Description:

Saroyan William 1908 - 1981 Archive of Bill Saroyan regarding writing, producing plays, Leonard Lyons, and more



Archive comprised of 2 pp TLS dated September 24, 1949 along with envelope; as well as TLS dated December 5, 1949. TLS on 8.375" x 11" cream newsprint type paper signed "Bill Saroyan" in black fountain pen at bottom of second page, with annotation in pen on first page in margin. Companion air mail envelope typed with sender's address "William Saroyan, 1821 15 th Avenue, San Francisco" on front, bearing canceled 6 cent stamp, and postmarked September 24, 1949 from San Francisco. Onion skin note signed "Bill Saroyan" in black fountain pen. Both in very fine condition, with expected fold marks. Both pieces of correspondence feature author's edits, mostly in form of "X"d out passages. Two phantom paper clip marks and small tear along top edge of note measuring 8.375" x 6.125".

See below for some memorable and representative excerpts:

San Francisco

September 24, 1949

"The point is that I had no business forgetting all this and making such a fuss, but you know how it is --- Japan all of a sudden, a place I have never wanted to visit --- I just couldn't resist".



"Leonard was in great form when I saw him, even though his life-and-work pattern was topsy-turvy. He is just about the best-liked man (by people of all sorts) I know. By topsy-turvy I mean of course that he was getting up in the morning. A week or two ago I got out old work files for reference and in the file for 1939 found Leonard's column and began reading one after another, and as I told him it is absolutely remarkable how the stuff holds up, and is not dated. I told Leonard ... that I still feel he must not neglect getting the column between book covers".

San Francisco

December 5, 1949

"If you run into Jed anywhere and he's got any ideas about producing one or another of my plays, give him my address ... Or any other producer. I need to get back to the theater, that's all. Or let me put it this way: I need money. An all-night drunk staggers into a church just in time to hear the preacher say, 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.' 'Now there's a square fucking deal,' the drunk says, 'or I'll kiss your ass.' So long."

William Saroyan (1908-1981) was a first-generation Armenian American short story writer, screenwriter, and novelist. The high watermark of his literary career was just before and during World War II. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and his 1943 screenplay adaption of his novel The Human Comedy won an Academy Award. When this correspondence was written, Saroyan's personal life was deteriorating due to addiction problems; he divorced his wife Carol Marcus (1924-2003) that year.

Saroyan addressed his letter to "Sylvia" and his note to "Lennie", referring to Sylvia and Leonard Lyons respectively. Leonard Lyons (1906-1976) was a popular serial columnist who produced 12,000 mostly arts-related newspaper columns over a forty-year period published in the New York Post under the heading "The Lyon's Den". The Lyons knew dozens of actors, musicians, writers, and Hollywood personalities through Leonard's role as a journalist. As a California-based author, Saroyan also had a wide social circle; he mentions Ted Lewis, the Ritz Brothers, and Milton Berle in his letter. Saroyan's writing style is typically sarcastic, self-deprecating, and spare in this correspondence. It is replete with the off-color jokes, anecdotes, and language that characterized other hard-boiled writers of this era like Raymond Chandler.

An illuminating glimpse into the literary community of post-World War II America!

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