Below, a short letter from P. G. Wodehouse to English novelist Denis Mackail, on the loathsomeness of the BBC and “louse” Max Beerbohm.
TO DENIS MACKAIL
December 21, 1954, New York
How I agree with you about the BBC. A loathsome institution. And one only gets about thirty quid for their starriest productions. Yes, I too have had my fill of Maugham. There is a book just published here called Mr Maugham Himself, and it consists of all his old stuff dished up again. A deliberate swindle, I consider, because it suggests some sort of autobiography, and I must say I do like M’s autobiographical stuff. But Max [Beerbohm]. What a louse. Simon and Schuster gave me his fat volume of dramatic criticisms, and that supercilious attitude of his made me sick. And do you realise that but for Max there would have been none of this New Yorker superciliousness. They all copy him.