Lost Years (2 page)

1943
January 29, Isherwood finishes at Paramount; February 6, he moves into the Vedanta Center, Ivar Avenue, in preparation for becoming a monk; May, Isherwood begins writing
Prater Violet
; August, Denny Fouts introduces Isherwood to Bill Harris.

1944
February and again in March, Isherwood stays with Aldous and Maria Huxley in Llano where Isherwood and Huxley work out a film story,
Jacob's Hands
; April 17, Isherwood decides he cannot become a monk; during June, Isherwood spends a few days with Bill Harris at Denny Fouts's flat in Santa Monica; Isherwood and Huxley complete draft of
Jacob's Hands
; August, Isherwood and Prabhavananda's translation of the Bhagavad Gita is published; September 25, Isherwood moves to Ananda Bhavan, the new Santa Barbara Vedanta Center in Montecito; November 17, Isherwood leaves Ananda Bhavan and moves to Laguna; late November, Isherwood returns to the Hollywood Vedanta Center on Ivar Avenue.

1945
February 5, Isherwood's affair with Bill Harris ends; February 21, Isherwood starts three months' work on Wilkie Collins's
The Woman in White
for Warner Brothers; June 2, Isherwood attends Bill Caskey's twenty-fourth birthday party; June 4, he returns to Warner Brothers to work on Maugham's
Up at the Villa
for Wolfgang Reinhardt; during the summer.
Prater Violet
appears in
Harper's Bazaar
and New Directions publishes
The Berlin Stories
, containing
The Last of Mr. Norris
and
Goodbye to Berlin
; August 23, Isherwood moves out of the Vedanta Center into the Beesleys' chauffeur's apartment; he begins translating Shankara's
Crest Jewel of Discrimination
with Swami Prabhavananda; September 25, Isherwood and Bill Caskey move into Denny Fouts's empty apartment, 137 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica; November,
Prater Violet
is published in the U.S. by Random House; towards the end of the year,
Vedanta for the Western World
, edited and introduced by Isherwood, is published by Marcel Rodd.

1946
January 12, Isherwood undergoes surgery to remove a median bar inside his bladder; April, Caskey quarrels with Denny Fouts, and Isherwood and Caskey move into Salka Viertel's garage apartment, 165 Mabery Road, Santa
Monica; May,
Prater Violet
is published in the U.K. by Isherwood's new English publisher, Methuen; during the summer, Isherwood revises his wartime diaries, 1939–1944; November 8, he becomes a U.S. citizen; towards the end of the year, Isherwood works with Lesser Samuels on a film treatment,
Judgement Day in Pittsburgh
.

1947
January 19, Isherwood sets out (via New York) on his first postwar trip to England; March 28, he signs deed of gift passing on Marple estate, including Wyberslegh, to his brother Richard; April 16, returns to New York; during the summer, he lives with Caskey at James and Tania Stern's apartment at 207 East 52nd Street, Manhattan; in August, Shankara's
Crest-Jewel of Discrimination
is published; September 19, Isherwood sails with Caskey for South America to write a travel book,
The Condor and the Cows
; September 28, they arrive in Cartagena, Colombia; October 28, Isherwood and Caskey travel south via Bogota; November, they continue through Ecuador and reach Lima, Peru, by year end; also in 1947, the first U.S. edition of
Lions and Shadows
is published by New Directions.

1948
January, Isherwood and Caskey travel in Peru and Bolivia; February, they leave La Paz, Bolivia, for Argentina and depart from Buenos Aires by ship in late March; April 1, they stop in Rio, then continue direct from Brazil to North Africa and France, arriving in Paris on April 22; April 30, they proceed to London; late May, Isherwood visits his family at Wyberslegh; June 9, Isherwood and Caskey sail for New York; June 15, Isherwood returns alone to California and on July 19 he starts work on
The Great Sinner
at MGM; mid-August, he meets Jim Charlton; that summer, Isherwood begins translating Patanjali's yoga aphorisms with Swami Prabhavananda; September 20, Caskey returns; September 28, Isherwood moves with Caskey into 333 Rustic Road; October 9, Isherwood finishes work at MGM; November 12, Isherwood's nanny, Annie Avis, dies; December 16, Denny Fouts dies in Rome.

1949
January 6—13, Isherwood works for Gottfried Reinhardt at MGM; April 12, he completes
The Condor and the Cows
; he begins to work intermittently on his proposed novel
The School of Tragedy
; by May, he begins working with Lesser Samuels on
The Easiest Thing in the World
; August 6–7, Isherwood meets Evelyn Caldwell (later Hooker); August, he finishes draft of
The Easiest Thing in the World
with Lesser Samuels; August 10, meets Igor and Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft; also in August, he works on
Below the Equator
with Aldous Huxley and Lesser Samuels; September 7, Trabuco is dedicated as a Ramakrishna monastery; November 11, Caskey leaves for Florida; also in November, Methuen publishes
The Condor and the Cows
; December 1, Isherwood writes a memorial article on Klaus Mann; during 1949, Isherwood is elected to the U.S. Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1950
Isherwood works on a film script,
The Vacant Room
, with Lesser Samuels; late April, Caskey returns via Kentucky to Rustic Road; June 29, Bill Kennedy proposes that Isherwood begin reviewing regularly for
Tomorrow
; August 11, Isherwood and Peggy Kiskadden leave for Arizona and New Mexico by car; December 10, Isherwood moves with Caskey to 31152 Monterey Street, Coast Royal, South Laguna.

1951
May 21,
Isherwood leaves Caskey and moves to the Huntington Hartford Foundation, 2000 Rustic Canyon Road, Pacific Palisades; he works on
The School of Tragedy
; during the spring, John van Druten writes the play
I Am a Camera
, based on
Goodbye to Berlin
; by August 22, Isherwood is back in South Laguna with Caskey; mid-September, he decides to break finally with Caskey and returns to the Huntington Hartford Foundation; October, Isherwood goes to the East Coast for rehearsals of
I Am a Camera,
directed by van Druten; November 8,
I Am a Camera
opens in Hartford, Connecticut; November 28,
I Am a Camera
opens successfully on Broadway at the Empire Theater; December, Isherwood sails for England where he spends Christmas with his mother and brother in a London hotel; Caskey joins the merchant marine.

1952
February 10, Isherwood returns to Berlin after eighteen years and sees Heinz Neddermayer for the first time since Heinz's arrest by the Gestapo in 1937; February 27, Isherwood sails from England for New York; by April 8, he returns to California with Sam Costidy; May 4, Isherwood settles at Trabuco where he completes Patanjali translation and part one of his novel, still called
The School of Tragedy
; May 21, he moves alone to the Mermira apartments in Santa Monica; also during May, Isherwood resigns from the board of the Huntington Hartford Foundation and the first chapter of his unfinished novel is published in
New Writing
; June, Isherwood begins fixing up Evelyn Hooker's garden house at 400 South Saltair Avenue in Brentwood and moves there in late summer; during 1952,
Vedanta for Modern Man,
edited by Isherwood, is published in U.S. and U.K.; Isherwood completes “California Story” (later reprinted as “The Shore” in
Exhumations
) to accompany Sanford Roth's photographs in
Harper's Bazaar
.

1953
January 6, Caskey leaves for San Francisco and ships out again; February 14, Isherwood begins relationship with Don Bachardy; February 20–26, Bachardy's brother Ted has a nervous breakdown and is committed; April 25, Bachardy moves out of his mother's apartment and into his own furnished room in Hollywood; May 16, Bachardy moves into Marguerite and Harry Brown's apartment in West Hollywood; August 5, Isherwood completes
The World in the Evening;
September, Isherwood moves out of Evelyn Hooker's garden house, at her request, and stays at the Browns' apartment with Bachardy; September 19, Isherwood and Bachardy move together into their own apartment; during October, Isherwood's article on Ernst Toller appears in
Encounter;
also in 1953,
How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali
, translated with Swami Prabhavananda, is published.

1954
January, Isherwood begins editing an anthology,
Great English Short Stories,
and plans a biography of Ramakrishna as well as various new pieces of autobiographical fiction; January 25, he begins work for Eddie Knopf at MGM on
Diane
; June,
The World in the Evening
is published in the U.S. and the U.K.; August 25, Isherwood completes script for
Diane;
August 26, Isherwood turns fifty; during the spring and summer, John Collier writes a screenplay based on John van Druten's play,
I Am a Camera,
and Julie Harris accepts the lead; November, Isherwood and Bachardy visit Tennessee Williams in Key West to watch filming of
The Rose Tattoo
in which Isherwood plays a bit part;
December, they travel to Mexico with Jo and Ben Masselink and Isherwood has an idea for a new novel which will eventually be called
Down There on a Visit
.

1955
Isherwood gets more work at MGM on
Diane
and writing
The Wayfarer
, a script about Buddha; February 10, Bachardy starts his junior year at UCLA; February 12, Maria Huxley dies; March 18, Ted Bachardy has another breakdown and is hospitalized again; May 2,
Diane
starts filming; May 18, Bachardy's twenty-first birthday party; May 28, Isherwood begins writing his new novel first conceived in Mexico; June 8, he meets Thom Gunn; June 22, Isherwood sees preview of film,
I Am a Camera
; October 12, Isherwood leaves with Bachardy for New York City and on October 20, they sail from New York for Tangier; October 30, they sail for Italy and in mid-December continue on to Somerset Maugham's house in France; by Christmas, they are in Munich; December 28, they arrive in Paris.

1956
January, Isherwood and Bachardy arrive in London; January 30–February 6, Isherwood stays with his mother and brother at Wyberslegh and sees Marple Hall for the last time (it will be demolished in 1959); March 6, Isherwood begins writing his new novel, calling it, for the moment,
The Lost
; March 11, Isherwood and Bachardy leave England for New York and California; during April, they buy 434 Sycamore Road; July 2, Bachardy enrolls at Chouinard Art School; September 24, Isherwood begins work on
Jean-Christophe
for Jerry Wald at Fox.

1957
February 12, Isherwood discovers a lump on the side of his belly; February 15, the tumor is successfully removed and proves benign, but ill health and depression persist; April, Isherwood prepares an introduction for a new edition of
All the Conspirators
, to be published in U.K.; early July, Isherwood and Gavin Lambert begin television project for Hermione Gingold,
Emily Ermingarde
; August 15,
Jean-Christophe
is shelved by Fox; October 8, Isherwood and Bachardy begin around-the-world trip, via Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali, Bangkok, and Angkor; November 30, they fly to Calcutta and in December continue on to London.

1958
January 30, Isherwood and Bachardy reach Los Angeles (via New York); February 2, Bachardy returns to Chouinard Art School; February 11, Isherwood renews work on his novel and on the Ramakrishna biography; February 25, Bachardy begins taking painting classes from Vernon Old; mid-March, Isherwood begins work on
Mary Magdalene
for David Selznick, until late June; July 5, Isherwood completes a new foreword for U.S. edition of
All the Conspirators
; October, Isherwood and Bachardy begin writing a play,
The Monsters
; during the autumn, Isherwood and Lambert begin revising the film script of
The Vacant Room
.

1959
Mid-January, Isherwood and Bachardy complete
The Monsters
; March 7-April 13, Isherwood writes “Mr. Lancaster,” the first part of the final draft of his novel; March 20, he signs on to teach at Los Angeles State College; April, the first installment of
Ramakrishna and His Disciples
appears in the March/April issue of the Vedanta Society magazine; May 1, Bachardy takes his first job as a professional artist; Isherwood begins writing “Ambrose,” the second part of his
novel; mid-June, Isherwood and Bachardy undertake to buy 145 Adelaide Drive; July 31, Isherwood finishes writing “Afterwards,” a homosexual short story; August 18, Isherwood and Bachardy travel to New York and then England where Isherwood visits Wyberslegh and sees his mother for the last time; September, they visit France and return to New York and Santa Monica; September 22, Isherwood begins teaching at L.A. State College; September 30, Isherwood and Bachardy move to 145 Adelaide Drive; October, “Mr. Lancaster” appears in
The London Magazine
.

1960
L.A. State mounts exhibition on Isherwood; during the spring, Isherwood begins working with Charles Laughton on a play about Socrates; April 18, begins writing part three of his novel; May 25, he accepts a job at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) for the following autumn; June 10, begins writing “Paul,” the final part of his novel; June 15, Kathleen Isherwood dies; August 26, Isherwood completes his last handwritten diary; September 22, he begins teaching at UCSB; also in 1960,
Great English Short Stories
is published by Dell.

1961
January 23, Bachardy leaves for London to study art at the Slade; April 6, Isherwood joins Bachardy in London; he works with Auden on Berlin musical, but they abandon it when Auden leaves London in mid-June; October 2, Bachardy's first show opens at the Redfern Gallery; October 15, Isherwood returns to Los Angeles alone; December 11–12, he travels to New York to meet Bachardy.