ERMA BOMBECK - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 270142

ERMA BOMBECK
The writer pens a short letter to comedienne Phyllis Diller, saying she's glad she liked her column on her most recent show, and discusses a recent medical procedure humorously: "I had a masectomy 3 weeks ago. It's really weird. Where am I going to put my name tag?"
Autograph letter signed: "Erma", 1 page, 6¼x9. No place, no date, but 1992. On lined yellow sheet imprinted with her name to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis". In full: "Glad you liked the column on 'Phyllis.' Saw you with Hope and you continue to amaze and break me up. You also looked gorgeous. I had a masectomy (sic) 3 weeks ago. It's really weird. Where am I going to put my name tag. It'll kill me if no one notices. A card you sent the other day gave me my first laugh in a week. Thanks, Love". Bombeck and Diller, both Ohio-born humorists and winners of the prestigious Mark Twain Award for humor, carried on a long correspondence and Bombeck had interviewed Diller for a segment on Good Morning America. Dubbed "the Socrates of the Ironing Board" by "Life" magazine, ERMA BOMBECK (1927-1996), born Erma Louise Fiste, poked fun at everyday life in suburbia in her column, "At Wit's End", for over 30 years (beginning in 1965). Her gentle, self-deprecating humor eventually appeared twice a week in over 600 newspapers, and Bombeck delighted readers with several humorous books, including The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1976) and If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits? (1978). Bombeck was also a correspondent on Good Morning America from 1975-1986 and created and produced the television series, Maggie (1991-1992). Bombeck, who once said "I spend 90% of my time living the scripts and 10% writing them", died in 1996 at the age of 69. Although she survived a mastectomy in 1992, Bombeck had been diagnosed with adult polycystic kidney disease in 1991 (she didn't go public with her condition until 1993). After years on a transplant waiting list, she finally received a kidney transplant in 1996, but died from complications from the operation. The proceeds of her book, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Go to Boise, were donated to cancer research. Bombeck had been married to William Bombeck since 1949 and had three children. Comedienne PHYLLIS DILLER (1917-2012), known for her outrageous appearance, zany outfits, distinctive laugh and a stand-up act that featured frequent references to her fictional husband, "Fang", and zingers about her sex appeal and numerous plastic surgeries, got her big break in March 1955 (at age 37), when she debuted at San Francisco's Purple Onion club. A subsequent appearance on The Tonight Show hosted by Jack Paar launched her national career, which got a big boost after Bob Hope saw Diller in a Washington, D.C. club. A favorite of the comedian, Diller would appear in three of Hope's films and 23 of his TV specials. Diller, who recorded her first comedy record album in 1959, took her groundbreaking "funny hausfrau" act to nightclubs and television variety shows and specials and she also appeared on the big screen. Her feature film credits include Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Fat Spy (1966), Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Silence of the Hams (1994), and she provided the voice of the Queen in A Bug's Life (1998). By 2000, the comedienne, who had trained as a concert pianist before her marriage (1939-1965) to Sherwood Anderson Diller, had appeared as a piano soloist with 100 symphony orchestras across the U.S. Despite retiring from nightclub/stage tours in May 2002 at the age of 84, Diller continued to make films (Motorcross Kids, 2004; Forget About It, 2005) and occasionally appear on TV programs, including two episodes of 7th Heaven (2002, 2003) and a guest shot on The Wayne Brady Show (2004). Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Fine condition.