Description:

Saroyan William 1908 - 1981 William Saroyan archive including ALS to Playboy editors Ray Russell and A.C. Spectorsky.

Archive comprised of ALS signed by William Saroyan, TLS signed by William Saroyan, and two typed letters in reply from Playboy executive editor Ray Russell. Pieces measure 8.5" x 11" and range from good to very good condition. Condition issues range from toning and mat burn to expected paper folds and damage from removed staples.

On August 3, 1956, William Saroyan addressed a 1pp TLS on watermarked onion skin paper to "Mr. A.C. Spectorsky, Editor Playboy Magazine" from his home in Malibu, California. Saroyan was sending the editor a short story entitled "The Suez Canal Matter", or as Saroyan said tersely and completely deadpan, " ... A Real Marriage, or something else, if you prefer". The letter is in Saroyan's characteristically relaxed writing style: "I'll be pleased if you happen to like it and want it for the magazine (and pay well), but if you don't, or do and it's no good for the magazine, that's O.K. I'll try it somewhere else". Signed "Bill Saroyan" in blue ball point pen at center. Mark in green pen near date.

In a 1pp typed newsprint reply dated August 13, 1956, Ray Russell declined Saroyan's story offer, but then related how much he admired Saroyan's work. "It all started in an 'L' station where I found a two-bit paperback called 48 SAROYAN STORIES ...", Russell explained. "Please forgive the autobiography and send me another story soon", the editor wrote. A few smudges do not greatly affect the text.

On March 9, 1957, Bill Saroyan wrote a 1pp ALS on newsprint in black felt tip pen: "Dear Spectorsky, Collier's bought it [a short story] + folded - if I sell it again, they get half. I think it's a good yarn. Maybe you will too. All best to you + Hugh" and signed it "Bill Saroyan". "Hugh" probably refers to Playboy's influential cofounder, Hugh Heffner. A large wrinkle in upper left corner, and a 1" long tear to right edge.

Playboy executive editor Ray Russell again declined Saroyan's story as being inappropriate for his magazine's young male readership in a 1pp March 20, 1957 typed newsprint response. "Spectorsky has passed on to me THE GIRL WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOUTH IN AMERICA ... it would not be quite right for us to publish a story in which a fellow does not seize such a golden opportunity", Russell wrote. With wrinkles in the upper left corner.

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. The two short stories Saroyan attempted to peddle to Playboy, "The Suez Canal Matter" and "The Girl with the Most Beautiful Mouth in America", appear to have been published around 1956. Saroyan's 1958 play The Slaughter of the Innocents appeared a year after this correspondence.

Ray Russell (1924-1999) was a writer of the Southern Gothic tradition and horror sub-genre in addition to serving as Playboy's executive editor. Russell's most famous short story "Sardonicus", was published in Playboy in 1961. Playboy Magazine, co-founded by Hugh Heffner (born 1926) in 1953, was a lifestyle magazine geared towards the modern American man. Besides offering erotic literature and nude photographs to its consumers, Playboy also featured short stories, cartoons, and interviews with some of the most notable literary and entertainment figures of its day.

Auguste C. Spectorsky (1910-1972) joined the Playboy editorial team in 1956, around the time of this correspondence exchanged between William Saroyan and Ray Russell. In his popular book Exurbanites, published in 1955, Spectorsky explored the eponymous demographic whose lives were entirely dictated by the cities they lived far away from.

A remarkable series of letters showing the magazine editorial process and the difficulties of being a writer in postwar America.

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