ALS signed “G. Bernard Shaw,” one page both sides, 9 x 7, November 29, 1905. Writing to Gilbert Murray, British scholar who served as the basis for the character Adolphus Cusins in the play Major Barbara, discussed here. In part: “I intended to send you the script of the last act; but I refrained, partly because I hadn’t time to write, and partly because your reluctance to accept the Undershaft inheritance finally drove me to clinch the matter by a surpassingly mean reference to Brailsford, which I thought had better be exploded on you from the stage. I do not see how you can get out of it now. [Harley Granville] Barker suggested that if Stephen [Undershaft] (the pious son) were to talk Murray-Margolouth the effect would be irresistible; but we resisted the temptation as a breach of good taste.
Barker was at his best, even as a drum virtuoso; he came out magnificently after being sticklike beyond all belief at rehearsals. [Louis] Calvert suddenly realized that his part was blasphemous, and that Balfour, glaring from a box, might order him to the stake at any moment. He collapsed hopelessly and said, in the last act, ‘they have to find their own drains; but I look after their dreams.’ The last act was consequently a hideous failure…
I am urging Barker to take a music hall engagement for a turn entitled ‘Bad Taste: or My Gallery of Eminent Men.’” Intersecting central horizontal and vertical fold and scattered soiling, otherwise fine condition.
One of the literary world’s most famous playwrights here writes his friend Murray, one of the most well-respected scholars of the era, whom he had been consulting on the work; the title character is engaged to the character of Cusins, who like Murray is a scholar of Greek literature. Specifically, Shaw addresses the premise that Major Barbara Undershaft of the Salvation Army would vehemently oppose accepting a donation from her estranged father, a wealthy arms manufacturer. “I intended to send you the script of the last act; but I refrained...partly because your reluctance to accept the Undershaft inheritance finally drove me to clinch the matter by a surpassingly mean reference to Brailsford,” Shaw writes, also mentioning Granville-Barker, who co-produced the original British production and starred as Cusins. The playwright later wrote a preface for the play's publication reinforcing his belief that donations can always be used for good, regardless of origin. He also continuously praised Murray for helping influence the work—something apparent on this page. RRAuction COA.
