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Lot #426
Raymond Chandler Typed Letter Signed

"Betting is the only vice I have never cultivated"

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Estimate: $400+
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Description

"Betting is the only vice I have never cultivated"

TLS signed “Ray,” one page, 8.5 x 9.5, personal letterhead, July 30, 1956. Letter to “Swanie,” his literary agent H. N. Swanson, in full: “That Carol Reed idea was the silliest thing I ever heard of. I don't know what's gotten into you. Carol Reed wanted to make a picture with an international racing background, and the only germ of a story he had was that some flashy international lady bets herself to a bookmaker. I know very little about bookmakers, but I do know that no lady talks to them; they are just not that sort of people, and especially in Europe. Then in twenty-four hours, apparently, I am supposed to produce a story. Well, you know very well that a writer doesn't write a story without choosing his own background, and that I haven't the slightest interest in racing. Betting is the only vice I have never cultivated. You know it's really ridiculous that I haven't had a television program for years I think you trade too hard. Two hundred and fifty dollars a week would have made a lot of difference to me. Yours with some, but not too much love.” Swanson adds a note in pencil to an assistant below: “Ed — can you get him any kind of money on TV?” The assistant’s response: “Dick says he’s tried CBS + several others on ‘Marlowe’ and there is no present interest.” In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, and staple holes and associated paper loss to the upper left corner.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autograph and Artifacts
  • Dates: #674 - Ended September 13, 2023





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