DODIE SMITH - CONTRACT SIGNED 12/08/1949 CO-SIGNED BY: ARMINA MARSHALL - HFSID 178120

DODIE SMITH and ARMINA MARSHALL. Document signed: "Dodie Smith", "Armina Marshall", 3p, 8½x11. Santa Monica, California, 1949 December 8. Signed on p3; also initialed "D.S." on p2. Letter of agreement from Warner Bros. Pictures to the Theatre Guild, Inc. in New York giving permission for one radio broadcast, on or before April 16, 1950, of Autumn Crocus, a play written by Smith. As a condition, the Theatre Guild agrees to give publicity to the Warner Bros. film The Hasty Heart, also written by Goodman. Smith has handwritten and initialed an amendment: that she is to be further identified as "author of the recent successful novel I Capture the Castle". Marshall signs her acceptance on behalf of the Theatre Guild. Also signed by an Assistant Secretary for Warner Bros. Although best remembered today for her children's book, The Hundred and One Dalmations (1912), English author Dodie Smith (1896-1990) wrote several plays, three of which appeared on Broadway, and adult novels. I Capture the Castle (1948), recently reissued, was also made into a 2003 film. ARMINA MARSHALL, who first appeared on the Broadway stage in 1924, became a prominent playwright and producer. The Theatre Guild, which she and husband Lawrence Langer founded in 1919, still flourishes, having produced 228 Broadway plays as of 2002. Marshall and Langer received a Tony for the stage version of Sunrise at Campobello in 1958 and a special Tony (1961) for organizing the first repertory group to tour the world for the U.S. State Department, at President Kennedy's behest. Staple holes in upper left corner. Slightly frayed in upper right corner of page 1. Otherwise, fine condition.