Will Waspe
I am impressed by my colleague Evan Anthony's happy confidence in allowing the private and press view of Patrick Woodroffe's paintings and etchings at his Covent Garden Gallery to clash next Tuesday with the Tate's new exhibition, The Age of Charles I. He may well be right in his opinion that his Bosch-like discovery, Woodroffe, will not suffer by comparison with ancient masterpieces.
I fear, however, that he will be less fortunate in his competition with the contemporary aristocracy — not to mention a champagne buffet — being offered also next Tuesday by the Bond Street gallery of Frank Partridge and Sons, which is sure to make an irresistible appeal to the fastidious epicurean tastes of the art reviewers. Partridges have booked the Duke of Bedford to open their exhibition of portraits by Caroline Leeds. And who is Caroline Leeds? She is Caroline Hoos, formerly Duc'hess of Leeds.
Prudent policy
That very rich impresario Emile Littler seems to have decided that further investment in productions of his own is unlikely to increase his fortune. His last show, a revival of The Maid of the Mountains, was a costly flop and he wisely abandoned tentative plans to follow it with a revival of The Quaker Girl — and instead was happy to accommodate Jesus Christ Superstar at his Palace Theatre for 20 per cent of the takings.
He has now disposed of his other London theatre, the Cambridge, to young Larry Parnes on a twelve-year lease and, I am surprised to learn, has thrown in his collection of Picassos and Epstein bronzes which adorn the downstairs bar. I cannot think that this arty stuff will fit in with Parnes's plan to transform that part of the theatre into a night-club.
One more time
Lord Willis of Dixon of Dock Green, is taking his pitcher to the well again. He has created another series, whic'h ATV will network next year, about another group of coppers at another local police station. Lord Ted will not actually write many of the stories himself, and, of course, he hasn't written any Dixon ' stories for years. But the more lucrative end of a TV series for a writer (in proportion to effort expended) is not in writing it but in originating it, retaining copyright not only in the format but in the characters. With the pay-off on these a man can live like a lord.
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