HELEN GURLEY BROWN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/11/1993 - HFSID 270158

HELEN GURLEY BROWN
Warm letter to her friend, comedienne Phyllis Diller
Typed Letter Signed: "Helen" as Editor, 1 page, 7¼x10½. New York, New York, 1993 August 11. On letterhead of "Cosmopolitan" to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller, Los Angeles, California. Begins: "Dear Phyllis". In full: "The Cosmo you sent me is at home and I'm at the office and so I can't quite remember the specific date - 1909? - but the magazine is adorable! I thought the girl on the cover looked very present-day-Cosmo-like - pretty and sexy and terrific! What a happy present. Phyllis, you really are a very generous girl. I'm looking at a picture frame you sent that has a picture of David in it on location with JAWS. The frame and the picture are both sensational. Phyllis, you are mentioned a couple of times in my new book, THE LATE SHOW, and I shouldn't even bring up the subject because one mention isn't really flattering - groups you with women who are not supposed to be technically beautifully. I think you are a knock-out and didn't need to be categorized in that particular way. What am I bringing this up?! Maybe you haven't seen it and that's just great. The other is a quote from you about fragrance and that's okay. Phyllis, you enhance all our lives. I love my prezzie. Much love from David and me." Brown has crossed out the "y" in beautifully. She published The Late Show in 1993. DAVID BROWN (1916-2010) was the movie producer to whom Helen had been married since September 25, 1959. He produced Jaws in 1975 and Jaws 2 in 1978. The bestselling author of Sex and the Single Girl (1962), HELEN GURLEY BROWN (1922-2012) took the helm of "Cosmopolitan" magazine in 1965 and created the "Cosmo Girl". During her 32-year tenure as Editor in Chief, the magazine introduced the male centerfold and greatly influenced ideas about women's independence and sexual freedom. 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.