American performer (1911–1970), born Louise Hovick, who raised stripping to a popular and semi-respectable art form. Her life story later formed the basis of the hit musical Gypsy. Archive of seven letters, all signed “Gypsy,” consisting of one three-page ALS, five TLSs (two single page and three multi-page), and one handwritten postcard from France, all written to Ann Winslow in New York, all undated, but an accompanying envelope is postmarked December 4, 1931.
In her ALS, Lee references her work on a film: “This picture I think will [be] o.k. I’m not nervous anymore and my clothes & makeup are better. As for acting - well don’t suppose I’ll ever get around to that. They cut things out here…Not that it matters as long as I get my money, but I would rather be good.”
Another letter, written from the road in Chicago, shows Lee struggling at her current gig. “It is now three thirty and Mrs. Varley has just left…My chin and my stomach have given me a lot of trouble. The chin is so thick, and I think the water here has thrown my system out of kelter…I have been so bloated and full of gas that my costumes won’t fit. Then that scare of the kidnapping didn’t help either. I haven’t slept since.”
In another letter, Lee writes of her volatile divorce and the end of her career: “I still got me a husband! Just when everything was settled down the papers had to print that he had ‘knocked me down on several occasions’ and he got so angry (I can’t blame him that he refused to sign the agreement. My lawyer told me that they were signed and sealed…I even paid the stinker…the lawyer I mean. Naturally I feel up in the air it’s such a mess 2:41:27…really don’t know why it is but always people that I love or like seem to become a charge of mine. They expect me to support them, financially and morally. They resent the fact that I make money. Their chorus is that I am mercenary…well goody, if just one of them would get out and earn a living for me…and for themselves I’d give my business up. It isn’t the most pleasant way in the world to earn a living. I guess I am selfish. I feel that I must save enough to make this thing worth while, soon I won’t be able to earn it. Then what?????? I’m twenty seven now…or twenty eight, either age is close to the finale of a career like mine.”
In very good to fine overall condition. The ALS is accompanied by a certificate of authentcity from PSA/DNA. Accompanied by two original negative strips of Lee teasingly toying with her clothes, and promoting her professional debut at Minsky’s.
The ups and downs (mostly downs) expressed in these letters parallel her career from 1930 to 1940. One of the biggest stars of Minsky's Burlesque and later a Ziegfeld Girl, Lee tried to parlay that success in Hollywood beginning in 1935. As she notes here, however, that plan did not go as well as expected. “I feel that I must save enough to make this thing worth while, soon I won’t be able to earn it...I’m twenty seven now…close to the finale of a career like mine,” she notes in one letter.
Part of the problem may have been due to name recognition. She was billed by 20th Century Fox as Louise Hovick—her birth name—which understandably upset the performer as she was known as Gypsy Rose Lee. Regardless of the billing, however, most of her film work was deemed unacceptable by critics and audiences, something foreshadowed by the actress as she writes, “As for acting - well don’t suppose I’ll ever get around to that. They cut things out here…but I would rather be good.” A 1937 marriage to Arnold ‘Bob’ Mizzy, one arranged at the studio's insistence, ended in divorce in 1941, and is undoubtedly the relationship referenced here. Lee eventually decided to go back to New York City where she knew she could find work and regain her fame. A unique collection of thoughts from a woman whose name is still tantalizingly familiar. RRAuction COA.
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