Description

Admin History:

Victor Weisz was born in Berlin, Germany in 1913 of Hungarian Jewish parents and studied at the Berlin School of Art.

At the age of fifteen he was producing caricatures and his work began to appear in German newspapers. Weisz adopted a strong anti-Nazi position and for this reason came to Britain in 1935, becoming a British citizen in 1947.

He worked on a number of newspapers and built a reputation as an incisive commentator on political events. He became a cartoonist at the News Chronicle in 1941 and subsequently at the Daily Mirror, Evening Standard and New Statesman. By the 1940s he adopted the pseudonym "Vicky" and became the chief political cartoonist at the Daily Mirror in 1954. He famously portrayed Harold Macmillan as "Supermac"; although intended as a slur it actually helped Macmillan increase his majority in the 1959 general election.

Weisz was married four times and had no children. Lucielle Gray was his second wife; they were married in Marylebone, London, in 1947 and divorced several years later. He suffered from depression and insomnia and died by suicide in February 1966.

Description:

The collection contains over 150 handwritten letters, many containing illustrations, from Victor Weisz to his girlfriend at the time (later his second wife), Lucielle Gray, an actress who was on an ENSA tour of Germany. The letters are generally personal in nature and contain notes on Weisz's visits to and news about family and friends, his excursions to the theatre and other leisure activities, his health, some discussion of his work at the News Chronicle and questions about her tour. The illustrations are mainly cartoons of himself. The "Pem" frequently referred to in the letters may be Paul Markus, a German journalist who became a British citizen.

The last 105 letters are numbered. Numbers 5, 72, 99 and 101-105 are missing. There are two numbered 19; three numbered 46, 46A and 46B; and two numbered 62 and 62A. 173 pages are illustrated.