Cyril my darling.” He chuckles again.

 

“Stop laughing at my beliefs, Gerry!” Cyril scolds. “That’s beastly, and most unbecoming in you.”

 

“Oh I’m sorry, Cyril darling.” Gerald apologises. “But I wasn’t laughing at you, or your beliefs. I’ve learned by living away from my own family here in London that the world is made up of all different kinds of people, all with alternative ideas and beliefs.”

 

“That’s alright then.” Cyril demurs. “Then what were you chuckling about?”

 

“I was just thinking, even if that room is haunted by Mr. Milford, I don’t think he would dare haunt Aunt Sally tonight as she recovers from the aftereffects of a bottle and a half of gin.”

 

“Not to mention a box of Bassett’s Liquorice All-Sorts*********************************.” Cyril giggles cheekily.

 

“Indeed.” Gerald agrees.

 

The pair chuckle away for a little while like naughty little boys, extremely amused by the idea of a drunken and possibly diarrhoeal Charles Dunnage scaring away any dead spirits with his snores and flatulence.

 

“Besides, this room was half the cost of old Mr. Milford’s bedroom.” Cyril admits, catching his breath after laughing so much. “And therefore more affordable for a young musician in need of a new home, but with very little in the way of savings.”

 

“Aha!” Gerald chuckles. “Now we get to the nub of it!”

 

The pair cuddle one another and laugh before kissing again, their love and passion growing more deeply as they press against one another.

 

*Morris Motors Limited was a privately owned British motor vehicle manufacturing company established in 1919. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market. By 1926 its production represented forty-two per cent of British car manufacturing. Amongst their more popular range was the Morris Cowley which included a four-seat tourer which was first released in 1920.

 

**Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.

 

***Grosgrain ribbon is a type of fabric ribbon characterized by its distinct horizontal ribbed texture, a result of its heavy, tightly woven construction. Derived from the French term for "coarse texture," it possesses a stiff, sturdy, and durable quality with a matte finish. Historically made from wool and silk, grosgrain ribbon was commonly used for trims on garments and banding on hats.

 

****Prior to 1967 with the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over twenty-one, homosexuality in England was illegal, and in the 1920s when this story is set, carried heavy penalties including prison sentences with hard labour. The law was not changed for Scotland until 1980, or for Northern Ireland until 1982.

 

*****Mock turtle soup originated in England in the mid 1700s. The soup, which substituted calf heads, brains, tails, and trotters for expensive turtle, to duplicate the texture and flavour of the original's turtle meat after the green turtles used to make the original dish were hunted nearly to extinction. Mock turtle soup became so popular over the years that a character called the Mock Turtle—a melancholy animal with a turtle shell and calf parts—appeared in Lewis Carroll's 1865 Alice in Wonderland.

 

******Suet dumplings are a traditional British dish, consisting of small, fluffy balls made from a dough of flour, suet (beef or vegetable fat), and water, often with added herbs or seasonings. They are cooked in a simmering liquid, such as a stew or casserole, where they swell to become soft and absorb the surrounding flavours, providing a hearty and comforting addition to winter meals.

 

*******Beef Wellington, a dish of beef fillet coated with pâté and duxelles (a finely chopped mushroom mixture), then wrapped in pastry, is believed to be named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, likely in commemoration of his victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. While the exact origin story is debated, it's generally accepted that the dish is of English or French origin, possibly evolving from the French dish "filet de boeuf en croute".

 

********An English trifle is a classic, multi-layered English dessert featuring sponge cake or ladyfingers soaked in sherry or juice, a fruit element (often in a jelly), a rich custard, and a topping of whipped cream, sometimes garnished with chocolate shavings or nuts. The dessert is traditionally served in a glass dish to showcase its distinct and colourful layers.

 

*********“I'm in Love with You” is a popular love song written by John Wolohan, Ben Black, and Neil Moret which was released in Britain in 1925.

 

**********Historically, queer slang emerged as a way for queer people to communicate discreetly, forming a sense of community and shared identity. Using female names or terms could be a way to signal belonging within this coded language. It was also used for protection, allowing homosexual men to talk about one another discreetly in public without the implication of homosexuality and the repercussions that came with it as a criminal act.

 

***********The Shakespearean play The Tragedy of King Lear, often shortened to King Lear, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between his daughters Goneril and Regan, who pay homage to gain favour, feigning love. It was regularly performed at the Old Vic theatre in London throughout the 1920s, with seasons in 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1925 to 1928.

 

************The Old Vic theatre in the London borough of Lambeth was formerly the home of a theatre company that became the nucleus of the National Theatre. The company’s theatre building opened in 1818 as the Royal Coburg and produced mostly popular melodramas. In 1833 it was redecorated and renamed the Royal Victoria and became popularly known as the Old Vic. Between 1880 and 1912, under the management of Emma Cons, a social reformer, the Old Vic was transformed into a temperance amusement hall known as the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern, where musical concerts and scenes from Shakespeare and opera were performed. Lilian Baylis, Emma Cons’s niece, assumed management of the theatre in 1912 and two years later presented the initial regular Shakespeare season. By 1918 the Old Vic was established as the only permanent Shakespearean theatre in London, and by 1923 all of Shakespeare’s plays had been performed there. The Old Vic grew in stature during the 1920s and ’30s under directors such as Andrew Leigh, Harcourt Williams, and Tyrone Guthrie.

 

*************Gordon's London Dry Gin was developed by Alexander Gordon, a Londoner of Scots descent. He opened a distillery in the Southwark area in 1769, later moving in 1786 to Clerkenwell. The Special London Dry Gin he developed proved successful, and its recipe remains unchanged to this day. The top markets for Gordon's are (in descending order) the United Kingdom, the United States and Greece. Gordon's has been the United Kingdom’s number one gin since the late Nineteenth Century. It is the world's best-selling London dry gin.

 

**************Sexual inversion is a theory of homosexuality popular primarily in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa.

 

***************A tie pin, also known as a stick pin or tie tack, is a decorative pin with a needle-like shaft and a decorative element on top, used to secure the folds of a cravat or tie and keep it in place against the shirt. Tie pins were most popular and widely worn during the Nineteenth Century, beginning in the 1830s and continuing until the 1920s, though they also saw a resurgence in the 1950s and 1960s. Initially a functional accessory to secure cravats, they became decorative symbols of wealth and status for wealthy gentlemen before designs became mass-produced and even adopted by women. Their popularity waned with the advent of more modern tie clips after the Great War, but remained a stylish element in men's fashion in the post war years. A tie pin pierces through the tie, through the shirt, and is then secured with a backing or a T-bar and chain, providing a polished and decorative finish.

 

***************The House of Finnigans was a British luxury luggage and trunk maker established in 1830, originally in Manchester and in New Bond Street in London in 1879. The House of Finnigans manufactured and produced a wide range of luxury products, including trunks, bags, fashion, jewellery, timepieces, and silverware. In 1968, Finnigans closed its New Bond Street store. The company remained a family-run business until it shut down its last store in 1988.

 

****************The term "trollop" was introduced in the early 1600s, with the earliest known evidence of its use appearing in the writings of George Wither in 1615. The term, a noun, was already established in the English language by that time.

 

*****************The carte de visite (which translates from the French as 'visiting card') was a format of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero in 1851.

 

******************Evelyn Laye was an English actress and singer known for her performances in operettas and musicals. Born into a theatrical family, she made her professional début in 1915 aged fifteen and quickly established herself in musical comedy. By 1920 she was starring in leading roles in the West End at Daly's Theatre and other popular theatres, becoming London's highest-paid star.

 

*******************The Café Royal in Regent Street, Piccadilly was originally conceived and set up in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, who was a French wine merchant. He had to flee France due to bankruptcy, arriving in Britain in 1863 with his wife, Célestine, and just five pounds in cash. He changed his name to Daniel Nicols and under his management - and later that of his wife - the Café Royal flourished and was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world. By the 1890s the Café Royal had become the place to see and be seen at. It remained as such into the Twenty-First Century when it finally closed its doors in 2008. Renovated over the subsequent four years, the Café Royal reopened as a luxury five star hotel.

 

********************The word "strumpet" was introduced in the early Fourteenth Century (around 1327), with its earliest recorded attestation in the Oxford English Dictionary. Its origin is uncertain, though it is thought to derive from Latin roots related to "disgrace" or "whoredom," such as stuprum.

 

*********************Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on the 27th of June 1893 and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresario Augustin Daly, but he failed to make a success of it, and between 1895 and 1915 the British producer George Edwardes ran the house, where he presented a series of long-running musical comedies, including The Geisha (1896), and English adaptations of operettas, including The Merry Widow (1907). After Edwardes died in 1915 Daly's had one more large success, The Maid of the Mountains (1917), which ran for 1,352 productions, but after that the fortunes of the theatre declined; Noël Coward's play Sirocco (1927) was a notable failure. By the mid-1930s Leicester Square had become better known for cinemas. Daly's was sold to Warner Brothers who demolished it and erected a large cinema on the site.

 

**********************The idiom “richer than Croesus” means very wealthy. This term alludes to Croesus, the legendary King of Lydia and supposedly the richest man on earth. The simile was first recorded in English in 1577.

 

***********************Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes.

 

************************A lothario is a man who behaves selfishly and irresponsibly in his sexual relationships with women.

 

*************************The phrase "climbing the greasy pole" was coined by Benjamin Disraeli, a British statesman and Prime Minister, in 1868 when he remarked, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole," after achieving his ambition of becoming Prime Minister. Disraeli used this metaphor to describe the difficult and slippery path to the top of a profession or political career.

 

*************************Although gaining popularity between 1935 and 1940, and then again after the release of 1959 Universal Pictures Hollywood film by the same name starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall, the term “pillow talk” was first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1914, making Gerald’s use of it as a fashionable young man of the 1920s, quite appropriate.

 

**************************Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a staunch believer in spiritualism, which he saw as a "New Revelation" from God, embracing it fully after the deaths of his wife and son. He became a prominent leader and advocate for the movement, traveling the world to give lectures and write extensively on spiritual phenomena like séances, spirit mediums, automatic writing, and even the existence of fairies and spirits in an unseen world.

 

***************************Spiritualism is a system of belief or religious practice based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, especially through mediums. There was a significant increase of interest and belief in spiritualism in Britain after the Great War with so many young men killed on the front, by mothers, fathers, widows and siblings wishing to find peace and come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

 

****************************The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917.

 

*****************************"For King and Country" was an English battle cry, a slogan used by soldiers during the Great War who were willing to sacrifice their lives for their sovereign and nation.

 

******************************Jet jewellery is made from jet, a form of fossilized wood, creating a unique, lightweight, and dark black gemstone. It is considered an organic gemstone, and the most famous type, Whitby jet, comes from the Yorkshire coast of England. Historically, jet was widely used, especially during the Victorian era for mourning jewellery after Queen Victoria popularized its use. The stone can be carved, polished, and faceted into various jewellery pieces like beads, crosses, and brooches.

 

*******************************A bandeau is a narrow band worn round the head to hold the hair in position.

 

********************************Kohl is a cosmetic product, specifically an eyeliner, traditionally made from crushed stibnite (antimony sulfide). Modern formulations often include galena (lead sulfide) or other pigments like charcoal. Kohl is known for its ability to darken the edges of the eyelids, creating a striking, eye-enhancing effect. Kohl has a long history, with ancient Egyptians using it to define their eyes and protect them from the sun and dust, however there was a resurgence in its use in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1920s, kohl eyeliner was a popular makeup trend, particularly among women embracing the "flapper" aesthetic. It was used to create a dramatic, "smoky eye" look by smudging it onto the lash line and even the inner and outer corners of the eyes. This contrasted with the more demure, natural looks favoured in the pre-war era.

 

********************************* George Bassett & Co., known simply as Bassett's, was an English confectionery company and brand. The company was founded in Sheffield by George Bassett in 1842. The Sheffield Directory of 1842 records George Bassett as being "wholesale confectioner, lozenge maker and British wine trader". In 1851, Bassett took on an apprentice called Samuel Meggitt Johnson, who later became Bassett's son-in-law. His descendants ran the company until Gordon Johnson retired as chairman in the 1970s. Bassett's was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1929. They opened up a factory in Broad Street, Sheffield in 1852. The site moved in 1933 to Owlerton in another district of the city and remains there today. Unclaimed Babies were being produced during the Nineteenth Century, especially in the North West of England. In 1918, Bassetts launched their own range of the soft sweets which they called Peace Babies. They were re-launched as Jelly Babies in the 1950s and were allegedly thrown at the Beatles during concerts as they were a favourite of George Harrison. The Liquorice All-Sorts variety was created by accident when Bassett salesman Charlie Thompson dropped the samples of several different products in front of a prospective client. The client was taken by the idea of selling the sweets all mixed up and in return for the success, the company allowed the client to name the new brand. Barratt & Co. Ltd. was acquired in a friendly takeover by Bassett's in 1966. In 1989, the combined firms were acquired by the then-united Cadbury-Schweppes company in a deal brokered for ninety-one million pounds. In 2016, all the products were re-marketed under the Maynards Bassett dual branding.

 

This rather cluttered and untidy scene may look real to you, but it is in fact made up entirely with miniatures from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces I have had since I was a teenager.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

Central to our story, the gold and amethyst tie pin, which you can see glinting in the light at the very front of the washstand next to Gerald’s pocket watch is amongst the smallest pieces I have in my collection. I acquired it along with a selection of other tiny pieces of jewellery as part of an artisan jewellery box from a specialist doll house supplier when I was a teenager. Amazingly, none of the pieces have been lost over the passing years since I bought them even though they are only around two millimetres in diameter. The blue and white floral ewer set, I acquired at the same time as well as the pretty lace and floral fan you can see behind it and the painted paper Victorian fan with the wooden handle. Both are miniature artisan pieces. Gerald’s gold pocket watch I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House shop in the United Kingdom.

 

Cyril’s shaving brush with its brass handle and real dyed hog’s hair bristle brush, lather bowl and brass safely razor are all artisan miniatures I acquired through the Little Green Workshop in the United Kingdom who specialise in high end, high quality miniatures.

 

The baby blue Bakelite photograph fame containing Sylvia Fordyce’s photo is an authentic replica of a real sized Art Deco photo frame. An artisan piece, it comes from Doreen Jeffries Small Wonders Miniature store in the United Kingdom.

 

Cyril’s ornate Edwardian silver hairbrush and comb are part of a larger set of dressing table silver which have been made with great attention to detail, and come from Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. His eau-de-nil hand mirror and nail file are part of a larger dressing table set also. Made with incredible detail to make the pieces as realistic as possible, they are part of a Chrysnbon Miniature set. The mirror even contains a real piece of reflective mirror. Judy Berman founded Chrysnbon Miniatures in the 1970’s. She created affordable miniature furniture kits patterned off her own full-size antiques collection. She then added a complete line of accessories to compliment the furniture. The style of furniture and accessories reflect the turn-of-the-century furnishings of a typical early American home. At the time, collectible miniatures were expensive because they were mostly individually crafted.

 

All the photographs you can see – family photos, the photo of Sylvia Fordyce, the photo of Gerald and all the photos, tinted postcards and carte de visites stuck up on the wall are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames you can see are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each.

 

Cyril’s box of Gillette Blue Blades, Beau Brummell Hair Lotion and tube of Brylcreem have all been made with great attention paid to the packaging to make it as authentic as possible. 1:12 artisan miniatures they were also made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire.

 

Gillette introduced its revolutionary disposable blade safety razor in 1903, after King Camp Gillette filed a patent for the concept in 1901. This system featured a reusable handle and a thin, disposable double-edge blade, making shaving more convenient by eliminating the need to sharpen blades. The initial production run in 1903 saw the sale of fifty-one razors and one hundred and sixty-eight blades, paving the way for Gillette to become a dominant force in the shaving industry, especially after supplying the razors for World War I troops. Gillette blue blades were dipped in blue lacquer. They became one of the most recognisable blades in the world.

 

Marlo Products in Cleveland, Ohio began its life in the Nineteenth Century, producing a wide range of consumer products. They are best known for their Epsom Salts. Amongst other items, they produced Beau Brummel Hair Lotion which was claimed to prevent dryness and keep stubborn hair firmly in place if massaged into the hair after shampooing. Today, Marlo Products has left behind its consumer brand and is known for modern industrial water treatment equipment after a significant evolution in the business from their early consumer products to specialized industrial solutions.

 

The washstand is made from deal pine and was supplied by Streets Ahead Miniatures.

 

The William Morris leaves and berries wallpaper was scaled down to size and printed by me.

Done