JAMES KIRKWOOD JR. - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/12/1981 - HFSID 270544

JAMES KIRKWOOD
TLS: "Jim", 1 page, 8¼x10¾.East Hampton, N.Y., 1981 April 12. To comedienne Phyllis Diller. In full: "God, it was good seeing you inn your little shack in Brentwood. I hope you've been able to fox the roof by now and you've gotten some of those old derelict cars out of the front yard. The chickens I'd keep, even though the neighbors do complain. I really enjoyed meeting your daughter, who is extremely lovely, and dear Betty from Ohio. Give them both my merriest felicitations - whatever those are. I'm so proud of you for going through that operation with such flying colors and, yes, whenever I get my eyes fixed I want you to be there holding my knee. I'm meeting with my collaborators tomorrow and I know they're going to get a huge kick out of the pictures you signed for them. I'll probably be back in California in a few weeks and I look forward to seeing you again at that time. Keep well and happy. Love." Postscript: "PS: I was absolutely amazed at the tape of you playing with the Edmonds Symphony Orchestra!" JAMES KIRKWOOD (1924-1989) is the author of novels There Must Be a Pony!, Good Times/Bad Times, American Grotesque, P.S. Your Cat is Dead!, and Some Kind of Hero. Co-author of the book of A Chorus Line, he won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. A Chorus Line ran for a then-record 6,137 performances, from 1975-1990. Comedienne PHYLLIS DILLER 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. 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. 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). 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). Unevenly toned. Otherwise, fine condition. With original envelope. Two items.