TransAtlantic Letters
What’s a girl to do when she needs a good clean copy of John Donne’s Sermons or the 1813 version of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen?
The girl, an aspiring writer, hopelessly hounds New York bookstores and libraries until she spies an ad for London booksellers, Marks & Co., specialists in the out-of-print book.
Thinking her prayers answered, Helene Hanff drafts the first of twenty years of letters (1949-1969) to 84 Charing Cross Road.
Hanff’s letter and a list of “her most pressing problems,” that must cost no more than $5.00, fall into the hands of Frank Doel, chief buyer for Marks & Co.
What began as an ordinary business transaction grew, over time, into a deep and caring friendship between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel–a friendship which spilled over onto the other bookstore employees and Doel’s wife and two daughters, as well.
Occasionally, every day life intruded on Doel’s “private correspondence” and soon Christmas packages, birthday gifts and food parcels to compensate for post WWII shortages, were being sent back and forth across the Atlantic.
Beside gratitude for the tinned ham and fresh eggs, other topics for discussion included: how to make a Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
A small book of 104 pages, 84 Charing Cross Road, has found additional life as a 1982 Broadway play followed by a 1987 movie starring Anne Bancroft as Hanff and Anthony Hopkins as Doel. Nora, Doel’s wife, was played by Judi Dench.
Through the dramatized book of correspondence, one can see, first hand, Helene’s struggle as she progresses from writing unproduced plays to early TV dramas, on to magazines and finally to the books that made her reputation.
On the other side of the Atlantic, life after WWII is pictured as dull and drab while London struggles to reinvent itself. Dinner conversation at the Doel home centers around the tastiness of the evening meal. Marks & Co. is portrayed as an extremely cramped and dusty bookshop with overflowing shelves extending upward to the ceiling.
For literary purists, the letters become the actual dialogue spoken by the principal characters. Addressing the camera, square on, Hopkins and Bancroft simulate a direct conversation with their counterpart 3,000 miles away.
Even though the movie was produced by Brooksfilms, don’t expect any of the zany antics typical of a Mel Brooks movie such as ‘Blazing Saddles‘ or ‘Young Frankenstein‘.
The rights to 84 Charing Cross Road, Brooks’ birthday gift to Bancroft, resulted in a quiet, simple story depicting the step-by-step development of a strong friendship between two decent, honorable people.
Suggestions that the two were engaged in a love affair are ludicrous since the planned and eagerly anticipated meeting of Hanff and Doel never took place. In a letter to Helene 21 days after Frank’s death, Nora admitted that she had always been envious of Helene’s writing ability and her relationship with Frank.
After reading the book and a recent viewing of the film, some members of our church book club expressed deep regret at the outcome. The lesson learned: Carpe Diem-Seize the Day!!
A complete listing of the books Helene Hanff purchased from Marks & Co. can be found here.
***The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street chronicles Hanff’s 1971 trip to London.
