TLS, one page, 7.25 x 10.25, personal letterhead, September 16, 1944. In part: “I wish you’d have the chance to come to the show and drop in and see me. Sorry you never received a photograph…meantime, the photo on the enclosed postcard will show you how I look as the ‘Empress.’ Will tell Jim Timony [a member of her entourage] and Ray Bourbon [a drag queen protégé of West’s] I heard from you.” In very good condition, with scattered toning, creasing and trivial soiling, a couple of small spots in the signature area. West believed that Catherine the Great was a “preincarnation” of herself and decided she was destined to play the Russian empress. She wrote and starred in the play Catherine Was Great. R&R COA.
