Description:

Shaw, George Bernard (1856-1950) Shaw writes an aspiring playwright "I will not read your play " A week later, Shaw returns an essay to him commenting "This is all tosh... You send such things to editors on the chance of getting a few shillings for them, not to ME"

Comprises: An ALS explaining why Shaw will not read an aspiring playwright's play and a pithy ANS to the playwright on an essay he wrote - housed in a custom-made clamshell case, 9.75" x 12.5" x 1", marbled on the inside, five raised bands on brown spine labeled in gilt in one compartment "George / Bernard / Shaw."

(1) Autograph Letter Signed "G. Bernard Shaw," 2p, 7" x 4.5", front & verso. 10 Adelphi Terrace, W.C.2. [London], October 4, 1924. Addressed by Shaw to John A. Lincoln, Jr., 70 Talbot Rd, Bayswater /W.2. Fine condition.

In full, "I will not read your play; and the enclosed article will explain why you were very unwise to ask me to. Nobody's opinion is worth twopence as to whether a play will be a box office attraction or not. Managers often have to produce plays they don't believe in simply because they must keep the theatre open, and for the moment must take what they can get. That is where the beginner gets his chance.

"Your ambitions, your circumstances, your desire to marry concern nobody but yourself, and have nothing whatever to do with your play's chances of production. If you imagine that your earnings as a playwright are likely to enable you to despise Ealing and live in Whitehall Court you may depend on being rudely disillusioned." Ealing is a suburban district of west London.

(2) Autograph Note Signed "GBS dated October 12, 1924, on the top of the first page of a Typed Manuscript Signed "John A. Lincoln," 6p, 7" x 9", separate sheets attached. Titled "The Drama. / The Position of the Young Playwright." Fine condition.

Shaw has penned, in full, "This is all tosh: it is not about real categories, but about catchwords of the press. You send such things to editors on the chance of getting a few shillings for them, not to ME. GBS 12/10/24"

Lincoln's essay, "The Drama. / The Position of the Young Playwright," begins, "Some incoherency must be expected in an article dealing with the position of the Young Playwright in the Drama. I should say at once it is his position and not the Young Playwright himself, that is incoherent. True he is being searched for by Producers yet is seldom found for it seems that Producers are looking for Commercial 'square pegs' in the 'round hole' of the Intellectual, or Art Drama"

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