meetings between leave, overshadowed always by the fear that, one day, Kirk
might not return.
In the autumn of 1943, when an altogether more serious involvement in the hostilities beckoned, Kirk proposed. On 2 November
he and Diana Dill were married. They managed less than a month together before his ship was sent off to the Pacific to chase
Japanese submarines, for which he won some medals.
Though his own education had smoothed off some of Kirk’s rougher edges, his marriage to Diana – like so many wartime affairs
– went against the convention of like with like, a convention more prevalent among the society in which Diana had been reared
than in America’s so-called classless one. Diana’s childhood education had been spent in England, and the whole of her family’s
life in Bermuda was steeped in the privilege of the upper class.
The only similarity in her background to Kirk’s was that she came from a large family. She was the youngest of six. She had
three brothers, all heading for the legal profession, one of whom would receive a knighthood, and two sisters, Ruth and Fanny.
In spite of the stiffness of the background, supervised by a father whose views on life were typically conservative, Diana
was an easy-going young woman with a sharp sense of humour. Her parents had long since given up trying to push her towards
the social élite, which she had shunned in favour of her chosen career on the fringes of the theatre and modelling. But parents
and brothers all remained observant and protective towards the youngest and most headstrong of the Dill offspring.
Similarly, Kirk’s own family, poor though they were, had about them the rigid traditions of orthodox Jewry and were probably
more shocked than Diana’s relatives that he had married a shiksa, a non-Jew.
The differences in their social circumstances, ethnic or otherwise, were never a problem for either at the time. Kirk, however,
was quite evidently taken aback by the opulent lifestyle of the family he had married into. He became exposed to this when
his service days ended after he sustained a severe injury in a South Pacific encounter with the Japanese, and he returned
to civilian life in 1944.
Diana’s sister Ruth was married to Seward Johnson, of the Johnson and Johnson family, and had kindly offered to accommodate
Diana and her new husband until they found their feet. Kirk was totally unprepared for what confronted him on arrival at his
new quarters – a massive English-style castle set in an estate of vast acreage by the Raritan River outside New Brunswick,
New Jersey. The house reeked of wealth, and the multimillions with which Seward was blessed. It was filled with priceless
antiques and works of arts and heavily attended by servants and flunkeys.
Mr Johnson himself was not present, since he was at the time in the middle of divorce proceedings from Ruth, who had herself
moved into one of the smaller houses in the grounds. Kirk and Diana had the run of the west wing of the castle, which became
their temporary home while they both began the task of reestablishing their theatrical careers.
Broadway was surprisingly active, given that the war was reaching its climax in Europe, the Far East and the Pacific. As in
London, where the theatre was giving birth to a new Golden Age, New York was staging the work of some of its finest dramatists
and actors. As Kirk began the round of casting calls and auditions, he admitted to surprise at landing a major role so quickly.
The producers of a frothy comedy,
Kiss and Tell
, which had been running on Broadway for more than a year, were looking for a replacement for Richard Widmark, who was going
into another play. The role as a romantic young serviceman rather fitted his immediate past, and Kirk was off and running.
Diana, however, had been unable to pursue her own ambitions, having given Kirk the news that they were expecting their first
child. He was still
might not return.
In the autumn of 1943, when an altogether more serious involvement in the hostilities beckoned, Kirk proposed. On 2 November
he and Diana Dill were married. They managed less than a month together before his ship was sent off to the Pacific to chase
Japanese submarines, for which he won some medals.
Though his own education had smoothed off some of Kirk’s rougher edges, his marriage to Diana – like so many wartime affairs
– went against the convention of like with like, a convention more prevalent among the society in which Diana had been reared
than in America’s so-called classless one. Diana’s childhood education had been spent in England, and the whole of her family’s
life in Bermuda was steeped in the privilege of the upper class.
The only similarity in her background to Kirk’s was that she came from a large family. She was the youngest of six. She had
three brothers, all heading for the legal profession, one of whom would receive a knighthood, and two sisters, Ruth and Fanny.
In spite of the stiffness of the background, supervised by a father whose views on life were typically conservative, Diana
was an easy-going young woman with a sharp sense of humour. Her parents had long since given up trying to push her towards
the social élite, which she had shunned in favour of her chosen career on the fringes of the theatre and modelling. But parents
and brothers all remained observant and protective towards the youngest and most headstrong of the Dill offspring.
Similarly, Kirk’s own family, poor though they were, had about them the rigid traditions of orthodox Jewry and were probably
more shocked than Diana’s relatives that he had married a shiksa, a non-Jew.
The differences in their social circumstances, ethnic or otherwise, were never a problem for either at the time. Kirk, however,
was quite evidently taken aback by the opulent lifestyle of the family he had married into. He became exposed to this when
his service days ended after he sustained a severe injury in a South Pacific encounter with the Japanese, and he returned
to civilian life in 1944.
Diana’s sister Ruth was married to Seward Johnson, of the Johnson and Johnson family, and had kindly offered to accommodate
Diana and her new husband until they found their feet. Kirk was totally unprepared for what confronted him on arrival at his
new quarters – a massive English-style castle set in an estate of vast acreage by the Raritan River outside New Brunswick,
New Jersey. The house reeked of wealth, and the multimillions with which Seward was blessed. It was filled with priceless
antiques and works of arts and heavily attended by servants and flunkeys.
Mr Johnson himself was not present, since he was at the time in the middle of divorce proceedings from Ruth, who had herself
moved into one of the smaller houses in the grounds. Kirk and Diana had the run of the west wing of the castle, which became
their temporary home while they both began the task of reestablishing their theatrical careers.
Broadway was surprisingly active, given that the war was reaching its climax in Europe, the Far East and the Pacific. As in
London, where the theatre was giving birth to a new Golden Age, New York was staging the work of some of its finest dramatists
and actors. As Kirk began the round of casting calls and auditions, he admitted to surprise at landing a major role so quickly.
The producers of a frothy comedy,
Kiss and Tell
, which had been running on Broadway for more than a year, were looking for a replacement for Richard Widmark, who was going
into another play. The role as a romantic young serviceman rather fitted his immediate past, and Kirk was off and running.
Diana, however, had been unable to pursue her own ambitions, having given Kirk the news that they were expecting their first
child. He was still
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