Wednesday, October 21, 2020
On the twenty-first of October, a small group of the Society’s members gathered together at a member's home to have dinner and watch the newest film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. We had all been looking forward to the film for some time - it was a bright spot in these dreary pandemic days. Most of our members adore the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation of the novel but are always delighted to indulge in another take on the story. There have been many adaptations of Rebecca into film, television, plays (even an opera), and we pursue them as eagerly as Mrs. Van Hopper pursues aristocratic company. A particular point of interest for us was the anticipation of seeing a film of Rebecca not constrained by the Hays Code, as Hitchcock’s was. Our enjoyment of previous adaptations was no barrier for us dreamers. We walked enchanted, and nothing held us back. We had a lively discussion about the film after watching it together. As with any adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s work, our members had varying opinions as to the quality; however, we all greatly enjoyed seeing Manderley and the Cornwall coast brought to life on screen in such a lush, vibrant way. One of our members, Cindy Jones, created a survey about our thoughts of the film, and has written a lovely review of it for the dumaurier.org website, which can be found here: https://www.dumaurier.org/news_details.php?id=717&nc=2. We concluded the night with thanks that we were able to gather together and to spend an evening watching one of our favorite stories unfold.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Members of the Society gathered at the Angelika Theater in Dallas on the thirteenth of October to watch a special (socially-distanced) showing of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, based on the Daphne du Maurier short story of the same name. While the film’s plot is a departure from the written tale, it is nonetheless a classic. This was the first time that some members of our group had ever seen the film in a theater - the big screen certainly heightens the terror! We nervously ate our perfectly salted popcorn and shrieked at every rustling of a feather. Needless to say, we traveled back to our vehicles in groups once the film ended.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
The Daphne du Maurier Society of North America held its first meeting on the first of March in Dallas. During the two-hour luncheon, President Shirley Kinney led a discussion concerning the by-laws of the society, and member Charlene Howell delighted the group by displaying a letter she received from Daphne du Maurier in 1958. Ms. Howell, a trained librarian who worked for the Federal Reserve Bank, has read one book every five days for the past fifty-three years. She has had a deep passion for reading since childhood. Ms. Howell shared a story from her childhood about circumventing her local library’s age requirements after she had read every book in the children’s section, a tale evoking imagery of Roald Dahl’s Matilda. When she was thirteen years old, she wrote to Daphne du Maurier, inquiring if the author had a favorite book. Quite incredibly, Charlene still has the response, protected lovingly in a slipcover. The letter is hardly even crinkled after sixty-two years. In slightly askew typewriter font, Daphne du Maurier claimed that there was not one novel she thought “[stood] above all others”, but she did note a particular fondness for The Brothers Karamazov. She also provided a few lines of thoughtful reflection about some of her most recognized works.
Each member took time to admire and read the letter as Ms. Howell told us about Daphne du Maurier’s life and extensive body of work, noting that the author was the most popular writer in England during the forties. A lengthy discussion followed about which of her short stories was most enjoyable, though no one publication was agreed upon by the end of the lunch. With the by-laws discussed and our minds ready to read (and re-read) the works of this author, the members of the Daphne du Maurier Society of North America said goodbye, already talking eagerly of the meetings to come - little did we know how much the world would change in the following days. Now those future meetings may be farther off than we had planned. Ah well, reading is a perfect activity for social distancing.
Photos of letter obtained with Charlene Howell’s consent
