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Lot #655
Frank Capra

Two months before Capra calls it quits and joins the Army

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Estimate: $200+
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Description

Two months before Capra calls it quits and joins the Army

TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, Warner Bros. Pictures letterhead, October 3, 1941. Letter to agent H. N. Swanson, in full: "I like the story you sent me, Cabin in Manhattan, very much. Sorry that my future plans for production are not established enough for me to consider buying it. In passing, may I apprise you of the fact that in a treatment of a story I own called The Flying Yorkshireman, written about four months ago, I have the main character appraise people's character by seeing them as various types of animals. The idea came to me one night while discussing the story with Irving Berlin, and I just want to go on record as saying that this particular idea was arrived at by me independently and prior to my having read Cabin in Manhattan." In fine condition, with some light creasing, and staple holes to the top left. The Flying Yorkshireman, also known as Sam Small Flies Again, was a 1942 novella by Eric Knight, who introduced to the reading public the canine character of Lassie in a story published in The Saturday Evening Post on December 17, 1938. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Capra left his career as a Hollywood director and received a commission as a major in the United States Army, eventually heading a special film team that would create the seven-part series 'Why We Fight.' Capra brought on Knight to help him with the wartime project, which ultimately scrapped any plans of making The Flying Yorkshireman a feature film.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
  • Dates: #547 - Ended March 06, 2019





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