FRANK SCULLY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/25/1941 - HFSID 31741

FRANK SCULLY
Variety columnist Frank Scully wrote this letter to fellow columnist Louis Sobol on one of his personalized post cards in 1941, with a somewhat embellished account of his attempts to visit Sobol. Scully is best remembered for his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, about a supposed flying saucer crash in Aztec, New Mexico.
Autograph letter signed "Sempre/Frank" in red ink. 1 page, 5½x3¼, on verso of one of Scully's personalized post cards. Aug. 25, 1941, postmarked Waterbury, Connecticut, Aug. 25, 1941. Addressed to Louis Sobol, New York Journal American, New York City. In full: "Are you never home? Lucien A Savage, Reuters Correspondent of Hollywood and once my secretary in Nice, and I passed through your home town wearing Basque berets. We were promptly stopped at the frontier as Vth Columnists heading for Four Freedoms from our wives. We slapped five bucks on the windshield and said it would go to the cop who could lick it off.'What in public?' said the lad in blue. 'Vamoose,you tempters.' We v'ed." New York journalist LOUIS SOBOL (1896-1986) wrote a gossip-oriented entertainment column for 40 years, initially focused on the Broadway stage but also covering film and TV personalities for the New York Journal American. American journalist FRANK SCULLY (1892-1964) was a columnist for Variety magazine in the 1940s and 1950s, but is chiefly remembered today for his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, in which he claimed that four flying saucers had crashed in New Mexico, including one - possibly the most famous of the four - that crashed in New Mexico in 1948. The magazine True reported in 1952 that two of the scientists that Scully used as sources - Silas Newton and "Dr. Gee", identified as Leo GeBauer - were actually con men who claimed to have created a device for finding gold and oil that used UFO technology. In rebuttal, Scully claimed that Dr. Gee was actually a composite of many sources familiar with the Aztec, New Mexico crash and reiterated his belief in the incident's veracity in his 1963 book Armour Bright. He also authored the somewhat less controversial book Fun in Bed - about keeping yourself amused during convalescence and not what you think - and numerous sequels. Lightly toned and creased. Signature and body of letter have bled lightly but are legible. Normal postal stamps, which touch body of letter but not signature. Lightly rounded, worn and corners. Lightly soiled on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condition.