Pièce 4 - Letter from George to Ruth Mallory, 1-2 February 1923

Letter to Ruth Mallory, from New York [no letterhead on 3 lined pages, but last page is on ‘Waldorf-Astoria, New York’ letterheaded paper]

Brief Summary
Describes his day to day activities – social engagements, an interview with the press, attending the American Alpine Club dinner, drinking gin during Prohibition and his impressions of New York.

Detailed Summary
[1 Feb] – Expresses sympathy that the family wanted everything to be done for them and she had no Vi to help and couldn’t go out freely in the evening and be gay. She must be lonely and he was lonely too at times.

He was sitting in a small restaurant having dinner. Life had been pretty full since he had returned to New York last Monday. He had dined with the Watlens on Monday evening. He had been woken early on Tuesday morning by the noises of 5th Avenue even though he was on the 12th floor. He mostly ate breakfast in the hotel and spend the morning preparing his speech or paying business calls. Before his speech there was music played by some very talented Russians. He spoke for about 20 mins and thought they were satisfied though not enthusiastic.

[Continues later] – He had visited the Oppenheimers [she was a relation of Aunt Jessie’s] and they had been to a revue which was appalling and his ear drums were split.

He had been interviewed by a young man who collected news for the press and was connected with the hotel. Then had a chance meeting with Tom Pym, head of Cambridge House in London and an old Cambridge friend. After dinner he went to the University Club, where he was a temporary member, to look at some of the new books and the Manchester Guardian Weekly.

On Wednesday morning he intended to work on his speech but had been interrupted by telephone calls and one or two letters. He had spoken to Mr Carson for over an hour. He was a ‘curious shrivelled respectable disillusioned observant journalistic person’. He had lunched with Dr Pierce and friends and then been taken to the Presbyterian hospital where they tested his lungs, finding out that his vital capacity was 2 x normal.

[2 Feb] – He had been for tea with Mrs Wheeler, a theatrical lady. At a dinner at the American Alpine Club he sat next to a parson who was keen to impart information but was without interest in anything he [Mallory] had to say. On the other side of him was a lady who had climbed a peak in Alaska and endured a temperature of -60 degrees and whose intelligence had remained frozen even since.

In his speech the parson had read three passages from the Everest book of 1921. He discussed the problem of climbing Mount Everest and afterwards sat at a round table and was bombarded with questions.

They drank nothing but water [due to Prohibition] but afterwards he went with an Alpine Club man to the swellest of N.Y. clubs. They went down to the old wine cellar which was lined with lockers and retrieved a bottle of gin from one of them. The barman mixed three long drinks known as ‘Tom Collins’.

On Thursday he had gone downtown to meet George Walton and another man called Hubbard at the Corn Exchange. They had gone to Hubbard’s club for lunch at the top of one of the highest buildings in N.Y. They went up in the express lift to floor 35 and then slowly up to 40.

He had then met Mrs Cobden Sanderson for tea. Then was busy with arrangements until Poel came to see him. Poel was an old friend from Cambridge days, the nephew of William Poel, who helped to start their Marlowe Society at Cambridge. Poel gave him a ticket for Hamlet, in which he played the ghost.

His lectures in Philadelphia had gone well and he had enjoyed it. Lists upcoming lectures. He had been to see manuscripts of Boswell’s letters to Temple in Pierpont Morgan’s Library.