ARTIE SHAW - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 09/13/1974 - HFSID 308263

ARTIE SHAW
Invitation to fellow band leader Bob Wilson and spouse to visit his new home in California
Typed Letter: "Artie", 1 page, 7¼x10½. No place (return address of Westwood, California is his future address), 1974 September 13. To "Dear Bob" [Wilson], Honolulu, Hawaii, in full: "Would have loved to see you and Audrey but I am in process of moving (permanently!) out to the Coast - for reasons too numerous and complex to go into. My new address (above) is effective from Oct 15 - December 15. The phone will be under Artixo Productions, Ltd. (new listing, naturally). Why don't you and Audrey try to stop by for a visit in Los Angeles on your way back? Best, as always." Accompanied by original mailing envelope. Bandleader Artie Shaw (1910-2004), born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, was also an accomplished jazz clarinetist, composer and writer. During the Swing Era, Shaw, the chief rival of Benny Goodman, and his band had a number of hits, including "Begin the Beguine" (1938), "Lady Be Good" and "Frenesi", and Shaw was the first white bandleader to hire a Black female lead singer - Billie Holiday. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Shaw appeared in two feature films, Artie Shaw's Class in Swing (1939) and Second Chorus (1940), and he wrote songs for the Marx Brothers' film, The Big Store (1941) as well as for Second Chorus. Enlisting in the U.S. Navy during WWII, Shaw and his band played for Navy personnel in the Pacific Theatre for 18 months. In 1954, Shaw "retired" from playing the clarinet to concentrate on writing semi-autobiographical non-fiction, but he came out of retirement several times, including reorganizing a new Artie Shaw Band (1981, with Dick Johnson as band leader and soloist; Shaw would make guest conducting appearances) and appearing as a guest star on several TV shows, from What's My Line? (1950) to Police Woman (1975) as well as making several appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1971-1972. Married eight times, his wives included Elizabeth "Betty" Kern, the daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern, and actresses Lana Turner (February-September 1940), Ava Gardner (1945-1946) and Evelyn Keyes (1957-1985; his longest marriage, but Shaw said they lived separate lives much of the time). Shaw, who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award on February 8, 2004, died on December 30, 2004 at the age of 94. Artixo, Shaw's production company, is a play on words he picked up while living in Spain. "Artixó", the Catalan word for artichoke, is pronounced much like "Artie Show". This letter is from the personal collection of noted Big Band-era musician Bob Wilson. Normal mailing folds. Slightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.