TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute letterhead (and bearing the Institute’s blind stamp in the lower right corner), January 22, 1965. Letter to Taky Kimura, his prize student and eventually one of only three Lee-certified instructors of Jeet Kune Do. In full: “Enclosed you will find fifty contracts of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Ins. which you can use for the gym up in Seattle. There are three copies of each contract, one (the original one!) for your record, one for the student and the last one is supposed for the collecting agency, which I doubt if the student can’t pay we are not going to get anything. However, these contracts serve to bind the student mentally if not at all legally. The minute a student signs up for the lessons he is in for three months, $27 down ($10 for initiation) and the balance $34 to be paid within two months in two or even three installments. Enclosed you will find one sample contract which I’m sure you will know what to do. After the baby there will be brochures, business cards (for you), promotional letters printed and as soon as they are ready I’ll send them to you. They will be real subtle with honest commercialization for bigger increase of business. I have to go to the class now and because has been working swing I’ve been taking charge of the class full time. I teach Mon., Tues., Fri., and Sun., plus four more hours of private lessons. Hope to see you soon. Take care my friend.” Scattered moderate to heavy soiling and damp staining, light haloing to signature from moisture exposure, as well as some light mirroring of signature from folding, otherwise very good condition.
Shortly after arriving in Seattle and his 1960 establishment of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, Lee met Kimura, a Japanese-American businessman who used martial arts to restore the self-confidence he had lost in post-World War II America. Through their exercises together as master and apprentice, Lee and Kimura became lifelong friends, with Lee naming him as his first assistant instructor. He entrusted Kimura with overseeing his Seattle school while awaiting what would be the February 1, 1965 birth of his son Brandon Lee, noting that afterward would be a publicity campaign with “brochures, business cards...[and] promotional letters” for the business. Three days after his son’s birth, with his life continuing to change, Lee headed to Hollywood for a screen test for a possible ‘Charlie Chan’ series. Great correspondence from a hectic period in the icon’s life. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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