Beschreibung:

RUNYON, DAMON. One autograph letter signed, one autograph note signed, seven typed letters signed, forty-two typed letters, and one typed note to his son Damon Runyon, Jr. in Cincinnati, nearly all written from New York (a few from Florida), 3 July 1945-22 November 1946, and no date (most undated). Together 52 letters and notes, 102 pages, mostly 4to, mainly double-spaced, a number on tan copy paper, some on his personal note paper headed "Damon Runyon says:", the eight signed letters and one note signed "Dad" (nearly all in pencil), the others with "Dad" typewritten, several with pencilled or inked corrections/revisions by Runyon, all in five black-cloth binders ; in very good condition. FATHER AND SON An exceptional series of letters written during the final year-and-a-half of Runyon's life and showing his remarkable courage in the face of terminal illness and severe family problems. Runyon died in New York on 10 December 1946 at the age of 66. Cancer of the throat had necessitated removal of his larynx a year earler, forcing him to communicate with his many friends (at such spots as his beloved Lindy's restaurant) by means of notes written on his note paper with printed heading "Damon Runyon says:". At the time Runyon's son, in his later twenties, was a newpaper reporter in Cincinnati and a would-be writer for Hollywood movies. He never advanced, though, beyond a career as a journeyman journalist, laboring in the shadow cast by his famous father. In 1954 he published a bitter memoir, Father's Footsteps , about Damon Sr.'s "destructive egomania." In 1968, at age 49, he committed suicide. The letters deal primarily with family relationships and problems: Runyon's daughter Mary, a recently divorced alcoholic in need of psychiatric care; Runyon's own health and his anticipated death; his financial difficulties, worsened in part by a divorce from his second wife in 1944; his son's pending divorce and his drinking problem (there is much in the letters about Alcoholics Anonymous). But throughout the correspondence Runyon gives advice to his son about his writing and talks of his own newspaper and literary career (including his stints as a Hollywood writer). 3 July 1945: "...I think the samples of your work that you sent me are excellent reporting with a swell human interest touch. I have always thought you could write and it has always been my hope that you would carry on what I think is an honorable name in the newspaper game, the greatest profession in the world...I quit drinking thirty-five years ago in Denver and have not had a drink since. I quit because I realized that I got no fun out of drinking. Liquor only gave me delusions of grandeur that got me into trouble. It never made me happy and bright and sparkling as it does some people. It made me dull and stupid and quarrelsome...It destroyed my pride, my sense of decency. I quit because I saw that I was not going to get anywhere in the world if I didn't and I wanted to go places..." "Wednesday," n.d.: "...Set yourself to work on a number of story treatments such as the one I read so when you do go out there [to Hollywood] you will be 'heeled' in a manner of speaking. You will have something to show, something to sell...Remember this: They don't care about ideas unless they are on paper. That is the important thing -- get it on paper. With something on paper you can walk in anywhere and start talking. But verbal routines are no good...Most young guys go to Hollywood with chips on their shoulders. I found it one of the warmest, friendliest places I have ever been in my life with many swell people there and my greatest regret is that I did not find it sooner in life..." "Tuesday," n.d.: "...I think my greatest misfortune was in getting caught in a current that demanded a certain standard of living and it took money to meet that standard. I would have been better off if I had remained a struggling and obscure fellow of no great means in a small community where I might hav