To whom it may concern

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 22

To whom it may concern

Elizabeth Moody and Richard Poore will appear in Court Theatre’s production of “84 Charing Cross Road.” It is based on an amusing book by Helene Banff and will be directed by Jonathan Elsom. In 1949 a struggling American writer, Helene Banff, who loved beautiful and antique books, began a correspondence with Marks and Co., a London antiquarian bookseller at 84 Charing Cross Road. This warm and compassionate exchange of letters was to last for 20 years and became a best

selling book when the letters were collected together and published. It has now been adapted for the stage. It is, to quote the “Daily Express,” “a good and happy play about good and happy people. A triumphant evening for fun, happiness, a little sadness and a lot of goodwill.” The letters begin formally: New York City October 5, 1949

Gentlemen: Your ad in the “Saturday Review of Literature” says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase “antiquarian book-sellers” scares me somewhat, as I equate “antique” with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here, except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes and Noble’s grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies. Very truly yours,

(Miss) Helene Banff But as the years pass, the formality is broken down: January 10, 1958 Frank? You still there? i swore i wouldn’t write till i got work. Sold a story to Harper’s magazine, slaved over it for three weeks and they paid me $2OO for it. Now they’ve got me writing the story of my life in a book. They’re advancing me $l5OO to write it and thdy figure it shouldn’t take more than six months. I

f don’t mind for myself but ■ the landlord worries. Helene ! This play is more than just a reading of letters — the characters come alive and the audience is drawn into their lives and the relationship that transcends the flow of letters across the Atlantic. The cast includes Wickham Pack, Geoffrey Wearing, Yvonne Martin, and Craig Hood. It will open on May 5 and will play until June 2.