Evening star., 1962-04-15

Cooke sent him because he
was phenomenal in French,
George. IS, fell in love with
his teacher, Mademoiselle
Tardy, "a, and she with him.
He was too young-the af-
fair was not carnal but it
was passionate; to read it is
very moving.
Home in Wales, Miss
Cooke discovered a scholar
ship in French honors for
Christ Church College, OK
ford, and she encouraged her
star pupil to compete for it.
The odds were staggering
the field included boys from
the best schools in England
and America, and Greek
Greek to George was a
requisite. But George learned
his Greek while cramming
his other subjects, and won.
X
To turn back. Throughout
his life, learning had gone
hand in hand with an over
poWering love of the theater
and theater for George
was the movies. A hundred
names are recalled with de-
light-Mary Miles Minter,
Tom Mix. Buck Jones, Doug
las Fairbanks, Thomas
Meighan, Annette Keller
man. In Oxford he saw his
first play in English (smoked
his first cigarette. too, drank
his first hard liquor, made
his first telephone CALI al
though he had seen classic
French drama in France. In
Oxford, for the first time
since he had opened a book,
the theater became a seri-
Gus. and not a sporadic, in
reference to his pursuit of
scholarship. He Joined the
dramatic society. he acted,
he prompted, he wrote. He
was overwhelmed with the
sensation that not a double
first in French and Italian
was his goal, but the stage.
He was otherwise over
Whelmed. In France. Mad
emoiselle Tardy had not been
his only amour. There had
been a slight. fleeting, al
most unrecognized attach
ment for Lambard, a fellow
student. During vacation
from oxford there had been
girls, but during his fourth
year he suffered a nervous
breakdown. caused. not only
by the conflict of theater and
studies, but also by a hope
less infatuation for the assist
ant stage manager of his
undergraduate play.
He left college just before
his final exam and went
said, such an occurrence is
said, such an occurrence is
forgiven by society; if you
were Is it would be diSal-
lowed" She procured a doc
tors certificate that he was
seriously Ill. and thus as
sured the possibility of his
eventual return to oxford.
She fought for him-made
him play golf, and got him
a tutoring job in the family
of Lloyd George. The cure
was slow. but two events has
tened it-he fell in love with
Megan, the daughter of Lloyd
George, and a play he forced
himself to write was accepted
and successfully produced by
a leading professional COM
pany.
At the end we see George,
without a degree, without his
Double Firsts. without even
ultimate direction, but in his
theater again. acting bit
parts in London.
Mr.. Williams is a magnifi-
cent stylist. In his book
there are three literary styles.
The writing of his Welsh
homelife is dense and poetic
"a long and tight-packed
sentence will end with a colon
followed by four modifiers
that refer back a half page
or more. Every paragraph
had a verbal aperitif - for
example, the family pictures
are copied from daguerreo-
types with appalling ex-
pertise."
The second part is brighter
and more elastic nara
tive, with much of the
French story told in a skill
full polyglot of English and
French. The oxford story is
riotous in subject and style
the best writing about under
graduates since Ulysses" I
caution the reader to peel his
eye for the tale of "faute-de-
Muriel."