Dora Says It Took Me Forever To Find Lawrence
Dear Readers,
After Michael and I arrived in Paris in January of 1919, we showed up at the French Foreign Office twice per day. We watched the dignitaries arrive for talks, and we watched them depart at the end of the day. We started our vigil at three in the afternoon on January 18, the day the conference formally started. What was I doing there? You guessed it --- looking for Lawrence of Arabia.
I used a spattering of college French to make myself understood. Almost no one had heard of the Colonel who figured in so many of Edward's letters from the Syrian Desert during the Arab Revolt from 1916 to 1918. The only people who had heard of him were theater people. They told me that an American producer, Lowell Thomas, has a multi-media show opening in London in August called With Lawrence in Arabia.
I had no choice but to keep on looking for an Anglo in Arab robes. It was as hard as searching for the saboteur on the Lusitania, but we kept it up.
Sincerely yours,
Dora Benley
P.S. If you want to read more about the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, read volume one of my memoirs, King Abdullah's Tomb.
After Michael and I arrived in Paris in January of 1919, we showed up at the French Foreign Office twice per day. We watched the dignitaries arrive for talks, and we watched them depart at the end of the day. We started our vigil at three in the afternoon on January 18, the day the conference formally started. What was I doing there? You guessed it --- looking for Lawrence of Arabia.
I used a spattering of college French to make myself understood. Almost no one had heard of the Colonel who figured in so many of Edward's letters from the Syrian Desert during the Arab Revolt from 1916 to 1918. The only people who had heard of him were theater people. They told me that an American producer, Lowell Thomas, has a multi-media show opening in London in August called With Lawrence in Arabia.
I had no choice but to keep on looking for an Anglo in Arab robes. It was as hard as searching for the saboteur on the Lusitania, but we kept it up.
Sincerely yours,
Dora Benley
P.S. If you want to read more about the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, read volume one of my memoirs, King Abdullah's Tomb.
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