Archive of 24 letters to theater and culture columnist Leonard Lyons from prominent songwriters including Arthur Schwartz, Robert Stolz, Harry Ruby, Paul Anka, Eddie Duchin, Harold Arlen, and Enzo Stuarti. The letters date from the 1940s to the late 1960s and consist of ALSs, TLSs, and a couple of LSs written in a spouses hand. One letter from Arthur Schwartz, dated August 28, 1957, reads, “When you introduced me to Senator Kennedy, a chain of events occurred which add up to the greatest step forward in the song-writers’ long battle against suppression of their works. I’m sure you know that Senator Smathers of Florida introduced a bill last Wednesday prohibiting broadcasters from owning record companies or music publishing firms…The dawn is breaking. You made it happen. For all songwriters, bless you.” Another letter from Harry Ruby, dated April 15, 1961, reads, in part: “Thanks a million for that nice item about me in a recent issue of your paper. However, there is the other side of the medal: I have received so many copies of it from friends and relatives in the east that my house, which holds two pianos, may have to be enlarged….Funny how things dog one’s footsteps through life, which was said by Wm. Shakespeare, the Babe Ruth of literature, so much better than I could say it. He said: The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with the bones.’…If you saw This Is Your Life April 2, you heard Al Schacht tell how I messed up a double play with the Washington Senators way back in 1931. I will never live that down.” In very good to fine condition. RRAuction COA.
