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MEMORANDUM re Mr. John Bland Jameson (12 May 1938 - 7 February 1939)
12 May 1938 I received a letter from Mr. John Bland Jameson, dated from the Theatre Arts Club, saying that he had wished for a long time to make contact with me on the grounds of my unique eminence in certain matters of philosophy, and particularly occult philosophy. He claimed to have studied a good many of my works and to possess some of the rarer examples. (He was born on March 28 1918, educated at Winchester and Magdalen Cambridge, but refused to complete his course because he was stage struck; this annoyed his family very much. His father is Colonel Jameson, late of the Indian Medical Service (See Who's Who) The letter concluded by inviting me to dinner.
Finding myself in the neighbourhood of the Theatre Arts Club, I dropped in there at 1.30 on the chance of finding Mr. Jameson. I did so, and we had a drink together. He gave me his address and telephone number—6 Hasker Street—Kensington 4145, and asked me to dine at 8 o'clock on the following Thursday 19 May.
Mr. Jameson was living in a very curious way. He occupied a dark, crowded, and very depressing basement, and had his meals cooked—or rather miscooked— by a woman across the street, at No. 15; and apparently because of some law, about which I am not quite clear, he had to fetch the plates across himself. I thought this a very curious arrangement, but our conversation was very satisfactory, and he expressed a wish to study with me on the subjects in which I am supposed, rightly or wrongly, to be pre-eminent.
27 May [1938]. I arranged to call for him, and took him to lunch at the Demos Restaurant, Shaftesbury Avenue. We went on after lunch to various picture galleries, and I found that he was completely ignorant of art.
1 June [1938]. Mr. Jameson asked me to lunch on the following day.
2 June [1938]. I called for him at the Arts Theatre Club, and we went off, I think to Rule's, but I am not quite sure. In the course of the conversation, it transpired that he was going down to Cornwall for July and August to play with the Cornish Shakespearean Festival Society.
The house at 6 Hasker Street consists of two parts:
(a) Basement—study with back door, leading to area and up steps to street. Windowless bedroom cut off by curtains from a bathroom in a penthouse. This had been a kitchen and he had turned it into a bathroom for the reasons shortly following.
(b) Ground Floor—This is an excellent double room with large windows at each end; the room runs right through the house. This room had been completely neglected by Mr.. Jameson; there were odd pieces of furniture stuck about it, most of them in a very dilapidated condition, and the room was not used at all, except on such occasions as a party, when furniture and provisions were brought in by the caterers.
(c) A door shuts off the upper part of the house, which is, therefore, a sort of maisonette. This part was occupied by a Mr.. David Fletcher of Lloyd's; the front room, large and light, used as a sitting room, the back room used as a bedroom; and from the bedroom, a narrow flight of stairs led to another bathroom. The whole house is completely electrified.
Finding that he was leaving the lower part of the house unoccupied, I offered to take it from him during his absence, and he agreed to this, suggesting the rent at 30/- a week. I was to vacate the premises on Sept 20 as, although Mr.. Fletcher was leaving the upper part of the house on or before that date, another tenant was expected to take it over.
I think I must have gone down again to Hasker Street on that day, though I do not remember for what purpose.
3 June [1938]. I met Mr.. Jameson at 10.45 a.m. at Colombo's in Greek Street, where we exchanged contract letters of which copies are attached.
8 & 9 June [1938]. Mr. Jameson gave a party lasting from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. at his house in the ground floor to celebrate his departure. There was a considerable crowd of tenth rate theatrical and screen people' nobody present was of any social or other importance. I was considerably surprised and a little disgusted.
9 June [1938]. I met Mr. Jameson at the York Minster, Dean Street, for a drink at 7 o'clock.
10 June [1938]. I met Mr. Jameson at Victoria at 6 o'clock, and he handed me the keys of 6 Hasker Street.
12 June [1938]. I thought I would walk in and inspect the premises at my leisure, and found that the keys would not open the front door. This is a typical incident. I have never seen a house so ill-kept and so badly run in every way.
14 June [1938]. I arranged with a locksmith to adjust the keys and went over to 6 Hasker Street with a few odd things in a suitcase, as I was entitled to use the ground floor for the purpose of putting it in order, furnishing it, and so on, free of charge until July 1. I interviewed the charwoman, Mrs Barrett of 48 Rawlings Street S.W.3.
16 June [1938]. After a confusion of telephone calls, I met Mr. Jameson at the Arts Theatre Club. He asked me and a friend to lunch with him, which we did. He had to rush off immediately after.
20 June [1938]. I went to 6 Hasker Street and slept. I think that by this time a bed had been put into the room on the ground floor.
22 June [1938]. I took Mr. Jameson to lunch at the Escargots Bienvenu in Greek Street.
23 June [1938]. Matters between Mr. Jameson and myself had developed in the question of our proposed course of tuition. He called for me in his car at lunch, and drove me out to the Richmond studio of Lady Harris [Frieda Harris], with whom I was working to prepare a new and original set of Tarot cards [The Book of Thoth] based upon ancient traditions according to the best classical sources of information. He also inspected the drawings for a new edition of the book called '777', which is a work of reference in which symbols of many religions are presented in tabular form.
24 June [1938]. I have noted in my diary "made deal with J.B.J." I think this must refer to the sale of some rare books, for which he paid me, I believe, £20.
25 June [1938]. Completed moving my household good to 6 Hasker Street.
28 June [1938]. I had a long talk with Mr. Jameson on various subjects; he was still very anxious to extend his collection of my books and MSS. In the course of our conversation, he expressed a desire to become definitely a student of my work, and further, to be educated in such matters as Latin, chess, mathematics, which he had neglected.
30 June [1938]. I lunched with Mr. Jameson, or he with me—my diary does not say which. We laid down definite lines on which his career was to be pursued.
1 July [1938]. Mr. Jameson went through my rare books and bought a number of them for the sum of £40 in all. We also did a certain number of scientific experiments connected with his proposed work, and I found him remarkable gifted, which encouraged me to continue.
5 July [1938]. Lunch at Escargot Bienvenu. Scientific experiments continued in the afternoon, with remarkable success.
11 July [1938]. Part of my object in taking over 6 Hasker Street had been to establish a clinic for certain treatment; I was myself to be the subject of the first experiment, and I began work with a masseur named Henry Johnson.
18 July [1938]. I wrote to Mr. Jameson from which it is apparent that he had gone away before this; I think it must have been on the previous Saturday.
24 July [1938]. Mr. Jameson gave me a trunk call; he had been down in Snowdonia.
28 July [1938]. I received a long letter from Mr. Jameson including an account of scientific experiments that he had made on the lines indicated by myself.
1 August [1938]. I am planning a journey to Cornwall, as suggested by Mr. Jameson on his telephone call, and I think also in his letter of the 28th.
3 August [1938]. I took the 9.50 to Penzance and took a room at the Lobster Pot in Mousehole.
5 August [1938]. Mr. Jameson lunched with me. Saw him as Silvius in 'As You Like It'.
6 August [1938]. I spent two hours at the rehearsal of 'The Tempest'; dined with Mr. Jameson, and talked with him until late.
7 August [1938]. Mr. Jameson came to dinner with me, and we talked over matters of philosophy.
8 August [1938]. I lunched with Mr. Jameson. Some contract letters had been prepared; I did not make copies of these and they are in his possession. But what it amounted to was that he was to take a year training with me; if this period should prove satisfactory, it was to be extended, and ultimately, he was to become my successor in the particular branch of work of which I am the exponent. This was, in fact, a sort of adoption; on my death he would inherit the whole of my property of the kind determined by these subjects of study. He also agreed to take one of the Founders' shares of £100 in the proposed Clinic.
9 August [1938]. I spent the day with Mr. Jameson, and drove out with him to Fowey. On this occasion I gave him a letter with regard to the matter of his succeeding me in my work. This means that I spent the whole day with him, except when he was actually playing his part.
10 August [1938]. I met Mr. Jameson at the Post Office: this was apparently an accident, but I do not appear to have seen him otherwise.
13 August [1938]. Mr. Jameson and I lunched together. He was apparently in a somewhat frivolous mood, and I thought that he was not taking our arrangement seriously enough.
14 August [1938]. I dined with Mr. Jameson. Our agreement was finally sealed; also the matter of the Founders' share in the clinic. He drove me to the station, and saw me off at 9 p.m.
17 August [1938]. Mr. Jameson sent me his cheque for £100 for the Founders share.
31 August [1938]. During these latter days there were some casual communications about details. In particular, we had proposed to start a joint banking account so as to keep the funds for our special common interests apart from personal expenses.
3 September [1938]. At 9 o'clock Mr. Jameson telephoned me from the country, apparently to say that everything was in order.
5 September [1938]. I dined with Mr. Jameson; we had a long talk with very satisfactory results about the house and proposed special room for scientific experiments. I do not know if there are documents available about these matters, but what occurred was this.
The man who was to take the upstairs maisonette had backed out and it was therefore agreed, as a matter of economy, that I should use the first floor back as the Clinic, while he was to have the first floor front for a special room, otherwise we should have had to take another house.
6 September [1938]. Mr. Jameson came to the house at 6 o'clock on his way to America. He promised to send me £25 for what was necessary in cash with regard to the decorating of the house, and especially of the upper floor.
The general idea was that the ground floor room should be made really a show place, with the object of his being able to entertain theatrical or people of importance, as well as those who may be connected with out own work. I was to operate his account at Harrods and other places where he had one.
7 September [1938]. Mr. Jameson sends me a cheque for £25.
10 September [1938]. Mr. Jameson sends me his address in New York—62 West 52nd Street. I began the decoration of the special room—During all this time, I had been gradually making the ground floor habitable. I had brought in an old Persian carpet, and had put up three sets of very beautiful old brocaded curtains and decorated the walls with excellent pictures. I had had the cupboard put into proper order, and so on.
22 September [1938]. I received a letter from Mr. Jameson in New York.
6 October [1938]. Miss Margaret Wetton [Peggy Wetton] came to lunch and was engaged as housekeeper. Though I had decorated the house as far as I could without disturbing Mr. Jameson's convenience downstairs, I had been able to do very little to clean it; I have no eye for such matters, and the Charwoman, Mrs Barrett, was lazy, unpunctual, and incompetent. I had been, in fact, camping out practically the whole summer getting material ready for the house which Mr. Jameson desired to find on his return.
12 October [1938]. This being my birthday, I gave a little party at 6 Hasker Street, Mr. Jameson had just returned from America and was present, and made recitations and otherwise helped to entertain the guests.
17 October [1938]. Mr. Jameson returned; he had been spending the first days of his arrival in England with his family.
18 October [1938]. Mr. Jameson appears to have had some trouble with Miss Wetton with the result that she got rather frightened.
19 October [1938]. I note that I had a conference with Mr. Jameson in the morning, and apparently everything was satisfactorily settled.
20 October [1938]. Mr. Jameson was in to lunch (Note that a most important part of the plan for putting the house in order was to economise on food and drink. He was in the habit of dining out and lunching out to the extent of £3 or £4 a day at the least, and I told him this was very foolish conduct. But he was not sensible enough to take advantage of this plan). He was back early that evening, and we had a night's work testing his ability to read poetry.
27 October [1938]. Mr. Jameson and I dined with the celebrated cook and Press Designer, Louis Fox.
31 October [1938]. A business lunch with Mr. Jameson and a Mr. Alan Rae [Alan Burnett-Rae] with regard to the Clinic.
1 November [1938]. Mr. Jameson came in and we talked things over until after 12 o'clock.
2 November [1938]. A business lunch with Mr. Jameson and Mr. James Cleugh. A quiet evening with Mr. Jameson.
8 November [1938]. Mr. Jameson and Mr. Hylton to dinner.
9 November [1938]. Mr. Jameson had been trying to negotiate for the sale of two of my plays and on this day he appears to have handed two of them to actors or managers.
11 November [1938]. I invited Edgar K, Bruce, the actor, to dinner to meet Mr. Jameson with a view to helping him to make further connections.
14 November [1938]. Miss Wetton met with an accident [She was badly burned while putting out a kitchen fire at 6 Hasker Street] which has kept her in bed till the beginning of February 1939.
21 November [1938]. I note "Quiet lunch with John". It was quite rare for him to be in at all, and he gave no indication he was going to settle down for work, for the sake of which I had undertaken all his business affairs.
24 November [1938]. I got celebrated theatrical people, Norman Marshall and Esmé Percy to supper on oysters and champagne to give Mr. Jameson an opportunity of meeting some people; he seemed quite incapable of following things up.
29 November [1938]. My diary says "J.B.J. in all day. His rash fierce blaze of riot momentarily abated".
15 December [1938]. Mr. Jameson in to lunch.
28 December [1938]. A violent telegram from Mr. Jameson that a sudden crises had arisen. He had been spending Xmas with his family, and was leaving for Switzerland that night, on theatrical business. I thought it wise to provide myself with an authority to act in his absence, and it was dictated to our secretary. Apparently he put it in his pocket and then could not find it anywhere; he accordingly wrote out in a great hurry an alternative form:
"This is to authorise Mr.. E.A. Crowley to act on my behalf during my absence on holiday—valid until January 17 (signed) J.B. Jameson"
I had very careful instructions on no account was his family to know that he had gone abroad.
1939. It must be understood that the general financial arrangements were that the expenses of the house were to be pooled, and personal expenses were to be kept separate. For instance, if either of us invited a man to dinner, at the house, that was a household expense; if either of us took a man out to dinner at a restaurant, that was a personal matter. If I buy a necktie for my own use, that is my business; if he buys a tennis raquet for his use, that is his business. If a new electric fire is out into the house, that is our joint concern, to be dealt with as equity may consider reasonable.
1 January [1939]. It is as well to note here that Mr. Jameson had told me very definitely that he was not going to Switzerland. That he had given up that idea; that immediately after the Xmas festivities were over, he would come and settle down to work with me, refusing all other engagements. I thought it extremely bad manners and worse, that he should have casually thrown up this plan.
17 January [1939]. Mr. Jameson returned in a very good frame of mind; he now proposes to abandon all his orgiastic foolishness and settle down seriously to work.
19 January [1939]. Note in my diary "Settled finances with Mr. Jameson". I do not know exactly what points were covered, but everything was entirely amicable.
26 January [1939]. One of the exercises proposed in the course of training is what is known as the Vigil. This means that a Candidate sits or walks all night by the light of a night-light, the idea being that the silence and monotony will enable him to get a grip on himself. This was arranged for the night of 26th January. The following morning, I drove down to Oxford for the week-end, and it was only on returning that I found that Mr. Jameson had cheated by blowing out the night-light instead of letting it expire.
2 February [1939]. Mr. Jameson had carried out the prescribed practices at first with proper accuracy; it is essential, in this particular course of training, to be punctual and accurate. It is a test of the Will of the Candidate that he should arrange all his affairs in such a way that nothing interferes with his performing the practices at the proper moment, as in the case of a business employee who is made to punch a time clock or be fined, and in case of repeated misdemeanours, eventually dismissed. I say this in order to emphasize that the practices prescribed were of a morally tonic nature.
On Wednesday evening Mr. Jameson had told me, apparently as an excuse for having gone off on the loose with his tenth-rate theatrical crowd, that he would write me a note. On Thursday he handed me the note aforesaid, a copy of which is appended.
3 February [1939]. I replied to this note, pointing out that it was merely an outburst of guilty conscience. This letter was a long letter, and was not ready for presentation to him until late in the afternoon; but during the afternoon he rushed in upon me and made a violent scene.
(a) He complained that I had had furniture taken out of the house. While I was away at Oxford, he had had the furniture of the house altered in a way which made it practically impossible to live on the ground floor, and this was alright because the furniture was to be taken away in any case on Monday; he had arranged for this to be done; it was not done. On Friday I got tired, and had it removed by the builders round the corner to their premises. He impudently ordered me to have it brought back to the house in order that it might be removed from the house on 10.30 on Saturday February 4. Naturally I took no notice of such a nonsensical demand.
(b) He made bitter complaints that I had treated Miss Wetton very badly. I do not know what business was it of his, and I think he did not treat her too well, as she had saved his house from burning at the risk of her own life, and he went to see her about three times in three months, always at my urgent request; as I had been to see her almost every day.
(c) There was a big outburst with regard to the extravagance of living. This was entirely his own fault, because if he had come down to work as he had promised to do, there would have been no cause for any expenditure beyond the barest skeleton of rent and taxes.
I wish to point out in this place that part of our plan was connected with finance; he was to co-operate with me loyally; he was to allow me the use of the car for business interviews; he was to make certain connections, and carry out certain liaison duties, and so on. He has always avoided doing this.
I wrote him a letter to Switzerland, pointing out that he had broken his word to me in regard to all these business relations. The truth of the whole matter is that he has a quite morbid addiction to what is known as a 'good time'. He likes to flaunt it in the Nest with nigger wenches; he likes to be seen about with cheap hangers-on of the theatrical profession, with film extras with the kind of theatrical producer who has not got quite enough brains to be a confidence man. It is of this sort of misfortune that I have been trying to cure him.
4 February [1939]. I discovered that he had cheated me in the matter of the Vigil. He went down to Richmond where we had put Miss Wetton in a riverside hotel, and took her out, and planted her, not in some proper place where she could be looked after, but at Hasker Street. He would not come into the house at all, but dashed off to the country.
In his outburst, the third point was that he wanted to break off all relations with me, and in particular, that I should get out off the house on Saturday February 11. I consider, on the contrary, first of all, that I have paid the rent until the end of June, and secondly, that the work I have put into the house must be paid for. I have suggested arbitration, which he rejects with scorn. He is apparently in favour of an amicable arrangement, and it is obviously proper to arrange some kind of conference at which terms can be discussed; but I shall insist on legal representation, and the whole situation must be clarified.
I have no ill feeling towards Mr. Jameson, I regard his behaviour as instigated by some malicious person unknown. When we were in Cornwall, I exacted nothing from him but his pledged word of honour that in the event of any differences of opinion arising between us, he would inform me of the whole circumstances, fully and with absolute frankness. I tackled him on the morning of Saturday February 4, and he admitted that something serious had happened, but refused to tell me what it was, thereby forfeiting his word of honour. He then said that this was a matter which had been brewing for months; in that case, why did he not tell me when the first instance arose? In view of his perfectly friendly letter of February 3, this seems unintelligible.
I am asking for an elucidation of the whole matter on the basis of equity.
7 February [1939]. P.S. On Friday, November 4, 1938, the Trustees of my Estate sent me a cheque for £93.3.10; this I handed to Mr. Jameson which was paid in to his account. The question may arise as to the motive of so paying it, but it appears to be possible to maintain, if though desirable that this represented the first charge on any liability, that is to say, rent. In other words, the rent of 60 odd weeks from July 1st. The importance of this remark will appear in the entry of February 3, 1939.
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