LAURENCE STALLINGS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 01/30/1936 - HFSID 22936

LAURENCE STALLINGS
TLS as Editor of Fox Movietone News, declining an invitation to write an article for Modern Mechanix and Inventions Magazine
Typed Letter signed: "Laurence Stallings", 1 page, 8½x11. New York, N.Y., 1936 January 30. On letterhead of Fox Movietone News, Laurence Stallings, Editor, to William Kost, Modern Mechanix and Inventions Magazine, Greenwich, Connecticut. In full: "I thank you for the invitation to contribute to your magazine, but my work is such that I have not time to entertain your kind offer. Very truly yours". Playwright, screenwriter, songwriter, journalist and photographer Laurence Stallings worked with many of the entertainments biggest names in all these films, producing works which reflected the anti-war sentiments he acquired during World War I. A combat veteran of that war, he suffered an injury at Chateau Thierry which led to amputation in 1922. With Maxwell Anderson he wrote screenplay for What Price Glory? (1924). He wrote the script and lyrics for the stage musical Deep River (1926), adapted A Farewell to Arms for the stage (1930), and collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on Rainbow (1928). His novel Plumes (1924) was made into the 1925 film The Big Parade, which painted a grim picture of war. Stalling's photo collection, The First World War and his nonfiction The Doughboys also drew on his experiences in World War I. Stallings collaborated with John Ford on three films, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). He was a member of the literary circle Algonquin Round Table. Fox Movietone News produced newsreels for theater audiences from 1927 - when it covered Lindbergh's flight - to 1963. Toned and lightly creased. Two horizontal mailing folds. Pencil note (unknown hand) at top left corner. Otherwise, fine condition.