ARCHIVE OF 4 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs)

Los Angeles, 1920. Letters. Creases from mailing. Near Fine. Four AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED, totaling 9 pages, three of them to his good Hoosier friend and fellow socialist, Oliver M. Sayler. In the first letter, dated 9 January 1920, Dreiser suggests places Sayler could work in New York, mentioning many names including T. R. Smith of the Century Company, Henry Harper at Harper's, J. Jefferson Jones of the John Lane Company, Herbert Kauffmann at McCLURE'S, and Horace Liveright. In the second letter, dated 14 February 1920, Dreiser kindly answers Sayler's request for a letter of introduction to a paper named THE EVENING POST. He informs Sayler that most (truncated) likely the letter would not do much help as it has "in so far as I can recall been anything but condemnatory -- or perhaps I had better say scornful of me & my opinions." He urges Sayler to go to other places such as the HERALD or TRIBUNE. The third letter, also dated 14 February 1920, is addressed to Mr. Scott at THE EVENING POST recommending Sayler for a position as dramatic critic there even though Dreiser is "very much aware that in so far as THE EVENING POST is concerned any recommendation I may choose to offer in behalf of another may prove more of a hindrance than an aid." Dreiser goes on to state that Sayler "is one of a very few in America or elsewhere who correctly interpret the modern theatre with all its delicate threads of experiment and theory." He says that he follows Sayler's recommendations "with a security which has not been misplaced. Also as an experimenter myself in the possibilities of the stage I have found him unusually understanding and sympathetic." In the final letter, dated 23 August 1920, Dreiser notes that he saw a piece by Sayler in a small Indianapolis paper and wishes it could be reprinted in a paper of larger circulation. He ends the letter by asking, "What happened in New York?"

American theatre critic and writer Oliver Sayler was an authority on Russian theatre under the communists who wrote several books on the subject, including THE RUSSIAN THEATRE UNDER THE REVOLUTION (1920) and MAX REINHARDT AND HIS THEATRE (1924). In the 1920s, Sayler worked as theatre critic for THE SATURDAY REVIEW. As the press agent of Russian emigrant Morris Gest, Sayler did much to promote cultural exchange with Russia. (Inventory #: 019381)