signed
by JOHN VAN DRUTEN
JOHN VAN DRUTEN (1901-1957). Van Druten was an English-born playwright and thespian successful in both England and America. Archive. 4 letters. 1956. A series of letters written by John van Druten to an aspiring Ohio playwright named Jerry Weingart. Weingart first contacted van Druten through his agent Monica McCall, asking van Druten to read and critique Weingart’s play. After several more months of exchanging letters, van Druten commented on Weingart’s play in a handwritten letter dated September 16, 1956. Van Druten would die the following year, in December 1957, from heart problems. a) TLS. 2pgs. January 12, 1956. New York, NY. A typed letter signed “John van Druten”. On letterhead of the Hotel Dorset in New York City. Van Druten’s first letter to Weingart, attributing his failure to reply to a prior letter to the lack of a return address. “Dear Mr. Weingart, Monica McCall spoke to me of your letter to her, and I was very glad to hear of it. It gave me the chance I have been wanting of answering your last letter to me. I wrote you an answer when that came, and then found that you had written me on paper without an address at the head of it, so that I could not send you my reply. I had no idea where to find you. This one comes at the last right moment. I am leaving N.Y. for California in the morning. I want only to say that I have not forgotten my promise, and that I shall be glad to read your play next fall, when it and you are ready. This must be all for now. I still have to finish my packing. All my best wishes, and all thanks for your letters. Yours sincerely, John van Druten”. In fine condition with a horizontal mailing fold and a small ink splotch in the lower right corner. Includes the original mailing envelope. b) TLS. 1pg. August 19, 1956. N.p. A typed letter signed “John van Druten”. Van Druten awaits receipt of Weingart’s play and thinks that the two should limit correspondence in order to facilitate a more impartial critique. “Dear Mr. Weingart, Very many thanks for your letter. My silence over the past ones has been due to ONE thing mainly – which is that until now you have NEVER put your address on your letters, but only on your envelopes, and when I wantedto answer you, the envelope had been thrown away, and I was unable to. But this time some instinct has made you put the address on the letter, too – so here is an answer. Not that I think a full correspondence between us is a good thing right now. I want to read your script first, and I shall be able to talk better the less I know of you. So sent it along, as soon as you are ready. But do not think that I was trying to chill you. Yours sincerely, John van Druten”. In good condition with a tape residue in the two upper corners. c) ALS. 2pgs. September 16 [1956]. Montecito, CA. An autograph letter signed “John van Druten”. On letterhead of the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel and Cottages. Immediately after reading Weingart’s play, van Druten writes to him with a painfully honest but compassionate account of his reaction. “Dear Mr. Weingart, I finished your play an hour ago, and I think that I should write you about it straight away. There would be no point in my apologizing for what I have to say. You sent it to me for a professional opinion, and here it is. Look, I know that you have taken a year on this script, and I know how much it means to you. I found your letter that came with it a very sad one. But what you want, I believe to be the truth as it seems to me. And this is it. I dont see this as a play at all. I do not see a playwright’s hand in it. Buried somewhere under it, I see a letter and semi-humorous attack on your men – on a frustrated, silly, schoolboy approach to life and sex in ?? ?? – but you never truly develop that, or your point of view about it. It is, no more than hinted at. There is no theatrical build, or development here. I dont know why the dream sequence is there, or what it proves, or what it leads to. I was more interested, for a reason I cannot find, in Natalie than in anyone else, but when she materialized, she seemed as bland and faceless as the others. You haven’t really written or differentiated your people at all. Neither they, nor their dialogue, emerge as real or as distinct, one from the other. And I see neither action, drama nor humour in your writing. Believe me, I know this sounds cruel and brutal. But I am of no use to you at all, if I do not write you as I feel. I cannot urge you to doctor or work on this script because I dont know – and I am not sure that you know – just what you are after. I dont even know what kind of play you are trying to write. Forgive me. I have not yet forgotten my own trying years, and I do know that this will cause you pain. But I think that for me to lie or to try and soften the plain might cause you a worse paint later on – and it would be untrue to myelf. I will return the script under a separate cover. Respectfully yours, John van Druten”. This letter is marked “Part III” on both side of the paper. In fine condition with a small ink splotch in the lower left corner of the recto. d) TLS. 1pg. November 9 [1956 or 1957]. California. A typed letter signed “J. v. D.”. Van Druten replies to a letter by Weingart, seemingly about a new script by Weingart. Van Druten also reports on his health after having suffered a stroke and comments on the work of British playwright Sir Terence Rattigan (1911-1977). “Dear Mr. Weingart, Very many thanks for your letter. I think the reports on my health have gotten themselves a little mixed. The stroke, such as it was, was a very minor thing and left no harm behind it. What did leave harm was a heart condition that preceded it, a year ago in New York. I am much, much better from that now, and am able to work again, and get around some, too – but I am also still suffering to some extent from inabilities from it, and to a general tendency to weakness. I really dont know what to say to you about your new script. You really do put almost too high a price on it, and on anyone’s capacity for being honest and fair about it. I KNOW that frame of mind – I remember it from my own youth – but I do not think one can say those things to another person, and then ask for advice or comment. It is asking for too much courage, and a possible capacity for too much cruelty. I admire Rattigan quite a lot, though not – I think – as much as you do. I saw in THE WINSLOW BOY a real capacity for his becoming a fine playwright, with a series and valuable mood in him. But since then, I have not seen it again. I have seen only a very good capacity for being a good and entertaining writing. THE WINSLOW BOY went deeper than that. Thank you again for writing. J. v. D.”. In very good condition with tape residue in the upper corners. (Inventory #: 4474)