HELEN HAYES - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 207094

HELEN HAYES
Helen Hayes signs a typescript from "On Reflection".
Typescript signed: "Helen Hayes", 1-¼p, 8½x11. Titled: "from On Reflection". In part: "...Mother was right. On opening night, in a desperate effort to live up to that sign out front, I gave one of those shrill, tense performances that became a hazard in my career whenever I was not in top form. I made a botch of the whole business. I couldn't keep it a secret. It was all over the papers the next day. Heywood Broun...tore me apart...Although not all the newspapers were unkind, I was shattered by Heywood Broun's evaluation of my performance...Mother's silence was eloquent corroboration. My second-night performance, in reaction, was so understated that the audience thought me in a trance...Lew Fields, John Drew, and William Gillette had all warned me never to allow anyone to toy with my gift, never to corrupt my natural style...They were three wonderful, romantic gentlemen of the old school and I am eternally grateful to them for their priceless training...At 20, I was a veteran actress and - to my mind, at any rate - far from a professional." Helen Hayes (1900-1993) won the 1931-1932 Academy Award for Best Actress for the title role in The Sin of Madelon Claudet, her first film. After starring in Vanessa, Her Love Story in 1935 for M-G-M, Hayes returned to Broadway and enjoyed the greatest triumph of her stage career in the title role of Victoria Regina (1935-1938). She earned the sobriquet, First Lady of the American Stage, winning Tonys for Happy Birthday (1947), the first year the award was given, and for Time Remembered (1958). A frequent TV guest star from the 1950s to the 1980s, Hayes made occasional films, such as Anastasia (1956) and Airport (1970), winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the latter. Fine condition.