Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (1904-1961), he was most notably known for You Can’t Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner, and also as a Broadway director for the musical, My Fair Lady. Hart endured a lifetime struggle with bipolar syndrome and coming to terms with his homosexuality. Four TLSs, all signed in fountain pen, “T. Moss,” two of the letters dating January 9, 1936 and August 26, 1936, and one mailing envelope postmarked March 30, 1937, all on personal letterhead. All letters are to Edna Ferber, a fellow playwright, each discussing Hart’s therapy (which he calls “analysis”), his daily emotional rollercoaster ride, and his sentiments about the plays he was working on. One letter reads, in part: “I can’t begin to tell you how completely exciting it seemed to just have a small measure of peace and serenity…I am just accepting it and praying it to go on. I can’t believe it’s the analysis working, but whatever it is, it is so much velvet.” Another letter reads, in part: “I was, of course, bitterly disappointed that you didn’t like the play…there are three people I write my plays for, and you happen to be one of them. George [Kaufman] is another, and he doesn’t count in this case, because he is prejudiced…” A final letter reads, in part: “Of course you’re right….I must simply find a kind of strength within myself that I haven’t had up to now…No one but myself, though, can ever know what a tough fight it is––but I’m going to fight it through––alone. Because I know now that I am horribly alone in this––no one can help––not you or George or Bee or anyone I love. And it’s hard to face the greatest crisis in your life alone––but if you have the courage to…than no metal can touch you.” Intersecting folds, light, scattered surface creasing, and a few, faint paper clip imprints, otherwise fine condition. Accompanied by two original mailing envelopes. RR Auction COA.
