"I enclose a list of my most pressing problems. If you have clean secondhand copies of any books on the list, for no more than $5.00 each, will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me?
Very truly yours,
Helene Hanff"
So begins a magical tale of a friendship begat from books; indeed magical because who can procure a whole list of books for $5 these days? But it was so in 1949 when New York City writer Helene Hanff wrote to Marks & Co bookstore, 84, Charing Cross Road in London. The letter was answered by Frank Doel, chief buyer for Marks & Co. Doel was able to fill part of the order, and offered alternatives for others. Like any good bibliophile knows finding someone who can resolve your book needs, and gets it, like, really understands those needs, and the satisfaction of filling those needs, and the immediate need for more books, is rare. Hanff and Doel formed a symbiotic relationship based on the love of books. Though the pair never met in person, their epistolary friendship lasted 19 years, hundreds of books, and a ham.
Helene Hanff, born 1916 in Philadelphia, was exposed to the theater in her early life. She won a scholarship to Temple University, but the money ran out after a year. Hanff became an auto diadact, learning everything she could teach herself through books. Her goal was to become a playwright. She toured the "Straw Hat Circuit," continually writing plays. None of them made their way to the stage. Hanff wrote for television drama series including Hallmark Hall of Fame and The Adventures of Ellery Queen. Once television production moved to Los Angeles Hanff remained in New York and wrote for magazines, and completed a memoir chronicling her time in the theater.
Hanff wrote to various staff at Marks & Co but corresponded mainly with Frank Doel. Marks & Co was an antiquarian Bookshop founded in the 1920s. The store boasted Charlie Chaplin and George Bernard Shaw as customers. Frank Doel, born in 1908, began working at Marks & Co in the mid 1920s - in fact, that was his only job. Doel served in World War II. By all accounts he was a kind, well liked person. Doel married twice and had two daughters, Sheila and Mary. Doel ran Marks & Co after the death of one owner and the advanced age of the other made him retire. Doel suffered a ruptured appendix and died December 22, 1968.
At that time Hanff had yet to travel to London and meet her epistolary friends. Doel's wife Nora wrote to Hanff "...I was very jealous of you, as Frank so enjoyed your letters." Nora described Doel as "...always explaining and trying to teach me something of books." The store closed in 1970 ; the same year Hanff wrote 84, Charing Cross Road. Hanff traveled to London and visited the empty store in 1971, meeting friends and fans, writing of her time in London in The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. 84, Charing Cross Road was adapted into a stage play (Hanff's work had finally made it to the stage,) and became a film starring Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in 1987.
The story of 84, Charing Cross Road remains charming and appealing because it is a friendship based on letters. Of course we still communicate through written word, but Hanff's humor or Doel's genuine desire to please a customer would be lost when filtered through a computer screen via email. Or via text :
Hanff - old bks📕📕📕?
Doel - totes.
H - venmo / paypal ?
D - whtevs best 4 u
H - pdf u list
D - 😁
H - 😉
Hanff truly cared about her friends in London. Hanff's neighbor, a young British woman, told Hanff England was still rationing food (until 1954, 9 years after the end of World War II.) Hanff sent meat (including ham) and even eggs overseas to and Doel his staff. Their correspondence developed overtime, beginning with formal cordiality, and ending with Hanff and Doel's family writing about life, jobs, and money issues. Out of an inquiry came 19 years of friendship. Hanff said in a letter to a friend traveling to London - "the blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago... if you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much."
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