| At
the time of writing I am still cataloguing the
books from London College, but have had a quick
look at two or three of Mr Profit’s boxes
containing his wonderful collection and was transported
back in time to Charing Cross Road and Mr Beaumont’s
bookshop of treasures.
Mr
Profit must have been a very remarkable man. He
went to Bermuda in 1934 to teach French and Physical
Education at Saltus Grammar School, where he also
founded the School’s Boy Scout group. Later,
winning a scholarship to Harvard University, graduated
with a Batchelor of Fine
Arts degree and with a minor in Russian. During
the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy
Volunteer Reserves and when the hostilities ended,
he and his family moved to New Zealand for five
years. Returning to Bermuda in 1951, he joined
the pharmaceutical company Davis and Lawrence,
where he became President before retiring, aged
65.
Throughout
his long residence in Bermuda, Mr Profit was extremely
active in community service and also deeply involved
in the arts. He was a founder member of the Bermuda
Ballet Association and a member of the committee
which formed the Bermuda Festival. He was also
a member of the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society,
Russian School of Dance and the Bermuda Arts Council,
which last year honoured him with its Founders
Award, and the Queen bestowed upon him the MBE
in recognition of his services to dance in Bermuda.
He was a member of many other sports, drama and
literary societies and was also Town Crier! He
sang in the choir and was lay reader at Holy Trinity
Church.
In
the late 1980’s he decided to take complete
retirement and returned to his native England
where he settled at Barley Mow Cottage, Winchfield,
Hampshire, returning to Bermuda every five years
to celebrate his birthday with family and friends.
He leaves two sons, a daughter-in-law and four
grandchildren.
Over
the next months, as the boxes are unpacked, some
of his books will
be finding their way onto the ISTD Library sale
shelves, many with little notes inside reminding
him where they were purchased and which performance
he had just attended. A wonderful gift to our
library and our members.
New Acquisitions
Growing Up: from eight years to young adulthood
by Jennie Lindon
Contemporary
Childcare Policy and Practice by B Fawcett, B
Featherstone and J Godddard
Barton
Mumaw, Dancer - Denishawn to Jacob’s Pillow
by J Sherman and
B Mumaw
Donations
Many thanks to Ms Childe for her interesting,
out of print book donations.
Library Second-hand Book Sale
Life in Dance, Darcy Bussell 1998
Ninette de Valois, Kathrine Sorley Walker 1987
A Pageant of the Dance and Ballet, M E Perugini
1935
Antoinette Sibley, Barbara Newman 1986
Pavlova, J and R Lazzarini 1980
Dancing for Diaghilev, R Buckle (Ed) 1961
The Diaghilev Ballet in London, C Beaumont 1940
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet, A Benois
1941
The Real Isadora, V Seroff 1971
Alexandra Danilova, A E Twysden 1945
The Story of the Royal Ballet, H Fisher 1959
Ballet in Art, M Clarke and C Crisp 1978
Jooss, A and H Markand 1985
Tap!, Rusty E Frank 1990
Jazz Dance, M & J Stearns 1968
Irek Mukhamedov, J Taylor 1994
Rhythm in the Heavens, Ram Gopal 1957
Léon Bakst, I Pruzhan 1986
Mollie
Webb FISTD ARAD
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