Hart, Moss. (1904–1961) & Ferber, Edna. (1885–1965) & Carlisle, Kitty. (1910–2007). Archive of Letters, Typescripts, and Photographs.
An interesting and significant collection of autograph and typed letters and telegrams from the important American playwright and his wife Kitty Carlisle to Edna Ferber, together with several original typescripts and drafts of Ferber's memorial tribute to Hart, a booklet printed by Random House containing all the tributes given at Hart's memorial, a signed photograph of Kitty Carlisle, and several other letters and clippings. A fascinating testament to their long but rocky relationship, the collection includes several letters and telegrams from Hart in the mid-1930's describing his struggle with depression and his experiences with psychoanalysis, as well as letters from Kitty Hart to Edna Ferber from after Hart's death. Complete contents listed below. Contents overall in fine to very fine condition.
TLS from Moss Hart to Edna Ferber. February 15, 1936. 2 pp. Hart describes his depression: "I have no pride left anymore. Nor no strength or courage. It's a dreadful thing to turn ones [sic] hate in upon oneself, as I seem to have done,—and this gradual self-revealment—this being stripped clean in one's own eyes—is a devastating thing..."
TLS from Hart to Ferber. N.d., with envelope postmarked Beverly Hills, March 30, 1936. 1 p. In a better state, Hart writes: "I slipped back a little the past few days, but this time I'm fighting it for all I'm worth—I won't let it destroy me." He mentions work on the 1937 film Maytime and hopes "that you might come out here with George [Kaufman] in May and finish the play here—I do hope it's true!"
TLS from Hart to Ferber. Dated Monday 19th, with envelope postmarked Beverly Hills, May 18, 1936. 2 pp. Hart writes that he's "ever so much better. Not solved, mind you—but beginning to wake up in the morning and want to get up [...] You ought to see me. I'm sunburned as hell, I've got seven dogs, a house with a tennis court [...] and the most beautiful house you ever saw."
TLS from Hart to Ferber. Miami, n.d., ca. 1940's. 2 pp. Hart describes his stay at the Lord Tarleton Hotel: "It's a strange place. The sun shines down daily on a people behaving with real savagery [...] Mink and sable and diamonds are worn at the swimming pool merely as regulation attire."
4 telegrams from Hart to Ferber. Dated December 21, 1935 ("Wire received you big darling. You wouldn't consider marrying me would you with or without an idea?"), March 17, 1936 (reporting on his progress with Maytime and asking "...how, if Western Union doesn't object to the word, are you darling?"), August 19, 1936 (reporting on painful dental work), and May 1, 1937 ("You're a wonderful person. Am writing.")
Autograph note on a small card from Hart to Ferber, with envelope. N.d. Hart writes: "The books looked so naked alone— Love, from one old reflector to another. Moss."
ALS from Kitty Hart to Ferber. March 24, 1966. 1 p. Hart reports on an unnamed triumph: "Well I did it! There's no one in the world I'd rather talk over my triumph with than you..."
ALS from Kitty Hart to Ferber. October 14, 1961. 2 pp. Hart thanks Ferber for the gift of flowers and adds: "At the risk of sounding sentimental, I shall tell you that my heart swells with pleasure when I think that I have you for a friend."
TLS on a folded card from Kitty Hart to Ferber. January 13, 1961. Hart reports on Moss' health, mentioning that they have gone on a low-fat diet at Ferber's recommendation.
Group of drafts for Ferber's memorial tribute to Moss Hart, including 6 typed drafts of different versions (each ca. 4 pp.) with autograph and typed corrections, and one autograph draft written in pencil on 15 3 x 5 inch sheets.
A Memorial Tribute to Moss Hart. New York: Random House, 1962. Printed booklet containing tributes made by Brooks Atkinson, Dore Schary, Ferber, Alan J. Lerner, and Bennett Cerf. 29 pp.
Three TLS and one ALS thanking Ferber for her tribute to Hart, from Peggy Wood, William S. Paley, Ken McCormick and one other, dated January-February 1962.
Signed 8 x 10 photograph of Kitty Carlisle [Hart].
Magazine clipping of an article about Kitty Hart, published in Pictorial Living, February 6, 1966.
Moss Hart and Edna Ferber had an intense, perhaps quasi-romantic relationship before he married Kitty Carlisle in 1946. Ferber's biographer Julie Goldsmith Gilbert writes: "They had been so very close in one of those carefully built, deeply invested relationships, where there is little room for sexuality with all the cerebral goodies abounding." Nevertheless, Ferber and Kitty Hart had great affection for one another. Ferber and Hart went through a period of estrangement in the late 1950's, after their plans to collaborate with Rodgers and Hammerstein on a musical of Ferber's book Saratoga Trunk did not succeed. It was during this time that Hart suffered his first heart attack. However, by 1961, the year of Hart's death, they were reconciled. Ferber gave a touching speech at his memorial in 1962, remembering: "I have never known anyone who so savored every luscious morsel of his own victory over hardship. Above all, he battled that enemy we all must face—ourselves. He fought himself, and conquered."
Hart, Moss. (1904–1961) & Ferber, Edna. (1885–1965) & Carlisle, Kitty. (1910–2007). Archive of Letters, Typescripts, and Photographs.
An interesting and significant collection of autograph and typed letters and telegrams from the important American playwright and his wife Kitty Carlisle to Edna Ferber, together with several original typescripts and drafts of Ferber's memorial tribute to Hart, a booklet printed by Random House containing all the tributes given at Hart's memorial, a signed photograph of Kitty Carlisle, and several other letters and clippings. A fascinating testament to their long but rocky relationship, the collection includes several letters and telegrams from Hart in the mid-1930's describing his struggle with depression and his experiences with psychoanalysis, as well as letters from Kitty Hart to Edna Ferber from after Hart's death. Complete contents listed below. Contents overall in fine to very fine condition.
TLS from Moss Hart to Edna Ferber. February 15, 1936. 2 pp. Hart describes his depression: "I have no pride left anymore. Nor no strength or courage. It's a dreadful thing to turn ones [sic] hate in upon oneself, as I seem to have done,—and this gradual self-revealment—this being stripped clean in one's own eyes—is a devastating thing..."
TLS from Hart to Ferber. N.d., with envelope postmarked Beverly Hills, March 30, 1936. 1 p. In a better state, Hart writes: "I slipped back a little the past few days, but this time I'm fighting it for all I'm worth—I won't let it destroy me." He mentions work on the 1937 film Maytime and hopes "that you might come out here with George [Kaufman] in May and finish the play here—I do hope it's true!"
TLS from Hart to Ferber. Dated Monday 19th, with envelope postmarked Beverly Hills, May 18, 1936. 2 pp. Hart writes that he's "ever so much better. Not solved, mind you—but beginning to wake up in the morning and want to get up [...] You ought to see me. I'm sunburned as hell, I've got seven dogs, a house with a tennis court [...] and the most beautiful house you ever saw."
TLS from Hart to Ferber. Miami, n.d., ca. 1940's. 2 pp. Hart describes his stay at the Lord Tarleton Hotel: "It's a strange place. The sun shines down daily on a people behaving with real savagery [...] Mink and sable and diamonds are worn at the swimming pool merely as regulation attire."
4 telegrams from Hart to Ferber. Dated December 21, 1935 ("Wire received you big darling. You wouldn't consider marrying me would you with or without an idea?"), March 17, 1936 (reporting on his progress with Maytime and asking "...how, if Western Union doesn't object to the word, are you darling?"), August 19, 1936 (reporting on painful dental work), and May 1, 1937 ("You're a wonderful person. Am writing.")
Autograph note on a small card from Hart to Ferber, with envelope. N.d. Hart writes: "The books looked so naked alone— Love, from one old reflector to another. Moss."
ALS from Kitty Hart to Ferber. March 24, 1966. 1 p. Hart reports on an unnamed triumph: "Well I did it! There's no one in the world I'd rather talk over my triumph with than you..."
ALS from Kitty Hart to Ferber. October 14, 1961. 2 pp. Hart thanks Ferber for the gift of flowers and adds: "At the risk of sounding sentimental, I shall tell you that my heart swells with pleasure when I think that I have you for a friend."
TLS on a folded card from Kitty Hart to Ferber. January 13, 1961. Hart reports on Moss' health, mentioning that they have gone on a low-fat diet at Ferber's recommendation.
Group of drafts for Ferber's memorial tribute to Moss Hart, including 6 typed drafts of different versions (each ca. 4 pp.) with autograph and typed corrections, and one autograph draft written in pencil on 15 3 x 5 inch sheets.
A Memorial Tribute to Moss Hart. New York: Random House, 1962. Printed booklet containing tributes made by Brooks Atkinson, Dore Schary, Ferber, Alan J. Lerner, and Bennett Cerf. 29 pp.
Three TLS and one ALS thanking Ferber for her tribute to Hart, from Peggy Wood, William S. Paley, Ken McCormick and one other, dated January-February 1962.
Signed 8 x 10 photograph of Kitty Carlisle [Hart].
Magazine clipping of an article about Kitty Hart, published in Pictorial Living, February 6, 1966.
Moss Hart and Edna Ferber had an intense, perhaps quasi-romantic relationship before he married Kitty Carlisle in 1946. Ferber's biographer Julie Goldsmith Gilbert writes: "They had been so very close in one of those carefully built, deeply invested relationships, where there is little room for sexuality with all the cerebral goodies abounding." Nevertheless, Ferber and Kitty Hart had great affection for one another. Ferber and Hart went through a period of estrangement in the late 1950's, after their plans to collaborate with Rodgers and Hammerstein on a musical of Ferber's book Saratoga Trunk did not succeed. It was during this time that Hart suffered his first heart attack. However, by 1961, the year of Hart's death, they were reconciled. Ferber gave a touching speech at his memorial in 1962, remembering: "I have never known anyone who so savored every luscious morsel of his own victory over hardship. Above all, he battled that enemy we all must face—ourselves. He fought himself, and conquered."