Book Review: Letters from Hollywood

Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Moviemaking is a gem of a book. Compiled and edited by author/producer Rocky Lang and film historian/archivist Barbara Hall, this beautiful-looking hardcover volume contains 137 pieces of classic Hollywood correspondence (letters, notes and telegrams), spanning five decades from the early 1920s through the 1970s. The correspondence not only comes from famous Hollywood stars like Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo or Joan Crawford, but also from people less known to the general public yet important to Hollywood history, e.g. Irving Thalberg, Will Hays and Joseph Breen. (And there are also letter writers and recipients I had never heard of, among them screenwriters and agents.) Introducing the letters, authors Lang and Hall provide ample background information so the reader understands the context in which they were written.

Below: Rocky Lang grew up in the film business having agent-turned-producer Jennings Lang and singer/actress Monica Lewis as parents (here they are photographed in 1968). When a letter from his father to agent H.N. Swanson was discovered, Rocky got the idea for Letters from Hollywood and also included his father's letter in the book.

For three years, Lang and Hall worked on the project, first searching archives and libraries for interesting correspondence and then trying to track down the copyright owners, which proved to be more difficult than they thought. Their hard work eventually resulted in a book that is beautifully designed (lovely book cover, great lay-out and beautiful hi-res images of the original correspondence), with the letters providing chronological snippets of Hollywood history as well as fascinating peeks into the private thoughts of some of Hollywood's biggest stars, directors, producers etc.. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am very excited about this book -- it's basically what I do on the web, but then presented in glorious book form -- feeling it's a must-have for classic Hollywood fans and a great addition to any film book collection.

Some of the letters in the book I was already familiar with, having posted them earlier on this blog. However, most of the correspondence was unknown to me as it was obtained from archives, libraries and private collections and thus hidden from the general public - until now. Not all the letters are equally interesting of course, but there are a lot of gems and to give you an idea, below are excerpts from some of my personal faves.

________

Ronald Colman to studio executive Abe Lehr about the transition to the talkies (August 1928):

With reference to the additional clause to the contract, - I would rather not sign this, at any rate just at present. Except as a scientific achievement, I am not sympathetic to this "sound" business. I feel, as so many do, that it is a mechanical resource, that it is a retrogressive and temporary digression in so far as it affects the art of motion picture acting, - in short that it does not properly belong to my particular work (of which naturally I must be the best judge).

Tallulah Bankhead to David Selznick about the Scarlett O'Hara role in Gone with the Wind (December 1936):

I want you to believe me when I say this letter is not written in any spirit of hurt, arrogance, or bad temper, and if these elements should creep in, it is only because I haven't a sufficient gift of words to express myself clearly. [...] As I see it, your wire to me means one thing- that if no one better comes along, I'll do. Well, that would be all well and good if I were a beginner at my job. It would be a wonderful thing to hope and wait for, but as this is not the case, I cannot see it that way, and I feel it only fair to tell you that I will not make any more tests, either silent or dialogue, for Scarlett O'Hara, on probation.

Hedda Hopper to friend Aileen Pringle about Citizen Kane (January 1941):

I've seen the picture, and it's foul. It doesn't leave Mr. Hearst with one redeeming feature. Nobody but Orson would have dared do a thing like that, and I personally hope it will never be shown on the screen, although they're going right ahead making plans for its release in February. 

Robert Sherwood to Samuel Goldwyn about writing the script for Glory for Me, later renamed The Best Years of Our Lives (August 1945):

I have been thinking a great deal about "Glory for Me" and have come to the conclusion that, in all fairness, I should recommend to you that we drop it. This is entirely due to the conviction that, by next Spring or next Fall, this subject will be terribly out of date. [...] I do not believe that more than a small minority of these men will still be afflicted with the war neuroses which are essential parts of all of the three characters in "Glory for Me", and I, therefore, think that this picture would arouse considerable resentment by suggesting that these three characters are designed to be typical of all returned servicemen.

Gilbert Roland to Clara Bow to whom he was once engaged (December 1949):

How is your Dad? I would like to see him. I always had a warm spot in my heart for him, even though many years ago he refused to let me marry you because I was making seventy-five dollars a week, and you three hundred -- and when I made three hundred, you made a Thousand, and when I made a thousand you made more. ad finitum, and so it goes, and that's the way it is...

Joan Crawford to friend Jane Kesner Ardmore about her meeting Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the company of Marilyn Monroe and Anita Ekberg (October 1956):

It was one of the most exciting moments I have ever had. Of course, I was not too happy about being presented with that group of people representing the Motion Picture Industry, such as Marilyn you-know-who, and Anita Ekberg. Incidentally, Marilyn and Anita were howled at because of their tight dresses - they could not walk off the stage. It was most embarrassing.

Paul Newman to William Wyler & Ray Stark after having been offered the male lead in Funny Girl (May 1967):

I am grateful for the offer and the interest, and I hope it doesn't seem like an act of arrogance to turn all that affection down, but the truth of the matter is that I can't sing a note, and as for that monster, the dance, suffice it to say that I have no flexibility below the ass at all -- I even have difficulty proving the paternity of my six children.

If you would like to read the entire letters and many more (in their original form) -- you can order a copy of Letters from Hollywood here or here.

Note

Rocky Lang contacted me in January 2018, asking if I knew of any letters that he and Barbara Hall might be able to use for their project. I made several suggestions and some of it ended up in the book. While my input is quite small, I am proud to have contributed to this great, unique book -- and seeing my name in the Acknowledgment section is pretty cool! 

A recognition for your zeal and enthusiasm

On 12 April 1926, Clara Bow signed her first contract with Paramount earning $750 per week. After the immediate success of Mantrap released in July of that same year, Bow's contract was renewed into a five-year deal and her weekly salary more than doubled to $1,700 (it would eventually rise to $4,000 per week in the last year). Her roles in the 1927 hits It and Wings made Bow Paramount's number one star and biggest box-office draw, and as a reward the studio decided to give her a salary raise in August 1928, earlier than was agreed upon in their contract. Bow was to receive $2,837 per week, becoming the highest paid actress in Hollywood (several sources, including Imdb, say that Bow earned as much as $35,000 per week, but that is today's equivalent of her actual salary). Shown below is the 1928 contract which informed Bow of her salary raise and why she deserved it. 

Image courtesy of profiles in history

Transcript:

August 15, 1928

Miss Clara Bow,

Hollywood, Calif.

Dear Miss Bow:

This is to inform you that we have decided to commence payment to you of salary at the rate of $2837.00 per week, the salary set forth in our agreement with you dated August 16, 1926, as the salary payable to you during the next option period thereof, on August 16, 1928, instead of on October 11, 1928, which is the date of the commencement of said next option period.

Our purpose of granting you the additional compensation herein provided, beyond the compensation provided for by our said agreement with you is to give you substantial recognition for your zeal and enthusiasm in the service of the company.

It is understood  and agreed between us that the agreement dated August 16, 1926, between you and this Corporation, is in all respects ratified and confirmed, and that the inducements hereby held out are not intended to vary the terms of the said agreement, and when accepted by you shall be considered further and additional consideration for all your undertakings contained in the said agreement of August 16, 1926.

Kindly sign under the word "Accepted" below and return this letter for our files, retaining the enclosed duplicate original. 

Yours very truly,

PARAMOUNT FAMOUS LASKY CORPORATION

BY: (signed J.J. Gain)

Executive Manager

ACCEPTED:

(signed Clara Bow)

Clara Bow's letter to her dog

Clara Bow loved dogs. She is reported to have said once: "The more I see of men, the more I like dogs". One of the dogs she had was a cocker spaniel -Diablo- who died in 1941 at age ten. Shown below is a three-page, very sweet eulogy that Clara wrote for him. 

Source: heritage auctions/ reproduced with permission

Transcript: 

(handwritten) Read this, sons-

The dictating is mine, but not the typewriting

Remember 'Diablo'

The black cocker spaniel

(Dedicated to Diablo)

Little Dobbie:-

Listen, I am saying this to you, as you lie asleep, one little paw crumbled under your cheek and the black curls stickily wet on your damp forehead.

I have stolen, stolen close to your crib alone. Just a few moments ago as I sat reading, a hot wave of remorse came over to me. I couldn't resist it.... guiltily I came to your basket.

These are the things I was thinking Dobbie.... I had been cross to you. I scolded you because you jumped on me with your wet and muddy little paws and ruined my favorite pyjamas.... and stained my new bedroom slippers. I spanked you for pulling off the table cloth and breaking several pieces of my coffee set.  I called out angrily when I noticed you had dragged some of my things onto the floor.

At breakfast I found fault too. You spilled your food... you gulped down your biscuits in a hurry... I lost my temper when I called to you and there you were playing with King and not paying any attention to my call and whistle.

Then it started all over again.. this afternoon as I drove in, I spied you digging holes in my favorite flower patch- and they were holes alright. If you had to dig, plant and buy those seeds you'd feel the same way I did.. and yet, why should I be so small about such petty trifles.

Do you remember later, when I was resting on the front porch watching the beautiful moon rise, how you came in softly, timidly with a sort of hurt, haunted look in your eyes? When I turned to you impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What do you want?" I snapped.

You just looked at me, so sadly, then turned and ran towards me, jumped right on my lap and buried your cold little nose in my hands with such affection, which, God who is kind to all living, must have set blooming in your heart, and which neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering into my room and crawled into your basket for the night.

Well, Dobbie, it was shortly afterwards, when, after reading awhile, the book slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. Suddenly I saw myself as I really was, in all my selfishness, and I felt sick at heart.

What had habit done to me?  The habit of complaining, of finding fault, of reprimanding you. All of these were my rewards to you for being a little dog. It was not that I didn't love you; it was just that I expected too much of a little puppy. And there was so much that was good and fine in your little dog character. You did not deserve my treatment of you, Dobbie. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the desert hills. All this was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me goodnight.

Nothing else matters tonight Dobbie dear. I have come to your bedside in the darkness and I have knelt there, choking with emotion and so ashamed. It is a feeble atonement. I know that you wouldn't understand these things, yet I must say what I am saying. I make a new resolve that tomorrow I will be a real pal to you- and more tolerant with you. When impatient words come I will bite my tongue and say- as if it were a ritual- "He is nothing but a little doggy!"

I'm afraid I have visioned you as a little human being. Yet as I see you now Dobbie, crumbled and weary in your little basket, I see that you are yet only a baby.

Dear little Dobbie, here on my penitent knees, I kiss your little curls- if it were not for waking you I would snatch you up in my arms and crush you to my breast.

Tears come, and heartache and remorse, and I think, a richer, deeper love, when you ran to me through the porch door and wanted to kiss me!

FINIS

Happy Holidays!

Here are a few Season's Greetings from Hollywood stars sent to their fellow actors and friends. First up are four telegrams from Greta Garbo to Clifton Webb. Garbo would send Webb a holiday telegram every year on Christmas Eve, signing them with "Harry Brown" (short for Harriet Brown), the pseudonym she used while travelling. The telegrams shown are from 1946, 1953, 1955 and 1962.

Source: first image heritage auctions (reproduced with permission)/ second image: telegrams from last century

Transcript:

BEVERLY HILLS CALIF 

1946 DEC 24

CLIFTON MABELE [sic] WEBB=

SAVOY PLAZA NYK=

HAPPY XMAS AND NEW YEAR=

HARRY BROWN.

Note: Mabel was Webb's mother whom he lived with.

Transcript:

NEW YORK NY= 1953 DEC 24

CLIFTON WEBBS=

1005 REXFORD DR BEVERLY HILLS CALIF =

MILLIONS OF GREETINGS

HARRY BROWN=

Source: both images heritage auctions (here and here) / reproduced with permission

Transcript:

NEW YORK NY =1955 DEC 24

CLIFTON WEBB=

1005 REXFORD DR BEVERLY HILLS CALIF=

HARRY BROWN SEND LOVE=

UNSIGNED=

Transcript:

DEC 24 62
NEW YORK NY
CLIFTON WEBB

1005 REXFORD DR BEVERLY HILLS CALIF

FONDEST GREETINGS

HARRY BROWN.

One of my earlier posts showed a fan letter from Clara Bow to Marlon Brando (here). This is a Christmas card Bow sent her idol somewhere in the 1950s (I can't make out the postmark on the envelope, so I don't know from what year this card is exactly).

Source: heritage auctions/ image reproduced with permission

Transcript:

Dear Mr Brando:

A belated thanks for your most gracious note, and the autographed picture of your son- it is on my den wall in the place of honor- I will always cherish it, so thanks once again for your kindness. I do hope you and yours enjoy the happiest of holidays! good luck to you always! 

Sincerely and gratefully,

Clara Bow

And two notes sent to Joan Crawford. The first one is a belated New Year's greeting from Anne Baxter, followed by a note from Barbara Stanwyck.

Source: heritage auctions/ image reproduced with permission

Transcript:

Dear Joan-

Your Christmas greeting was forwarded to me on tour.

It is always so heart warming to feel your kind thoughts reaching out to all of your far-flung friends and acquaintances.

Have the best New Year in the world.

Fondly always,

Anne Baxter (signed)

Miss Joan Crawford

150 East 69th Street

New York, N.Y. 10021

January 12, 1974

Source: the best of everything: a joan crawford encyclopedia

Transcript:

Joan dear,

What a beautiful Christmas basket just arrived filled with so many wonderful things! You are a dear generous friend and I thank you so very very much and I hope and pray the New Year will bring you all you desire-

Love always,

Missy

Dec 24/75

Clara Bow & her fan letter to Marlon Brando

Clara Bow was one of the greatest stars of the 1920s. She was the ultimate flapper, the original "It girl" and Hollywood's first sex symbol. An extremely popular actress in her time, Bow received more than 45,000 fan letters per month, a number seldom equalled. Born in 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, Bow grew up in poverty with a sexually abusive father and a schizophrenic mother. To escape her miserable life, Bow found comfort in movies ("For the first time in my life I knew there was beauty in the world"). She dreamed of being an actress and, after winning an acting contest, made her film debut at age 16. Between 1922 and 1933, she starred in 57 films, including box-office hits like Mantrap (1926), It (1927) and Wings (1927). It was the film that made her a star and gave her the nickname the "It girl".

Although Clara Bow was adored by the public, she was shunned by Hollywood. Actors like Douglas Fairbanks jr., Mary Pickford and Marion Davies, who belonged to Hollywood's high society, distanced themselves from her, thinking she was vulgar and bad-mannered. And Bow's studio, Paramount, was none too happy with her unconventional lifestyle and the scandals that surrounded her (scandals that involved her public love affairs, her gambling addiction etc.). The tabloids, meanwhile, were having a field day covering Bow's life in detail. Eventually, Bow couldn't handle the pressures of Hollywood anymore and retired from acting in 1933 at age 28. She left California and moved to Nevada with actor husband Rex Bell with whom she had two sons. By that time, Bow had already been showing signs of mental illness and was ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia (like her mother). In 1950, Bow separated from her husband, moved back to California and spent the last 15 years of her life in seclusion, all the while struggling with her mental health. She died of a heart attack in 1965, 60 years old.

In the early 1950s, Clara Bow became a fan of upcoming star Marlon Brando. Until then, Bow's favourite actor had been Gilbert Roland (her ex-fiancé), but in Brando she found a new favourite actor. According to David Stenn (author of Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild (1988)), Bow met her new idol somewhere in the mid-50s. After she discovered that Brando was a fan of hers, she visited him at his home (leaving her house was something she would only rarely do). Bow and Brando reportedly enjoyed their meeting, and Brando later sent the retired actress a signed photo with the inscription: "For Clara Bow Bell, a memorable personality who has given so much to so many. With sincere respects, Marlon Brando". 

Written before they met, Clara Bow sent the following letter to Marlon Brando in December 1954 (it's actually a lengthy message written on a Christmas card). In it, Bow asks Brando for a new autographed photo. Apparently Brando had sent her one in 1952, but the ink on it had faded ("You didn't by any chance write with vanishing ink, did you?"). What is quite interesting is that, apart from being a fan letter, Bow also touches upon her Hollywood days, mentioning her wild behaviour, Paramount and Hollywood's social elite.

Source: heritage auctions/ image reproduced with permission

Transcript:

1954

Dear Mr. Brando,

May I at this time, again, congratulate you on your superb performances in "On the Waterfront" and "Desiree".
I know how busy you are with your career, but if in the future, you take ten, I'd appreciate a new autographed photo from my favorite artist. The one you autographed and sent me almost two years ago is still framed and on my dressing table, but the writing on it has almost vanished- for what reason I can't understand- thus the above request. You didn't by any chance write with vanishing ink, did you? Although we have never met personally I feel as we did. I know two of your friends, however, and they told me how much you enjoyed playing tricks on them. I adore a good sense of humor, wit and whimsy in people, so I would not mind a past photo written in vanishing ink. -When I was in my teens and even older I did things that most people considered crazy, wild and unconvential [sic]! Paramount raised hell when they found out I was rolling-skating [sic] on the streets of Beverly Hills. I still went on skating, nevertheless, I liked doing it and could not understand the consternation I provoked in the studio- heads hearts [??] I don't need to tell you that the so-called social elite of Hollywood snubbed me, and you know what- I didn't give a hoot!
Don't forget that new photo and this time- no ink that disappears into thin air- please Marlon B.
Sincerely, Clara Bow

A rare photo of Clara Bow from the 1950s, and Bow's idol: hunky Marlon Brando

*I must admit that I never knew much about Clara Bow. I am no fan of silent films and have so far only seen a couple of Charlie Chaplin pictures. But my curiosity is now piqued and I will definitely check out her films! 

This is my contribution to the CMBA Blogathon "Forgotten Stars". Click here to see all the other entries!