LETTERS 1939 to 1942
One of the first letters that Mr. A wrote following the Declarations of War was to Godfrey Davies, a well-respected English historian of the 17th century and a member of the research staff of The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Mr. A discusses the publication of his autobiography that may be affected by the war. The second part of this letter comments on the war and the opposition by some factions in America to aiding Great Britain. Arliss was likely aware that the isolationist movement in the U.S. had a charismatic leader in Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator.
Mr. A wrote the following letters to Grace and Edwin Hubble. Edwin was a prominent astronomer in the United States and the Hubble Telescope is named in his honor. The book referenced is Mr. A’s second volume of autobiography. The American title was MY TEN YEARS IN THE STUDIOS. Germany declared war on September 1, 1939, and three days later, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. As this letter relates about six weeks into World War II, not much happened at first.
By six months into the European war, Mr. A’s continued his trans-Atlantic correspondence with Godfrey Davies focusing on his book and expressing his opinions over how Britain was managing the war so far:
A mere five days after the Japanese air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mr. A had this to say:
By January 30, 1942, the date of Mr. A’s next letter to the Hubbles, adjustments to living in a war zone are beginning to tell.
These letters are presented through the courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Watch for more of the George Arliss WWII correspondence to be posted here soon.
ARLISS ARCHIVES 
That AI voice clone is a very interesting way of presenting this material. It is amazing technology which no doubt will improve in time. To an English ear it sounds like an underlying American accent has been modified which you can’t really detect in Arliss himself but it is surprisingly good. Thanks for doing this !
I agree. The voice sample I used is from the scene in ROTHSCHILD where Nathan explains how he will keep Ledranz and company from lauching their new bond. It’s an extended piece of uninterrupted dialogue and while the clone missed certain characteristics, I was surprised with what it did pick up on. I further enhanced the clone voice by resampling the cadence to make it closer to GA’s pace of speaking.
It is fascinating to hear George Arliss’s personal reflections on the war brought to life through such an impressive AI voice clone. The way AI is being used here to preserve historical context is incredible, much like how tools such as the <a href=”https://komiko.app/music/luffy”>Luffy AI song generator</a> are opening up new creative possibilities in the audio space. These letters offer a truly unique perspective on the early 1940s.
Thanks for your comment. Just a few months before Mr. A’s death in Feb 1946, Mary Hamlin, his co-author of the play, Alexander Hamilton, suggested that he write his memoir of living in war-time London. It would have been his third volume of autobiography. Alas, he didn’t have enough time left to do it but by our publishing his wartime letters in book form, THE HIDDEN YEARS, incomplete though it may be, he did write his WWII memoir after all. I’ve done a little bit of checking and I haven’t found very many first-hand accounts of living in London during the war so Mr. A’s letters may be unique.