F SCOTT FITZGERALD~ SIGNED LETTERS~INA CLAIRE- LOVE AFFAIR for Sale

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F SCOTT FITZGERALD~ SIGNED LETTERS~INA CLAIRE- LOVE AFFAIR For Sale

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F SCOTT FITZGERALD~ SIGNED LETTERS~INA CLAIRE- LOVE AFFAIR:
$35,000

F SCOTT FITZGERALD~TWO LETTERS~INA CLAIRE

FITZGERALD, F. Scott. Archive of Two (2) Autograph Letters Signed

To actress Ina Claire:

1). Autograph Letter Signed ("F. Scott Fitzgerald") in black fountain pen ink on Wilmington, DE, n.d., on Du Pont Biltmore letterhead. 6" x 9 1/2", 1 page (recto only). Very good (minor signs of handling).

Scholars have long known that Fitzgerald was fascinated with actress Ina Claire from the moment as a teenager he first saw her on the stage. What has not been revealed before now is that Claire attended one of the Fitzgerald's notorious parties at the Ellerslie estate in Delaware, where the Fitzgeralds resided from 1927 to 1929. From the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel in Wilmington, Fitzgerald sends this letter to the actress.

"Fabulously beautiful Creature / Faultlessly groomed I shall be on hand a little after five and in one of my fleet of swift Rolls-Royces whisk you in a 3 1/2 minutes to our palace of delights upon the limpid Delaware. A thousand Cercassian girls and eunuchs will perform a march while we dine (at 6) upon bats wings and Chateau Yquem 1909."

2). Autograph Letter Signed ("Gene Marky") in black fountain pen ink on Edgemore, DE, n.d. (but the morning after the previous letter was written), on "Ellerslie" letterhead,8 1/2" x 11", 1 page (recto only).

Letter to Ina Claire, apologizing for his previous night's behavior.

All the promise of the previous lot's letter evaporates in the first line of this note, written the next morning in the fog of a hangover.

"Whether I passed out or was even more offensive I don't know - the only thing in my favor was that I had a dim foreboding of catastrophe from about the time the Hergesheimers left, & I wanted to get you home as soon as possible. What ho~! But nevertheless less I like you too much to endure the lousy impression you will inevitably carry away & this is wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa (& all that sentence & old fashioned time honored unacceptable, unwelcome inevitable apology, that you can doubtless fill out for yourself)."

WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT CLAIRE AND MARKEY DATED AT ONE TIME; ALSO THAT THEY JOINTLY WROTE AN ARTICLE ENTITLED "BRIGHT ALLEY" THAT APPEARED IN THE HARPER'S BAZAARISSUE OF FEBRUARY, 1927. THIS MAY EXPLAIN FITZGERALD'S USE OF MARKEY'S NAME.

of the published biographies record what went wrong at the dinner. It's possible that Zelda Fitzgerald, if she was present, could have engineered some sort of scene; or Fitzgerald my simply be embarrassed by his own clumsy pass at Claire that may or may not have succeeded. Fitzgerald closes wistfully: "Can you more or less have breakfast with me? I await below."

Ina Claire (1893-1985), born Ina Fagan, October 15, 1893, Washington, DC; died February 21, 1985, San Francisco, California; effervescent, blond star of sophisticated Broadway comedy in the late 1920s; American actress film and Broadway; films include: "The Awful Truth" 1929; "The Royal Family of Broadway" 1930; "Rebound" 1931; "Ninotchka" 1939; "Claudia" 1943. Married to actor John Gilbert 1920-1931.

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George Houle
Palm Springs, California 92263

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