CARL VAN VECHTEN - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED - HFSID 84742

CARL VAN VECHTEN
Signed second page (only) of a typed letter with handwritten postscripts, commenting on Truman's becoming President, sharing dirty limericks, and commenting scathingly on a new ballet by Antony Tudor
Typed Letter Fragment with autograph postscripts, signed: "Carlo", 1 page, 8¼x11. No place, no date, but circa 1945. Signature page only of a longer letter. To "Mon Cher Walter". Footnote-style, handwritten ink postscripts, are underline here to distinguish them from the typed text. Fragment in full: "I always love to get your letters; they are so full of feelings and HUMAN interest. I share your feelings about the President, but I think Truman has begun well with platitudes, but harmless ones. Anything else would be an anticlimax and certainly he has had no time to think out a policy even if he has one. It is amazing how America runs on whatever happens. Re the 'I'm glad he's gone' from one of your officers, a seaman in the Merchant Seaman's Club made an identical comment Thursday night at the Club whereupon a Junior Hostess automatically dashed a cup of hot coffee, cup and all, in his face. She was applauded. I am glad you are liking work under your green-eyed boss more, but I knew you would. You have a great capacity for adjustment to circumstances, and always seem to be enjoying yourself, altho I dare say you are happier some times than you are at others. I am sending you a book with this which is very strange. [Item not included.] I think you will enjoy it or at least it will interest you. It has my bookplate in it but it is yours to keep or to dispose of as you see fit. It is a new book which only came to me two weeks ago. Did I send you this limerick? There was a choir boy  from Devon/Who was had in the chancel by seven/Anglican Priests,/Lascivious Beasts,/For such is the Kingdom of Heaven.Or this one? Now boys, said Madame Lepescu/Don't bother to come to my rescue./It's a wonderful thing/to be under a King,/Could Stettinius do better, I ask you? Also here is a pretty dog picture to amuse your idle hours. Antony Tudor's latest ballet Undertow opens with a childbirth on the stage. Hugh Laing is born and his mother is so mean to him that he gets a hate on women and murders the first one (Nana Gollner) who has him, whereupon the Villagers turn him down and he is led off to be hanged. All the characters have Greek names and there was no synopsis on the program the original night, so no one had the slightest idea what it was about. Nor was the performance too good. Nor is there much dancing in this ballet. And Hugh is much too thin, you can see every rib. But I'll no more after I see this again. 2 Markova was downright marvelous in her first appearance in Juliet and Pas de Quatre. She makes her second and last appearance with the Ballet Theatre this season next Sunday night in Giselle. These are occasions to cherish: GREAT ballet nights. 3 It is possible that the season may be prolonged 4 two weeks in May. In which case you may get a taste of all this. I hope so. Is there anything definite about your furlough YET? Also the war may end. I am taking pictures in the canteen again this Saturday. 5 You see everything is much as usual. My health is good, the weather is divine, and I send my love to you. Please write soon! Tuesday. 2. I saw it again last night and my impression is it is an intellectual ballet with no emotion. It has brilliant moments, but as a whole I don't like it. The music by Wm. [?] is good and so are the settings. Anyway Hugh and Antony Lucca chase Janet Read and Shirley Eckl has promised to do [illegible word] of Paris at the Ropener next Sunday. 3Last night was another such with 4Tudor ballets4Hugh was definitely not.5 wish you were here for these." Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a writer, music and dance critic, and portrait photographer who joined the staff of the New York Times in 1906. he published several collections of essays and 7 novels. He was an avid promoter of the black artists and intellectuals represented in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, but his best-selling novel [Explicit] Heaven (1926) proved controversial, for its portrayal of Harlem life as well as for its title. From the 1930s onward, Van Vechten's primary interest was in photography; many literary and artistic figures posed for his camera. His longtime friend Gertrude Stein, for whom he became literary executor, said that "… having your photograph taken by Carl Van Vechten was a sure sign that you were 'somebody'." Fold creases through signature. Ink notes (unknown hand) at lower margin. Worn at lower border. Reinforcement holes at left margin.