LOWELL THOMAS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 06/03/1940 - HFSID 291270

LOWELL THOMAS
Letter inviting the Rotary Club to a softball game and barbeque, an invitation he had forgotten to extend earlier because "the war news is so overwhelming". Thomas adds a handwritten note in the lower margin.
Typed Letter signed: "Lowell Thomas", 1 page, 7¼x10½. Rockefeller Center, New York, 1940 June 3. On personal letterhead to "Dear Mr. Deas". In full: "At the Rotary luncheon the other day I had several things in mind that I intended to mention. But, the war news was so overwhelming that I forgot about everything else. For instance, I had intended to issue a challenge to the Rotary Club. Unless Hitler pushes all civilization into an abyss, my notorious soft ball team, the Nine Old Men, will probably play a few games this summer, one with President Roosevelt's crowd from Hyde Park, and another with a crowd from Long Island led by Col. T. R., Jr. Some Sunday afternoon, if the Rotarians would like to bring your ladies to Quaker Hill, near Pauling, in the southeastern corner of Dutchess County, I would be glad to arrange a game, a swim, and a barbeque. Up my way a group of us have just taken on one of the most beautiful lakes in Eastern America. We intend to keep it as near primeval as possible, with no buildings around it. Three thousand acres in the neighborhood will be divided up into farms and a few small country places. We are not doing this for profit but merely to strengthen a neighborhood which we think is the most delightful in this section of the East. If you would like to try country life, let me know, and I will be glad to show you around, or get one of my colleagues to do so. At any rate, let's have a ball game. Cordially yours". His autograph note in lower margin: "Dear Mr. O'Connor - Hope you will come and have a look." Lowell Thomas (1892-1981), co-founder of Capital Cities broadcasting, began his network radio evening newscasts on September 29, 1930 and continued until May 14, 1976, a mark unparalleled in the broadcast industry. Millions were familiar with his distinctive radio sign-off: "So long until tomorrow." In 1935, Thomas became the voice of Fox Movietone News, the newsreel service widely distributed throughout movie houses in the United States. He narrated the newsreels for the next 17 years (1935-1952) and was heard weekly by an audience of almost 100 million people. Thomas also narrated This is Cinerama (1952), the first movie made in the Cinerama process, and wrote the screenplays for a number of 1975 Lowell Thomas Remembers documentaries that spanned the years 1930 to the early 1960s. He was also the author of over 50 books on travel, comment and adventure, including 1924's With Lawrence of Arabia. The war news he refers to in this letter is, of course, the fall of France to the German blitzkrieg. Multiple mailing folds. Ink stamp at top right corner. Smeared ink in typed letter (legible). Multiple pencil notes (unknown hand). Otherwise, fine condition.