This Very Old Fair Lady: the Last Years of Mrs. Patrick Campbell

Abstract

Mrs. Patrick Campbell had captivated New York, in her distinctively grand manner, well before Bernard Shaw wrote the part of Eliza for her in Pygmalion, and immortalized her reputation on stage – as, perhaps, his own protracted and largely epistolatory affair with the temperamental actress immortalized her off-stage. But by the early 1930s, when Mrs. Pat was approaching her own seventh decade, her stage appearances were infrequent, and less fortunate times found her living well beyond her means in New York. There, Alan Brock, at the time an aspiring young actor, made her acquaintance, and in due course became her agent. In the following article he tells the story of Mrs. Pat's declining years – which were marked by a final triumph, half the proceeds of which evaporated, instantly and characteristically, on celebrating the success. Alan Brock went on to become an actor for George Abbott, Howard Lindsay, and the Shuberts. Also a New York actors’ agent, he represented numerous leading players, and later worked with Ben Hecht and Billy Rose on two Broadway shows, while authoring his own radio series and contributing a regular column to the trade weekly Backstage.