SID CAESAR - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/13/1993 - HFSID 270363

SID CAESAR
Sid Caesar sends a typed letter to Phyllis Diller of apology that he was unable to attend the celebrity auction.
Typed letter signed: "Sid", 1p, 5¾x8¾. No place, 1993 October 13. On pale blue sheet imprinted with his name to comedienne and actress Phyllis Diller. Begins: "Dear Phyllis". In full: "I must apologise (sic) for not answering your letter about the celebrity auction. But there were things I had to take care of. Now that they are - please invite me again next year. I have some times you may be interested in. Love". In 1994, the year after he signed this letter, Caesar would be seen on the small screen in Comic Relief VI and as himself and an honoree on The Comedy Hall of Fame. A writer and regular performer on TV's live Your Show of Shows (1950-1954), comedian SID CAESAR (1922-2014) hosted a series of shows bearing his name for another decade. He earned an Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1952, and the following year Caesar and Imogene Coca were voted Best Comedy Team in a poll by "Motion Picture Daily". Caesar's autobiography, Where Have I Been? (1979), documents his subsequent struggles with pills and alcohol, but he has continued to appear in cameo roles in films, such as Vegas Vacation (1997). Caesar, who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) in 1963 for Little Me, is also a composer and saxophonist. 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). Lightly creased with fold, not at signature. Fine condition.