Country Life's never-before-published photographs of ‘101 Dalmatians’ author Dodie Smith's London flat

Before she achieved world-wide fame for her charming, yet peril-laden novels, Dorothy Gladys Smith first tried her hand as an actress in London’s unforgiving West End. At a slight 5ft, she found little success treading the boards, so, in need of funds, she (somewhat reluctantly by all accounts) took a ‘humdrum’ day job at London’s famous Heal and Son’s store on Tottenham Court Road.

The ambitious and bohemian Dorothy — or Dodie, as she was known to her friends — dreamed of becoming a writer, but her job selling toys and other small gifts at Heal’s would, unbeknownst to the young shop worker, actually be her gateway to international stardom.

Three years after beginning work at the store, Smith and Sir Ambrose Heal — who was also courting another young lady in the store — embarked on a romantic liaison. For the following few years, Sir Ambrose would not only go on to help Smith promote her writing, but also provide decorative schemes and furniture designed to her specifications for their love nest in Dorset Square.

Encouraged by her lover, the soon-to-be author began writing plays between shifts at the shop. In 1933, she became an overnight sensation with her debut play, Autumn Crocus. It was released under the pseudonym C.L. Anthony and, following a hugely successful opening night, Fleet Street demanded that the cat be let out of the bag and the real author revealed. It was a copywriter’s dream. Photographers were dispatched to Heal’s to photograph the diminutive Smith surrounded by soft toys. The headlines screamed: ‘Shopgirl Writes Play!’. Smith’s future was firmly set.

Sir Ambrose, appearing desperate to keep his talented member of staff (and lover) in house, initially offered her an entire bedroom suite of furniture at cost from the shop floor to celebrate her success. Smith had other ideas. A fan of interior designer Syrie ‘Princess of Pale’ Maugham’s all-white decorating schemes, she threatened to go to another company to buy her furniture. The smitten Sir Ambrose was horrified at the thought of her buying reproduction furniture, so took to his drawing board and created a thoroughly modern — even to 21st-century eyes — suite, sprayed with flawless cream cellulose enamel and featuring Art Deco-style geometric gold lines. Photographs of how the furniture was arranged in her rooms are detailed in these never-before-published photos discovered in the Country Life Image Archive.

The rest of the apartment was equally pared back, perhaps reflecting how Smith felt at this crossroads in her life. No paintings hung on any of the sparkling white walls; the only room filled with personal items appeared to be the study (above), probably reflecting where she spent the majority of her time. Finally successful, yet still working in a shop — albeit now promoted to head of the department with a staff of three—the hugely talented Smith negotiated her work hours down to one day a week so she could concentrate on her writing. Around this time, too, her romantic liaison with Sir Ambrose tailed off, but their friendship and mutual admiration still remained, even after the young writer began a relationship with her co-worker, Alec Macbeth Beesley. Beesley and Smith married in 1939, but not before he bought Dodie a pet dog — a Dalmatian she named Pongo. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Dodie’s spectacular and unique bedroom suite is now held by the V&A in their East Storehouse site in London.

The Country Life Image Archive contains more than 150,000 images documenting British culture and heritage, from 1897 to the present day. An additional 50,000 assets from the historic archive are scheduled to be added this year — with completion expected in Summer 2025. To search and purchase images directly from the Image Archive, please register here.