Lot Essay
This letter was sent to Elliott's mother wrongly presuming Denholm and his squadron were shot down and lost in 1942 during the Second World War. In fact Denholm's plane was shot down over Denmark and the service men were captured and held in a Prisoner Of War camp in Selesia, for the remainder of the war.
In that time Elliott read and re-read the Four Plays of Shakespeare, as offered in this lot, a book supplied by the Red Cross which was available in the POW camp. The book still with the distinct Stalag VIII B stamp.
Whilst held captive in the POW camp the inmates, to spend the time, would set up amateur dramatic groups and performed many plays. According to the family the re-reading and perorming of the Shakespeare plays in this book was one of the reasons that Denholm's interest in acting grew, and partly why he pursued it on his return to the United Kingdom, where he later made his film debut in 1949 in Dear Mr. Prohack.
In that time Elliott read and re-read the Four Plays of Shakespeare, as offered in this lot, a book supplied by the Red Cross which was available in the POW camp. The book still with the distinct Stalag VIII B stamp.
Whilst held captive in the POW camp the inmates, to spend the time, would set up amateur dramatic groups and performed many plays. According to the family the re-reading and perorming of the Shakespeare plays in this book was one of the reasons that Denholm's interest in acting grew, and partly why he pursued it on his return to the United Kingdom, where he later made his film debut in 1949 in Dear Mr. Prohack.