MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD. OREGON
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24. 1963
A 3
Maugham Changes Role in Old Age; Discredits Wife, Daughter
(Editor's Note: On Jan.
25 on of the world's best
known and most successful
popular writers. Somerset
Maugham, will be 89 years
old. His works are legion,
- many have become legend
. . . "Of Human Bondage",
"The Painted Veil", "The
Moon and Sixpence", "The
Razor's Edge", "The Con
stant Wife", "Cakes and
Ale", to list just a few. As
Maugham approaches his
90th year, here is a closeup
of him by a reporter who
observed his activities in
Europe for many years.
h
SOMERSET MAUGHAM-
Photo of British author taken
in 1961. (UPI)
' By ROBERT MUSEL
United Press International
All the world's a stage and
tor nearly 70 years Somerset
Maugham observed it from a
seat on the aisle extracting
from its players what he
needed of triumph and tra
gedy and smiles and sorrows
to compose his novels and
short stories.
Then, about a year ago, he
laid down his pen and with
it the role of observer that
made him one of the most
famous storytellers in the
world.
Some of his friends are
saddened that he ever left the
detachment of his aisle seat
to climb on the stage. For on
the eve of his 90th year he
has become personally in
volved In the kind of situa
tion that in earlier days might
have struck him only as the
plot for a work of fiction.
If there is a budding
Maugham watching the old
man as once he shrewdly
observed others for a novel
still unborn, there is no lack
of material. In the past year
or so the great writer has
been party to a flourish of
sensations:
He denied that he is the
father of his daughter, Lady
Elizabeth Hope, 47, and at
tempted to disinherit her.
He sued her for the return
Milk Commission
Proposal Dropped
' Tillamook - IUP1I - The com
mittee charged with drafting
a new Oregon milk price sta
bilization bill has decided to
drop plans for a milk com
mission and advisory board.
That means the milk mar
keting program will continue
to be based in the State De
partment of Agriculture, ac
cording to George Milne, Til
lamook dairyman and chair
man of the committee.
The proposed bill will be
submitted to the legislature
by the dairy industry.
Milne said the commission
and - advisory board were
dropped to remove any pos
sible objections that the pro
gram would be controlled by
producers.
. The bill will provide for
market pools in several areas
In the state, governed by vol
untary contraclural agree
ments, Milne said. If the pro
ducers reject the pool pro
vision, the Slate Department
of Agriculture would have
authority to draw up a mar
ketinc proaram.
Milne said producers favor
the voluntary plan because it
could be extended to take in
Southwest Washington dairy
men. The agriculture depart
ment would have no authority
in that region.
Greek Prayerbook
Given University
Houston - IOT - A hand
written prayerbook translated
from Greek by a powerful
political figure in Colonial
Virginia was given to the
Texas collection of tnc uni
versity of Texas after it
turned up in a Houston home.
The book was translatsd
from Greek by Philip Lud
well II, who once persuaded
the colonial governor of Vir
ginia to appoint George Wash
ington as commander of the
militia.
The book. "The Divine and
Holy Liturgy of Saint John
Chrysostom," was given to
the University by J. H. Bar
ziza Sr. The book attracted
special notice when a Uni
versity official Interviewed
Barziza and looked through
his family papers.
of various gifts totalling more
than $1,000,000.
He adopted his secretary,
Alan Searle, 58, as his son
and heir.
He permitted publication of
part of an autobiography
originally intended to be pub
lished only after his death
in which he frankly dissected
the character of his late wife,
Syrie.
Trustees for Lady Eliza
beth daughter of Syrie
filed suit blocking the trans
fer to New York of 229.581
pounds sterling ($642,826)
which Maugham obtained by
the auction last April of nine
works from his celebrated
collection of modern art.
loaay, as every aay, niau
gham will wander after
breakfast in the beautiful
gardens of his Moorish-style
villa, "La Mauresque" at Cap
Ferrat near Monte Carlo, lis
tening to the song of hun
dreds of exotic cage birds,
tending the prize roses which
are his'special pride.
Is Broken Man
Searle, who looks far
younger than his years, met
Maugham in 1929 when he
was asked to fill in at a din
ner party for someone who
had cancalled out at the last
moment. He was seated, by
chance next to the guest of
honor who was Maugham.
"Soon after that evening,"
Searle said, "we started out
on a journey together and we
have been on that journey
ever since."
Respect for Poor
They were drawn together,
he said, by their mutual re
spect for the poor. Searle had
worked with the Salvation
Army and in prisons as a visi
tor. Before he took up writing
as a career Maughan was an
obstretrician and delivered
more than 60 babies, many
of them free cases. Despite
the difference in age they
were perfect companions as 1
noted myself when I last
visited Maugham at "La Mau
resque." I arrived just after the 9
a.m. ritual of the tour of the
gardens. Maugham was relax
ing in the large, elegant draw
ing room of the three-story
mansion. Searle was still in
the gardens among the
combed cypresses, the avoca
dos imported from California
and a botanical freak, a tree
that produces both oranges
and lemons.
Searle ran the house and
made certain of the old man's
comfort so that Maugham
would not have anything on
his mind but his writing if he
should want to do any in his
work room on an upper story.
Maugham's last writing inci
dentally was painful. He had
to wear a surgical glove be
cause of persistent writer's
cramp.
Prefers Searle
They spent as much time as
possible together all meals,
walks in the garden, conver
sation after dinner and listen
ing to records before going to
sleep.
But despite their long
friendship it was a distinct
surprise when it was revealed
after Christmas that Mau-,
gham had adopted Searle as i
his son in the court at Nice !
last April. This disclosure I
was a by-product of the suit
Maugham brought against
Lady Elizabeth asking for
the return of all gifts made
to her.
Maugham, in his declara
tion to the court, said of
Lady Elizabeth, who is the
wife of a former minister of
works in the conservative
government:
"I always considered her as
my daughter but legally she
is the daughter of Henry
Wellcome. She was born in
1915. Wellcome never denied
paternity."
Denies Daughter
Ho contended that Lady
Elizabeth was conceived be
fore Syrie divorced Wellcome
to marry him, and that he
had never legally recognized
her as his daughter.
"I would have continued to
regard her as my daughter,"
he said, "but I want to re
mind her that she is not my
legitimate child and I can re
voke all the gifts I gave her."
Maugham's lawyer. Jean
Paul Shampsaur, filed suit
under an article of the French
code which permits gifts to
be taken back if the benefi
ciary is ungrateful.
In this case the ingratitude,
in Maugham's view, is Lady
Elizabeth's suit blocking the
transfer of his art sale re
venues to New York on the
ground she is part owner of
the impressionist masters.
At her home near London,
Lady Elizabeth and her hus
band. Lord John, said they
were taken completely by
surprise by the adoption of
Searle and the attempt to
disown her.
"As far as I am concerned
I am still his daughter," she
said.
Maugham once claimed:
Doubts Her Love
"My daughter never cared
a rap about me."
But Lady Elizabeth said:
"It is quite absurd to say
that. I am very fond of him."
Lord John added:
"My wife and her father
i
used to be on very affection
ate terms. But recent news
paper articles by Mr. Mau
gham about my wife's moth
er, Syrie, caused my wife
great distress. Since then my
wife has not written to her
father. She has kept a digni
fied and distressed silence."
He said he did not think
the lawsuit over the paintings
entirely explained "this sud
den break between my wife
and her father."
The autobiographical ex
tracts on Syrie appeared in
"Show" magazine in the
United States which later re
ceived a letter of bitter pro
test from Oliver Messel, the
distinguished stage designer
and uncle of Lord Snowdon.
Condemns Wife
"It seems impossible to
understand," Messel wrote
"what Somerset Maugham
hopes to achieve by writing
in such a tasteless way about
his dead wife.
"Far from being, as Mau
gham smugly attempts to por
tray her, a pleasure-seeking
wanton without resources
Syrie was one of the most re
sourceful, intuitively brilliant
women that I have been for
tunate enough to meet
the only mistake Syrie seems
to have made was to have
loved a man incapable of ap
preciating her."
"Cassandra", the widely
quoted columnist of the Lon
don Daily Mirror, said he
did not know the rights or
wrongs of Maugham's court
case against Lady Elizabeth.
"But it seems a sad and
surly course for a famous
man to embark upon at the
age of eighty-eight. This ac
tion against his daughter fol
lows a recent bitter and
wounding attack that Mau
gham made on his wife, Syrie
Maugham, and his subsequent
curious action in adopting a
man aged fifty.
Seeks Property
"if this be the wisdom of
age, give me the folly of
youth."
If Maugham recovers any
property from Lady Elizabeth
and Searle says the Nice
suite is mainly to get back
ownership of "La Mau
resque" it will eventually
go into a charity he set up in
his will to help writers who
are in trouble or sick or old.
- Searle estimates his own
inheritance from the estate
at 500,000 sterling ($1,400.
000) but it is only a life in
terest and after his death it
goes to charity.
"Lady John Hope inherits
the bulk of Mr. Maugham's
fortune whatever happens,"
he said. "That is irrevocable."
Health Good
Outside of his personal
troubles Maugham is in good
health for his great age. He
says he does not come from a
particularly long-lived fam
ily yet his brother, Lord
Maugham, lived to 92. His ap
petite is good and his cook,
Irene, prepares dishes from
her native Italian cousine as
well as French and English
food. He long ago cultivated
the habit of after-lunch siesta
which his good friend Sir
Winston Churchill, 88, also
practices.
When I asked him about
his long life some years ago
Maugham used a phrase
worth repeating as he reaches
his 89th birthday. Looking
down at his slight figure, he
said:
"If you are small, death
may quite likely overlook
you."
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