Record Number: 31672

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Meeting held at “Hillsborough”: 24 Jan 1940
R. H. Robson in the Chair.
1. Minutes of last read & approved.

[...]

7. Two one act plays were then read. The first of these starred Margaret Dilks as Becky Sharp, a part which she read so successfully as to make her nervous about the effect on her own character afterwards. The Secretary has had the pleasure of seeing Margaret Dilks two or three times since, and is glad to report no noticeable deleterious effects.
Other parts in the play were taken by,
Muriel Stevens as Amelia, very demurely
C. E. Stansfield [as] George Osbourne
R. H. Robson [as] Joseph Sedley
A. B. Dilks [as] Rawdon Gawley

8. The second play was Five Birds in a Cage. And here too, a new planet entered the firmament, to whom the other luminaries did obeissance [sic].

Rosamund Wallis was the Duchess of Wiltshire, giving us a delicate mixture of the old time hauteur of Vere de Vere, and the kindly condescension of the great lady who travels third class, and lectures on the appeal of socialism. She had, so to speak, two beaux on her string, Victor Alexander as the prepossessing but ineffective young peer, and Roger Moore as the young foreman plumber. Into this dual situation Rosamund Wallis entered with such verve, as to become for the time being what the late William Fryer Harvey would have called “one of the most forward looking members of the aristocracy,” & on the strength of the inspiration invited the two young men to the theatre the next day where she continued their education.
Mary Robson read a very pleasing part as the shy but ambitious little London midinette. We were sorry her part was not longer. R. H. Robson stepped into the breach at the last moment to become the lift man, where however he had perforce to remain stolid.

[Signed as a true record] Rosamund Wallis'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

26 Feb 1940

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Hilliers, Northcourt Avenue

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Rosamund Wallis

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

Quaker or associated with the Friends

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Victor Alexander

Title:

Minutes of the meeting of the XII Book Club held 24 January 1940

Genre:

Minutes

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Notebook

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

reading group

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Source Information:

Record ID:

31672

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

Margaret Dilks

Title:

XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943)

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

56–8

Additional Information:

Victor Alexander was currently secretary to the XII Book Club. It is inferred from this, and from the handwriting, that he was the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

Margaret Dilks, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943), private collection, 56–8, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=31672, accessed: 18 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

This is the reading, possibly brief and cursory, implied by the Chair's act of signing the minutes. It probably followed immediately after listening to the public reading of the minutes by the Secretary.
Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).