Group lot of three TLSs signed “Darryl” or “Darryl Zanuck,” each addressed to noted gossip columnist Walter Winchell in regard to the film 1933 film Broadway Through a Keyhole, for which the latter wrote the screenplay. The letters, five total pages, range in size from 7.25 x 10.5 to 8.5 x 11, each Twentieth Century Pictures letterhead, dated between 1933 and 1934. The earliest letter, September 18, 1933, in part: “I wired about the picture. I am so thrilled, I can hardly talk. It is unquestionably a smash in every sense of the word. Paul Kelly is a star overnight. The whole thing is tremendous entertainment and actually surpasses 42nd Street”; the second letter, September 29, 1933, regarding a potential sequel, in part: “We have been working on an original story to fit the title: Hollywood Thru a Keyhole, by Walter Winchell. To say that we have a sensational story is putting it mildly…If you object to us making the picture under your name…I am perfectly willing to go ahead with the picture as an original story under the title which we own: I Cover Hollywood”; and a portion of the last letter, February 28, 1934, discussing issues he had with an article Winchell wrote about his negative dealings with Twentieth Century Pictures: “I read your beautiful ad in the Herald the other night for Broadway Thru a Keyhole. I am not angry with you for throwing the harpoon at me…but it sort of hurts me to think…you would deliberately go out of your way to bring up something that isn’t quite true…In the first place it is true when you say I did not have any box-office names in Keyhole, I made the mistake of believing your name was a box-office asset…The second partially incorrect statement is where you criticize us for rushing out the picture to cash in on publicity value…I am glad to report that Keyhole has done splendid business. It is nothing sensational, like The Bowery and not as strong as Moulin Rouge or Gallant lady, but it is far from a flop.” In overall fine condition.
