Joe Antone
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Property Sold by Bonhams
Lot 16¤,▲
VAN DRUTEN, JOHN. 1901-1957.
Ending from 24 November 2025, 12:00 PST
Online, Los AngelesLot to be sold without reserve
US$800 - US$1,200
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VAN DRUTEN, JOHN. 1901-1957.
Autograph Letter Signed and 24 Typed Letters Signed ("John"), 45 pp, most 4to, Hollywood, January 1, 1953 to December 15, 1957, to James Herlihy, mild to moderate toning throughout, with typed carbons of 11 of Herlihy's letters to Van Druten. 31 total items.
A very writerly correspondence, each correspondent discussing his own work and that of the other, but also giving an overview of contemporary theater of the period. Herlihy, the author of Midnight Cowboy, was an up-and-coming playwright and actor in the 1950s; Van Druten was a successful Broadway playwright and novelist, author of Leave Her to Heaven and Bell, Book and Candle. The two men struck up a correspondence in 1953 when the younger man wrote the older, and continued regularly until the week Van Druten died. In his letters, Van Druten gives extensive and excellent notes on Herlihy's writing, and also passes on theater gossip: "Bette Davis has had an accident, fell down a flight of stairs in her house here, and is laid up in plaster or traction or whatnot, and so will NOT be doing LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL after all." In a 1955 letter mentions his cat Pywacket (the name of the familiar in Bell, Book and Candle) and also discusses his own work. And in his last letter, he comments on the misadventures of Truman Capote: "Of course I read Truman Capote's article on Brando, and I agree that it was spiteful and vicious. I had heard beforehand that there had been some trouble and they didn't want Truman around at all (who would?) so what Truman did was take Brando out for an evening and get him pretty drunk on not much liquor, and write down everything he said. And the result, as you say, is easy and shabby and ridiculous, as a tape recording of anyone slightly drunk would probably be."
See illustration.
A very writerly correspondence, each correspondent discussing his own work and that of the other, but also giving an overview of contemporary theater of the period. Herlihy, the author of Midnight Cowboy, was an up-and-coming playwright and actor in the 1950s; Van Druten was a successful Broadway playwright and novelist, author of Leave Her to Heaven and Bell, Book and Candle. The two men struck up a correspondence in 1953 when the younger man wrote the older, and continued regularly until the week Van Druten died. In his letters, Van Druten gives extensive and excellent notes on Herlihy's writing, and also passes on theater gossip: "Bette Davis has had an accident, fell down a flight of stairs in her house here, and is laid up in plaster or traction or whatnot, and so will NOT be doing LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL after all." In a 1955 letter mentions his cat Pywacket (the name of the familiar in Bell, Book and Candle) and also discusses his own work. And in his last letter, he comments on the misadventures of Truman Capote: "Of course I read Truman Capote's article on Brando, and I agree that it was spiteful and vicious. I had heard beforehand that there had been some trouble and they didn't want Truman around at all (who would?) so what Truman did was take Brando out for an evening and get him pretty drunk on not much liquor, and write down everything he said. And the result, as you say, is easy and shabby and ridiculous, as a tape recording of anyone slightly drunk would probably be."
See illustration.