Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright (1906–1981) known primarily for writing the Broadway play Harvey, later adapted for a film starring Jimmy Stewart. Outstanding TLS, two pages, 8.5 x 11, February 4, 1970. Lengthy letter on the origin of Harvey. In part: “One day I heard, also casually from a neighbor, that the son of the woman across the street had gone down in the Pacific—his plane shot down and no survivors…It began to haunt me and I longed to do something for her and there must be others like her. If I could only make such a woman—laugh again! If I could do this I could be tempted to try the theater again…I began to cast around ideas—rejecting them as they came…In a dreamy state between sleeping and waking—I saw a psychiatrist walking across a stage—followed by a big rabbit which had been brought to the sanitarium by the patient…It was an instant success not only in Boston…but also in New York. And so many of the letters I received were from parents who had lost sons in the war these letters always said the same thing; ‘We have not laughed since—until we saw Harvey.’…The play changed my life…I have written other plays since, but never anything like Harvey and I never will. It was a ‘miracle’ of a play.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. The play premiered on November 1, 1944, at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 1,775 performances before closing on January 15, 1949. The original production was directed by Antoinette Perry and starred Frank Fay and Josephine Hull. RRAuction COA.
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