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Tomi Mayer

With Tomi Mayer (no relative) Beda did not correspond “for some time,” which turned out to be forty years. Nevertheless, bearing in mind Beda’s own story, I asked for the address. We wrote to Tomi and received an answer.
Dear Elena Makarova,
I was very pleased to receive your letter with news of my friend. I shall assist you as much as I can. I was born in Mauritius. I worked in Cable and Wireless but I was an amateur artist as well. Sometime in 1941 a Judge, and if I recall correctly his name was Tracy, approached me to design sets for “The Green Goddess,” a play he intended to produce for the Dramatic Society. He told me he had found two artists among the Jewish Refugees who would paint the sets. I did the designs and then we met Beda Mayer and F. Haendel. Having met Beda I wrote to the Commandant who was called Armitage, for permission to take painting lessons from Beda. I was given a pass and I visited the Prison on Sunday mornings and forged a friendship with my teacher.
(Tomi Mayer)
We paid a visit to Thomas Mayer, i.e. Tomi, former ballet and opera set designer, at his cozy house in Greenwich , London. The perspicacious Indian-looking man (then 86), reclining in his garden armchair, told us many stories and showed some of his, and also Fritz’s and Beda’s Mauritius drawings.