Intriguing ALS signed “Howard,” one page, 8.5 x 14, no date. Letter to his wife Jean Peters regarding the death of Peters’ former wardrobe mistress, Cissy Francombe. Hughes writes: “I know you must feel this more since she was closer to you. I ought to be taking care of you. Instead I have not stopped crying since I got your note. All I can say is that I love you very much. I would give anything in this world to be able to make you feel better and take care of you as I should. I will write you again as soon as I get ahold of myself even a little bit. Please remember, for what small comfort it may be, that I love you more than you begin to realize.”
Under Hughes’s note, Peters responds, in part: “Please don’t be upset—Remember the good things. Cissie’s [sic] liver was shot—there was nothing to be done—and she was sick and tired of having people take care of her. I especially, don’t want you to feel sad—because as I said before; if it hadn’t been for you, she would have died 15-20 years ago.”
Hughes continues the volley under his wife’s response, writing: “I was just picking up the paper to write you a note when you came in. I was going to tell you that you are very charitable to means you have the most beautiful philosophy I have ever heard. I know that what you say is true. Perhaps without attention she would have not survived, but I gave her the hepatitis. Honey, I can’t write anymore.”
Peters responds one more time, using the edges of both sides of the sheet. In part: “Howard—That is a crock—when Cissie [sic] went into surgery in 1959–60 for the chicken bone—everyone including Chafin gave up on her—She hated Dr. Crane & was convinced he was a ‘dope addict.’…Whose fault is not important. She was part of you and so I loved her. Anything that hurts you, hurts me.” In fine condition, with a few light creases and wrinkles.
In this truly compelling letter, both in content and format, Hughes and wife, actress Jean Peters, pass erratically written notes back and forth after hearing the news that Cissy Francombe had been diagnosed with hepatitis, a disease that would eventually claim her life. Peters became involved with Hughes just as he began withdrawing from the limelight. The pair, having met in the 1940s before Peters had become a Twentieth Century Fox star, tossed around rumors of marriage in 1947, but wouldn’t consummate the commitment until 1957. In 1958, Hughes famously withdrew to Nosseck’s Projection Studio, where he remained in seclusion for three months, telling Peters he was in the hospital with an “undiagnosed disease.” This is when his self-imposed isolation really spiraled out of control—Peters would barely see Hughes for the next three years.
It was during this time of extreme paranoia that Cissy’s diagnosis sent Hughes into a hysterical fit. He was terrified of the “hepatitis microbe,” and ordered that a “program of isolation...ten times as effective as any we have ever set up before” be immediately put into place, ordering the creation of “a system of isolation with respect to Cissy, the doctors attending her, nurses, or anyone in the past or future coming in contact with her, set up that is so effective and complete that anything we have done in the past will be nothing compared to it...This is one case where incrimination by association is definitely to be recognized. I want this situation to be investigated to see who has been near Cissy in the immediate past and those people are to be included in the program.”
Ironically enough, this would include Hughes himself, who unexpectedly blurts the shocking confession, “I gave her the hepatitis.” Not only was the reclusive tycoon apparently confessing to having the disease, but he was also revealing an alleged affair with the family employee, to which his wife surprisingly responds, “Howard—That is a crock.” A riveting and exceptionally personal piece of correspondence between Hughes and Peters, this piece not only illustrates Hughes’ mental disintegration, but the isolation it forged between the two, as they attempt to communicate through scribbled messages of love and consolation. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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