Typed letter signed "Otto H Kahn" to "Mr. Halpern" (Seymour Halpern) in response to Halpern's inquiry regarding the key to success in life.
New York: December 2, 1930.
Price: $200.00
About the item
1 p. on Kahn's letterhead. 4to. Old folds, else fine.
Item #309379
German-born investment banker, Otto Hermann Kahn (1867-1943), was a well-recognized public figure who was immortalized in song by Fanny Brice and was the inspiration for the cahacter Roscoe W. Chandler in the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers, though he appears to belie his notoriety in this letter, which read in part: “I regret to say that I cannot comply with your request for an inscribed photograph of mine, as, not being a man in public life, I have long mad it a rule not to inscribe my photograph to others than personal friends.”
Kahn is probably best known for his role in reorganizing U.S. railroad systems. He was also a collector, philanthropist and patron of the arts, and authored books on art, history, politics, and business, including Art and the People (1916), and Of Many Things (1926), a collection of his speeches and writings on finance and politics.
As a high school student, Seymour Halpern (1913-1997), wrote letters to many notables of the day including politicians, military officers, entertainers, diplomats, artists, activists, writers, and businessmen, inquiring about their ideas to the keys to success in life. Halpern would later go on to serve as Republican from New York to the 86th, 87th, 88th, 89th, 90th, 91st and 92nd United States Congresses, holding office from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1973.
