SHAW’S “ROMANCE”

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 November 1931, Page 9

SHAW’S “ROMANCE”

LETTERS TO ELLEN TERRY. LONDON, October 24. Gordon Craig, son of Ellen Terry, in his book, “Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self,” characterises Bernard Shaw’s in publishing his mother’s letters to him as that of a man lacking the ordinary good manners associated with private letters to or from a woman. He suggests that it was caddish, and adds: “A man holding letters as Shaw did my mother’s, does not part with them. I won’t discuss why. It simply is nbt done.” Bernard Shaw, in an interview, said: “Craig agreed to the publication, which was held lip for some time awaiting his consent, blit I insisted.” Enid Rose, an authoress, friend of Craig, discloses that Ellen Terry’s executors sold Shaw’s letters without reference to Craig. Shaw, supplied copies of the letters, and also wrote a preface. Craig consented to publication, but unfortunately, the book was advertised as containing Ellen Terry s love letters, revealing a tender courtship. This was wholly misleading. It gave the world the impression that Shaw was Ellen Terry’s lover, in which there is not a shred of truth. Moreover, Craig found the book in cheap Parisian bookshops surrounded with questionable publications, which are banned in England. All this was so objectionable that he is now seeking to correct the impression that they were real love letters. It is a great sorrow to him that the romantic beauty of his mother’s life is thus lowered and cheapened.