LUCIE ARNAZ - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 01/04/1981 - HFSID 270122

LUCIE ARNAZ
She signs her handwritten letter belatedly thanking comedienne Phyllis Diller for a previously unopened gift package.
ALS: "Lucie", 1 page, 7¼x10½. Los Angeles, California, 1981 January 4. On stationery imprinted "Luckinbill" to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis". In full: "Sorry, I have to miss your party. We are fighting the clock, now, trying to get my house sorted out (Garbage/Garage Sale/Move to N.Y.C.), as Bekins arrives at 7:30 AM tomorrow morning to cart us off to our new home in Manhattan!!! And speaking of moving - I was moving alot (sic) of stuff out from the bottom of the hall closet and I found an un-opened package from Helft's; I open it and it's a fantastic belt from YOU!!!! The card wasn't dated, nor was the package, but, from the message, I presume it has been there since 'They're Playing Our Song', (perhaps a Christmas present from 3 years ago??) God! Forgive me!!! I love it and thank you so much. (Who knew?) Happy New Year, anyway [heart]". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Minor nick at upper blank edge. Fine condition. Accompanied by original stamped mailing envelope signed: "Lucie Arnaz-Luckinibill" in return address on back flap, 7½x4. 15-cent Oliver Wendell Holmes stamp affixed, postmarked Los Angeles, California, January 5, 1981. Addressed by Arnaz to: "Ms. Phyllis Diller, 163 So. Rockingham Ave., Los Angeles, California, 90049". On verso, on flap, Arnaz has written her three-line New York City return address. Lightly creased, slightly soiled, touching writing on verso. Torn open at upper edge. Fine condition. Arnaz had won the 1979 Theatre World Award for her performance as Sonia Walsk in the Broadway musical, They're Playing Our Song. The play, which ran from February 11, 1979-September 6, 1981, was written by Neil Simon and co-starred Robert Klein. LUCIE ARNAZ (born Lucie Desiree Arnaz in 1951), the daughter of early TV comedy legends Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had married her second husband, stage, screen and television actor LAURENCE LUCKINBILL, in 1980, the year she appeared in The Jazz Singer as Molly Bell and in the made-for-TV movie, The Mating Season, with Luckinbill. The couple, who would have three children, welcomed their first son, Simon, on December 9, 1980. Their other children include another son, Joseph, and a daughter, Katharine. Arnaz had previously (1971-1977) been married to actor Phil Vandervort. Lucie had made her television debut (along with her brother, Desi, Jr.) on the last half-hour I Love Lucy episode in 1957. She had bit parts in her mother's subsequent The Lucy Show (beginning in 1963), and played full supporting parts in Here's Lucy (1968-1974). Making her Broadway debut in 1978, Arnaz won the Theatre World Award that year for her performance in They're Playing Our Song. She has also starred in several feature films, including Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977), in two of her own TV series, The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985) and Sons and Daughters (1991), and in made-for-TV movies, including the acclaimed Who is the Black Dahlia? (1976), and she has made guest appearances on numerous TV shows and series. 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). Two items.