Alexander Woollcott's Copy of Private Lives by Noël Coward

"Private Lives," Noël Coward's "intimate comedy in three acts," was published in 1930. Coward inscribed a copy to drama critic Alexander Woollcott the following year and Woollcott, as the owner, added his signature in pencil as well.

Even Woollcott couldn't keep his books in pristine condition.

The first hardcover edition was priced at $1.75.

Is this how you would inscribe inscribe your book to an esteemed member of the Algonquin Round Table? Of course it is.

"For Ackie Wackie
from
Noly Poly
1931"

Title page

Noël Coward
AbeBooks listing accessed August 29, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/1930-Private-Lives-INSCRIBED-Noel-Coward/31938898645/bd

Noël Coward
AbeBooks item description

Note:  I read "Private Lives" in college from an under-inked Xerox copy that doesn't compare in any way to the extraordinary first edition shown above, except for the text. I have a special liking for books inscribed author to author, artist to artist, or, as you might imagine, cartoonist to cartoonist. Take your pick from your home library and send me photos of whatever you've got. I know just the blog for them.

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James Reid Parker's Copy of My Best Girls by Helen E. Hokinson

When Helen E. Hokinson's cartoon collection My Best Girls was published in 1941, she and gagwriter James Reid Parker had been formally collaborating for ten years. Parker wrote the memorable captions that in part kept Hokinson such a celebrated cartoonist. Here fresh from eBay is his copy of the book, gratefully inscribed to him by Hokinson. They were of course on a first-name basis, although Parker went by the name Reid, so there it's technically a middle-name basis.

My Best Girls (1941)
Helen E. Hokinson
"I want to report a winking man"

Title page

Inscribed "For Reid with many
many thanks for his
wonderful captions,
Helen"

Note that the quotation from the unseen drawing on the far left below is by John Mason Brown. After her death in a plane crash, the theater critic would come to write an appreciation of the artist for The Saturday Review of Literature issue of December 10, 1949. His tribute appears in The Ladies, God Bless 'em! (1950) and The Hokinson Festival (1956).

The bottom caption reads in full, "We can't make up our minds whether to buy or build."
The New Yorker, May 4, 1940

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay listing ended August 8, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-1st-Edition-MY-BEST-GIRLS-by-Helen-Hokinson-Cartoon-Book-Rare-VHTF-/143678074192?hash=item2173e16d50%3Ag%3AckYAAOSwugtfLzT5&nma=true&si=0VRLNXcwB1AfKyLn9IovVbXUwvE%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Helen E.Hokinson
eBay bid history
Sold for a Best Offer of $10.99

 

                                                           
                     

Note:  The papers of Helen E. Hokinson and of James Reid Parker reside in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Wouldn't you like to see them? Me too. Somehow this book didn't make it over there, which ironically is the only reason so many can see it so easily today. Isn't it time for libraries to take their valuable papers out of dusty storage boxes and post digital copies online?

Attempted Bloggery would be only too pleased to document other books personalized by Helen or Reid, as I like to call them. 

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Helen E. Hokinson

James Reid Parker

Attempted Bloggery's Hungover Index

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Sheet Music from Murray Anderson's Almanac

Rare sheet music from "Murray Anderson's Almanac," a 1929 Broadway revue, has found its way onto eBay. The show's creators include Noel Coward, Rube Goldberg, and Peter Arno. Imagine a time when being a famous cartoonist got you invited to work with Noël Coward on Broadway! But let's have Arno's biographer Michael Maslin tell you about it:

Michael Maslin. Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist, New York:  Regan Arts, 2016, page 64.

Google Books

"I May Be Wrong (But, I Think You're Wonderful)" is a lovely sentiment marred only perhaps by a superfluous comma. I trust your uke is in tune:

"Murray Anderson's Almanac"
eBay Listing as of September 24, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/152715280302?ul_noapp=true

"Murray Anderson's Almanac," 1929
eBay Item Description

Peter Arno advertised for Camel cigarettes in the show's Playbill:

Playbill
"Murray Anderson's Almanac," 1929
Peter Arno advertisement for Camel

http://www.playbill.com/playbillpagegallery/inside-playbill?asset=00000150-aea3-d936-a7fd-eef752740009&type=InsidePlaybill&slide=1

A 1929 recording of the song

Note:  I may be wrong, but I think you're wonderful too. And I'm not just saying that to get you to send me rare images of the art of Peter Arno and Rube Goldberg.

A completely different edition of "Murray Anderson's Almanac" opened on Broadway in 1953.

Michael Maslin's 2016 biography Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist is available on Amazon and at other places where fine books are still sold.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Peter Arno

Rube Goldberg

Noël Coward

Broadway

Attempted Bloggery's Wonderful (I Think) Index

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Constantin Alajálov's "Blithe Spirit"

The original American production of Noël Coward's spritely comedy "Blithe Spirit" opened on London's West End in 1941 and on Broadway later that year. The illustration promoting the American production was created by Constantin Alajálov. It was used on the Playbill cover as well as on posters, flyers, and souvenir programs. The original Broadway production artwork depicted a séance and was sold at Swann Galleries in January 2013.

Constantin Alajálov, "Blithe Spirit" Broadway production art

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2300++++++98+&refno=++667625&saletype=

"Blithe Spirit," Playbill, April 1942
The Morosco Theatre

http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Cover/1787/21140/Blithe-Spirit 

"Blithe Spirit," Playbill, May 1942
The Booth Theatre

http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Cover/1787/21140/Blithe-Spirit 

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" stage play souvenir program book

http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/14233859.html

"Blithe Spirit" New York flyer(?)

http://c2.bibtopia.com/h/600/598/70598600.0.m.jpg

"Blithe Spirit" 1942 Chicago flyer

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Noel-Coward-BLITHE-SPIRIT-Dennis-King-Estelle-Winwood-1942-Chicago-Flyer-/151260177888

Blithe Spirit Chicago(?) poster facsimile

http://www.vinmag.com/online/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=AP006-blithe-sprirt-noel-cowerd-theatre-poster&sid=kounvx13k69gn3190771oszro4ktvlz1

Note:  For just about three weeks now I have been writing posts inspired by illustrator Constantin Alajálov and having a pretty good time along the way. If you'd like to get a better feel for how I look at this illustrator's work, see my blog posts on the subject here.

Broadway has always been inspiring to me too. I don't have nearly as many posts on the subject as I'd like, but you can see what I do have here.

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