Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford; Part 2

For part 2 of my thoughts on Decca, I’ve decided that the easiest way for me to break things down is by decade. So here goes.

During the 1960s, Decca continued with her muckraking efforts. She wrote an exposé of an Elizabeth Arden beauty retreat (and kicked Barry Goldwater’s wife, maybe on purpose, in the process). Also, Giles Romilly, Esmond Romilly’s brother, had a breakdown and committed suicide in 1967.

In the 1970s, Decca was pretty busy. She wrote a book about the trial of Dr. Benjamin Spockand others , became friends with Maya Angelou, and corresponded with George Jackson, Black Panther and author of Soledad Brother. Also during the 1970s was the rise of the “Mitford Industry,” or “Mit Ind” as Decca called it. A biography was written about Nancy Mitford after she died in 1973, but the real drama came over a book about Unity, published in 1976. A few words about Unity that I didn’t mention in the first post. Unity was obsessed with Adolf Hitler. She moved to Germany in the 1930s, and became part of Hitler’s inner circle. When Britain declared war in Germany, Unity shot herself in the head. She survived, was collected by her family, and lived in a brain-damaged state until her death in 1948. So in 1976, the most members of the Mitford family, including Debo, evidently did not want this dark family history brought up again. Decca felt that Unity’s biographer, David Pryce-Jones, was the best person to write about Unity. This culminated in a fight over a missing scrapbook from Chatsworth, Debo’s home, that played itself out over several letters. Debo and Pam accused Decca of stealing the scrapbook, and giving the author of Unity’s biography pictures from it. Decca was upset and hurt at being accused of stealing the thing, which was, in her words, the “size of a table.” The book about Unity also made Decca explore her feelings toward her sister. I think that Decca really mourned the Unity she knew before the latter became obsessed with Hitler and the dark side of history. By the way, Decca did NOT steal the scrapbook.

The 1980s brought some plot twists. During this decade, Kathy Boudin, daughter of Decca’s friends from her Communist days, was arrested in connection with a Brink’s armed robbery. Decca wrote about this in a letter to Maya Angelou, and really criticized Kathy. Decca was all for fighting against the Man, but she drew the line at actions that result in murder. Another letter written in the 1980s was to Michael Straight, who narked on a member of the British spy ring back in the 1960s. He, too, was a friend of Decca’s (and Esmond Romilly) from back in the day. Decca also exchanged letters with her nephew Jonathan Guinness, son of her enemy sister Diana, stating her refusal to cooperate with him on his book about the Mitford family. She made it clear that she had no time for him or his book. Yikes.  

Decca passed away in 1996. But her letters written in the 1990s are pretty awesome, especially viewed with hindsight. She wrote to Katharine Graham, giving her advice on writing what would be her acclaimed memoirs (published the year after Decca died). And she corresponded with Maya Angelou about the latter’s support of Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court. Decca thought her friend’s support of him was misguided, and told her so—leading to a brief falling out (I must say, I’m on Team Decca in this case). The two reconciled, thankfully, and we get a wickedly funny letter from Decca to Maya throwing shade at PrincessMargaret.

I must give a shout-out to editor Peter Sussman.  He did an amazing job as editor. He must have combed through so many letters, and his footnotes are so thorough. Mary Lovell, Mitford biographer, said that the Mitford ladies are so popular because they “seem to have taken the twentieth century by the throat.” In my opinion, Decca had the strongest grip.

Great passage (in which Decca gives writing advice to Maya Angelou before the latter’s poetry reading at Bill Clinton’s inauguration): “Idea: Spend some solid time re-reading every single one of your own poems. Simply read over each poem as though you were someone who was reading them for the first time—not as the author. Perhaps, if you did this, the unique Maya rhythm—or rather I shld say series of rhythms, as you vary everything depending on subject, and many of yr phrases within the poems may seem v. apt. Not, obviously, that you’ll repeat them, but just be inspired by YOUR work not somebody else’s.”