DS, signed “Richard Rodgers,” “Lorenz Hart,” and [producer] “Sam H. Harris,” one page, 8.5 x 13, November 12, 1938. An agreement wherein the parties named consent to the “depiction in [the] photoplay ‘Sweethearts,’ of a short showing of an electric sign atop the Alvin Theatre, reading substantially as follows: ALVIN THEATRE GEORGE M. COHAN in I’D RATHER BE RIGHT SECOND YEAR and further consent that during this showing and to identify it, you may use with it as instrumental background not to exceed twelve (12) bars of the music of the song ‘I’d Rather Be Right’ from this stage show…. No lyrics are to be used with such music….” The play in question, a musical with songs by Rodgers and Hart and a book by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, opened at the Alvin Theater on November 2, 1937 and ran (including a move to another theater) for 290 performances. The film Sweethearts, directed by W. S. Van Dyke and released in 1938, was a musical romance starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. A hint of mild soiling and handling wear, and irregular ink flow to Lorenz Hart’s signature, otherwise fine condition. Lorenz Hart died of pneumonia in 1943 at the age of forty-eight. All autograph material from him, let a music-related document also signed by his best-known collaborator, is of great scarcity. R&R COA.
