Item #310156 Typed letter signed "Augustus Thomas" to "Seymour Halpern" in response to Halpern's inquiry regarding the keys to success in life. Theater, Augustus Thomas.

Typed letter signed "Augustus Thomas" to "Seymour Halpern" in response to Halpern's inquiry regarding the keys to success in life.

n.p [New York]: February 9, 1930.

Price: $100.00


About the item

1 p., on embossed letterhead. 8-1/2 x 11 inches. old folds, else fine.

Item #310156

An autobiographical letter from the journalist turned playwright briefly sketching his interests as a school boy, to his transition to a professional playwright. Reading in part: “A great American has written that the man is only half himself, the other half is his expression. That is worth thinking about and trying to understand. Perhaps no man can be called successful unless he has some congenial method of expressing himself. Of course this does not have to be in words or pictures. It can be in anything that he gives his heart to enough to do well and which is of service to his fellow men.”

Augustus Thomas (1857-1934), became interested in writing and staging plays as a boy in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1889, he produced his first successful play on Broadway and began writing full-time. He is best known for plays with distinctive American themes including, his first totally original work, Alabama (1891), and subsequent plays such as, In Mizzoura (1893), Arizona (1900), and The Copperhead (1918).

As a high school student, Seymour Halpern (1913-1997), wrote letters to many notables of the day inquiring about their ideas to the keys to success in life. He 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.