Lot 959
O'Neill, Eugene. Autograph letter signed ("Gene"), one page, 11 x 8½ ", Belgrade Lakes, Maine, n.d. (Sept. 1926). To his agent, Richard Madden, about royalties and production plans for his plays. In part: "Just a line to tell you to inform the Actors bunch that, as always with my cuts, I expect my full royalty of '[The Great God] Brown' to be restored from Sept. 1st on…Also warn them.they are way behind hand on royalties again which they faithfully promised not to be after our experience with them last winter. Will hold off the Guild until I get back to town….There's no hurry since they're frank about not wanting to do it this season. I'll also have a personal interview with Miller. Nathan has wanted to bring us together for some time…we can take the opportunity to talk 'Marco [Millions]' to him too. As this last is more or less confidential, keep it under your hat. Kenneth [Macgowan] wired me today that he had a cable from [Max] Reinhardt saying he was enthusiastic about 'Lazarus [Laughed]' asking us to postpone any decision of direction for it until his man Kammer gets here the last of month. Which listens good but may mean nothing. I can't wait much longer on their (Actors) raising money to do it, Reinhardt or no R., or I'll be dished out of any production the coming season. As I have pointed out to Kenneth, 'Lazarus L' isn't the type of thing anyone would buy for production after the 1st of Feb.--too expensive. I'm enclosing the contracts. All best! Gene." A couple of penciled notes on verso, else fine.
Legendary stage director Max Reinhardt (1873-1943) managed the Deutsches Theater in Berlin at the time of this letter. O'Neill was right about "Lazarus Laughed" being too expensive to produce. No commercial producer was willing to risk it and the only production was a 28-day run at the California Community Playhouse in Pasadena in April 1928. In the summer of 1926, O'Neill and his second wife, Agnes Boulton, rented a cottage in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. During that summer, O'Neill renewed his acquaintance with Carlotta Monterey, who had starred in the 1922 production of "The Hairy Ape," and began a relationship with her; she would become his third wife. It was at Belgrade Lakes that O'Neill wrote "Strange Interlude." Fine.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,250.
Mel Smith Collection, ex Lion Heart Autographs, 1990.
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