[ Alan Bennett, English playwright. ] Unpublished typescript of screenplay of unmade comedy film titled 'The Vicar's Wife'.

[1] + 115 + [1]pp., 8vo. Printed on rectos only. Bound by two metal studs in yellow card covers. In fair condition, with moderate signs of age and wear. Apparent ownership inscription ('Vickers Staniforth') at head of title page, beside a number '3' in red ink. Never produced and unpublished. 'The Vicar's Wife' was Bennett's first film script, and was written for Ned Sherrin, who was working at the time for Columbia Pictures. According to Kara McKechnie ('Alan Bennett', MUP, 2007), it 'pre-dates his first stage play by a few years, and is simultaneous with 'On the Margin' for television'. Written in Bennett's inimitable style, as the following two passages indicate: 'VICAR | Mrs. Gadd . . . Rita . . . you know . . I suppose, you're a very attractive woman . . | She smiles inquiringly and seems entirely innocent of his thoughts. | VICAR (contd) | And simply because I wear my collar in this . . peculiar way doesn't in itself make me immune to . . . well . . . to normal impulses . . . the urges and so on which attack the laity. I only wish it did, Rita. I only wish it did. I only wish that by turning one's collar back to front one became immune from all these urges. But of course it would take more than that. Much more. Oh Rita. Why do you keep me at a distance like this. I know I'm what they call an older man . . but I'm still . . . Oh Rita . .' And: 'VICAR | Not wrong, Rita. Natural . . . I don't know how to explain this to you, but in the old days people . . . when I say people I mean theologians, that sort of person used to think that the . . well . . the sexual sins were much greater than any of the others, you see. But nowadays well theeologians, churchmen, men of the world and leading lights in the world of ethics are beginning as modern science pushes back the boundaries of knowledge and man takes stock of the universe, more and more they are beginning to realise that what for want of a better word we have been accustomed to call the sins of the flesh . . . | (Again she eludes his grasp) | . . . are not the greatest ones. Far greater for instance are the sins of Pride and Gluttony. Now, as you know, I well . . . I'm proud to be able to say that I'm a very humble man. | (and again) | So that you can see that what I'm doing . . | (or rather what he is desperately, clumsily and entirely unsuccessfully trying to do) | . . . isn't as wrong as you think.'