Straight on Till Morning Read Online Free PDF Page B

How does it strike you?…We must decide immediately. I wish that you would send me a day letter, at our expense, giving your opinion of the title mentioned above and suggesting other alternatives which accomplish what we have in mind…
    Sincerely yours,
Paul Brooks 20
    COLLECT DAY LETTER NOV 22 ND 41 NORTH HOLLYWOOD
    PAUL BROOKS . MOST ANXIOUS CO-OPERATE BUT FEEL SUGGESTED TITLE NON INCLUSIVE COLOURLESS AND HAS MISSIONARY FLAVOUR . OFFER FOLLOWING ALTERNATIVES . RETREAT TO FLIGHT . THIS TOO IS AFRICA . AFRICAN MOSAIC . PAGE OF A LIFE . STILL TRYING HARD IF UNACCEPTABLE . BERYL MARKHAM . 21
    Brooks replied that THIS TOO IS AFRICA was the best so far, but that she should come up with more ideas if she could. He was worried about getting the complete manuscript and asked her to cable him collect with a definite date.
    COLLECT OVERNIGHT TELEGRAM NOV 29 TH NORTH HOLLYWOOD
    PAUL BROOKS . MAILING ADDITIONAL 15000 WORDS TOMORROW STOP EXPECT FINISH BOOK DECEMBER 15 BUT MAKING EVERY EFFORT TO FINISH EARLIER STOP STILL THINKING ABOUT TITLE MEANWHILE FOLLOWING MIGHT BE CONSIDERED STOP NO OTHER AFRICA = BERYL MARKHAM 22
    PAID TELEGRAM DECEMBER 5 1941
    BOSTON BERYL MARKHAM . FEEL CERTAIN WE HAVE FINALLY DISCOVERED PERFECT TITLE QUOTE I SPEAK OF AFRICA UNQUOTE USING TITLE PAGE LINE FROM SHAKESPEARES HENRY FOUR QUOTE I SPEAK OF AFRICA AND GOLDEN JOYS UNQUOTE PLEASE WIRE COLLECT YOUR OKAY SELLING SAMPLES UNDER WAY REGARDS . PAUL BROOKS 23
    COLLECT NIGHT TELEGRAM DEC 5 TH . NORTH HOLLYWOOD
    PAUL BROOKS . DELIGHTED WITH YOUR TITLE AND LINE FOR TITLE PAGE FULL MARKS TO YOU AND WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE REGARDS BERYL MARKHAM . 24
    PAID TELEGRAM DEC 22 1941
    BERYL MARKHAM . GLAD TO HAVE FOUR MORE CHAPTERS AND EAGER FOR BALANCE WHEN MAY WE EXPECT TOTAL . PAUL BROOKS 25
    COLLECT NIGHT TELEGRAM DEC 23 1941 NORTH HOLLYWOOD
    PAUL BROOKS . HAVE HAD BAD ATTACK OF FLU HOWEVER MORE MATERIAL IN MAIL AND LAST TWO CHAPTERS UNDER WAY XMAS WISHES . BERYL MARKHAM 26
    The final work was delivered before the end of January and the book was produced for a June 1942 release. In the event, the title became West with the Night . It is not known who was responsible for this title; no correspondence exists and Beryl could not remember, but she did recall that she had suggested the title Straight on Till Morning , from which the eventual title evolved. The line: ‘I speak of Africa and golden joys. Henry IV, Act V sc. 3’ appeared on the title page and the book was dedicated to ‘My Father’.
    In addition there was an acknowledgement: ‘I wish to express my gratitude to Raoul Schumacher for his constant encouragement and his assistance in the preparations for this book.’ Beryl could never have imagined how controversial this short dedication was to become some forty years on.
    While she waited for her book to be released, Beryl surprisingly decided to throw in her lot with the war effort, which, after Pearl Harbor, had escalated dramatically. In 1986 she told me that Raoul was overseas with the US Navy at the time and she was lonely, so she wrote to the California wing of the Civil Air Patrol, enclosing a résumé of her flying experience and asking if she could be of any help.
    3 March 1942
    Dear Mrs Markham
    Your kind letter of February 27th is at hand and we were indeed very glad to hear from you and your offer of assistance in the Civil Air Patrol is greatly appreciated. You may rest assured that we will be very happy to see you and may I suggest you call my secretary…for an appointment at such time as may be convenient to you.
    Yours very truly
Bertrand Rhine
Wing Commander for California
Civil Air Patrol 27
    Until that time women had not played any sort of flying role in the CAP and though Beryl had a meeting with Wing Commander Rhine to discuss the matter, nothing ever came of it. 28
    Years later she told friends that she spent some time during the war training pilots, but that she hadn’t enjoyed it. 29 There is also a