ERMA BOMBECK - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 270144

ERMA BOMBECK
Short letter from the columnist and author to Phyllis Diller, speaking of a recent segment she did with 20/20
Autograph letter signed: "Erma" on inside panel, 1 page, 7x4¾. No place, no date. On note card imprinted "Erma Bombeck" on front to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis -". In full: "I rolled in off vacation to a book promotion schedule & a ton of mail & deadlines. There were no plans to laugh again in my lifetime. Then I opened your envelope & fell off my chair. Two more signatures and we'll put you in the home. Bob Brown, 20/20 was here & we talked about you - with much affection. I think I can go on now...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). Slightly creased. Fine condition.