MARGARET E. BAUGH - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 12/22/1939 - HFSID 55694

MARGARET BAUGH [SECRETARY TO MARGARET MITCHELL]
On Mitchell's stationery, she writes a letter of apology to literary critic and friend Edwin Granberry, for not answering his letter before the premiere of Gone with the Wind.
Typed Letter signed: "Margaret E. Baugh" as "Secretary to Mrs. Marsh," 1 page, 7x10¾. Atlanta, Georgia, 1939 September 22. On Margaret Mitchell's personal letterhead to "Dear Mr. Granberry". In full: "Working down in the stack of mail Mrs. Marsh left for me to answer, I find your letter of the 11th, which I am sure should have been among the first to go off. I am so sorry and I hope you and Mrs. Granberry have not been inconvenienced by our failure to answer. I know Mrs. Marsh tried desperately to answer you before the premiere, but no one will ever know how busy she was during those days. Then afterward she and Mr. Marsh got away as soon as they could to get some rest. She is still recovering from the flu - she really bore up under the strain remarkably well - and we all hope she will be really benefited by her vacation. She asked me to thank you for your letter and your invitation. I did not hear them mention Floriday, so I do not think they are headed that way. Sincerely yours". On the day Margaret Mitchell's novel, Gone with the Wind was published in 1936, freelance critic Edwin Granberry wrote a glowing, 1,200 word review for the New York Sun, comparing the book to Tolstoy's War and Peace and predicting correctly that it would win a Pulitzer Prize. They became lifelong friends, together with Granberry's wife Mabel and Mitchell's husband, Edwin Marsh. The film version of Gone with the Wind, destined to win 8 Oscars and attract 25 million viewers in its first two years, debuted with much fanfare in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, with the author and stars in attendance. Fold creases through "h" of Baugh. Impressions at fold creases. Otherwise, fine condition.