KESSELRING, Joseph.

£750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Arsenic and Old Lace. First edition, with two loosely inserted letters from Josephine Hull, the star of the first production of the play, addressed to her friend and fellow actress, Armina Marshall. The play premiered at the Fulton Theatre, New York (now Helen Hayes Theatre) on 10 January 1941 and later moved to the big screen, the film starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane (1944).Hull (1877-1957) was a stage actress who starred as Abby Brewster in the first production. The recipient, Marshall (1895-1991), was a founding member and co-director of New York's Theatre Guild on 52nd Street, New York, now the August Wilson Theatre. In the letters, Hull congratulates Marshall and her husband, Langner, on their work on Pursuit of Happiness in 1933.This copy is from the theatre collection of Clive Hirschhorn (b. 1940), who spent decades as the Sunday Express film and theatre critic and whose various histories of Hollywood include The Warner Bros. Story (1978) and The Hollywood Musical (1981). His ownership inscription is on the front pastedown, dated 1993.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.