20th November 1937

20th November 1937

Sarvar to 27 Queen Square, Bath

Dear Madeleine!

Thank you very much for the film papers. I enjoyed studying them very much. They arrived just in the right moment. As I was laying in bed with a bad cold and felt bored with everything. The others all went out to the shooting. And I felt angry with everything. But these magazines helped me to do away with the rest of that dull afternoon. Now I am up again and run about. Although my nose is still full and I have a cough. But at a certain time of the year everybody must go through colds. Mary D’Arcy is just now laying in bed with a cold, but she will get up for lunch. We shall be very lonely when she goes next Monday. We had a marvellous time during the shootings, the castle full of guests and during the shootings we went out and watched them. Deidi and her husband are here since the 30th October, but I am very sorry they are leaving 22nd November. They are going back over Paris again. Lucky Deidi to travel and see so much of the world. Her husband is great fun. We play ping-pong with him after every meal. He might grow too fat!!! While Deidi is thin and pale. But they are very happy and very much in love. The best film I saw was Camille. But I didn’t like Greta Garbo very much. It was the first time I saw her. In the last scene where Camille is dying, her acting was very good. I’m not very fond of Robert Taylor, he is too sweet and weak. Yesterday was Mammi’s feast and we had a gypsy band who played during lunch. I love the Hungarian music. Do you ever listen to radio Budapest. They generally have gypsy’s playing at 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening. Did you ever hear “There is but one beautiful girl in the world”, which is recited Baroness Orczi’s “Pimpernel and Rosemary”. Do read the book too. It is very true. I often hear people tell me the same stories which happen to all Hungarians living in Roumania. There is another Hungarian song I love extremely, it is called Gloomy Sunday. I found the English text in an English paper. It runs like this.

“Sunday is gloomy

My hours are slumberless

Dearest the shadows I live with are numberless Little white flowers will never awaken you Where the black coach of sorrow has taken you Angels don’t think of ever returning you Would they be angry if I thought of joining you Gloomy Sunday”

It is rather sad, and I must warn you not to listen too much to it. There are a great many people who committed suicide in listening to it. So beware! I hope you don’t think that I have gone quite mad by reciting all sorts of poetry. But I really don’t know what to do. Did I ever write to you about the place we are living? It has got rather a long history and a ghost haunting and so on. But nobody did meet the ghost yet. I shall write all about it in my next letter. But that won’t come until I get a nice and long letter of you. Writing letters, reading and knitting is my pastime here. It is a shame I don’t receive as many letters as I write. Good-bye for today and I do hope to have a letter of you very very soon.

Much love Loll