FRANK SCULLY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/22/1934 - HFSID 31800

FRANK SCULLY
Variety columnist Frank Scully signed this letter, typed on his personalized "Bedside Manor" stationery, to fellow columnist Louis Sobol in 1934. In it, he asked whether Sobol was hurt during an explosion in a neighboring penthouse and if he could help a tuberculosis patient. Scully is best remembered for his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, about a supposed flying saucer crash in Aztec, New Mexico.
Typed letter signed "Frank Scully". Pencil marks on verso in unknown hand. 1 page, 8½x11, on Scully's "Bedside Manor" stationery. West Los Angeles, California, Aug. 22 1934. Addressed toLouis Sobol, The Evening Journal, New York. In full: "Dear Louis Sobol:- What's this I read in Variety about you making all the dailies by neighboring a pent-house explosion? I hope you got the headlines without having to go all the way to the hospital for them. In the same mail that brought the news of your accident came a letter from a fellow sufferer which enclosed a column of yours. It was frayed at the creased and he wanted it back for his scrap book. He though it out to go in a Fun in Bed boo, so I copied it out to see if you thought it out to too. In trade he'd like a cure for t. b., a congenial companion to visit him at recreation periods or a small radio. Maybe the Voice of Broadway could help him to the gal or the radio. His name and address are: D.W. Donnalley, Sea View San, Staten Island, N. Y. I find this climate beautiful but bitchy and have to hike to the mountains myself for a little bit of patching up. With greetings from min to yours, Faithfully always, FRANK SCULLY". 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, soiled and creased. Light tears in left, right and bottom edges. Missing top edge. Edges are discolored. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.