ALS signed “G. Bernard Shaw,” one page on a 3.5 x 5.5 personal stationery postcard, October 30, 1920. Letter to the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. In full: “Your people are running a film in America called You Never Can Tell. Can they be persuaded to change the title? It will be as inconvenient for them as for me if my play is filmed. Besides, as they are interested in a hundred titles for every one that I am interested in, they have far more reason than I to discountenance the practice of using other people’s titles. We shall all be landed in hopeless confusion unless there is what is called in trade here ‘a gentleman’s agreement’ to make good the deficiencies of the law. Why not call the film ‘Who Would Have Thought It?’ which is just as good a title as You Never Can Tell?” Addressed on the reverse in Shaw’s hand. Light soiling and a rusty paperclip impression to the top edge, otherwise fine condition. Shaw had written the play You Never Can Tell in 1897 and published it as part of the volume Plays Pleasant the following year. The film he references of the same title, starring Bebe Daniels, debuted on September 22, 1920, and does not seem to have been renamed. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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