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17

Charles Lindbergh

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Charles Lindbergh

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Auction Date:2011 Sep 22 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS signed “Charles,” one page, 8.5 x 11, April 9, 1957. Letter to Billy Wilder regarding Wilder’s film The Spirit of St. Louis. In full: “I have just received an invitation from Jack Warner to attend the Premiere of The Spirit of St. Louis at Hollywood, Thursday. I have had to wire back that I could not be on the West Coast at that time, and my greatest regret lies in losing the opportunity to see you and other friends who worked on the film so long, hard, and ably. When I returned from my trip abroad (Central America, Asia, and Europe--over the three Pan American divisions), I took my family to the Radio City Music Hall to see the picture. It was the first time I had seen it myself, after the final cutting and dubbing. We all think you have done a grand job. There has been a big improvement since I saw the film, in early February. Audience reaction was excellent as far as I could judge, and the theater was pretty well filled when we were there. I now know what you mean by being able to cut a film by audience reaction. I had never paid much attention to this before. Even though this was more or less the second time I had seen ‘The Spirit of St. Louis,’ I was still unable to look at it objectively. I find myself too close to the events, to the people, the plane, and the cockpit. At one moment I would be carried along by the story as though I were on the flight itself, thirty years ago; and at another, I would be jerked back into my theatre seat saying, almost out loud, ‘my God that isn't Harold Bixby’ or, ‘It wasn't a Harley Davidson motorcycle, it was an
Excelsior.’

Of course I fully agree that to put a story on the stage actors can only approximate original characters, and that major changes must and should be made. All this is right and proper, and I feel you have handled the directing with great ability and skill--a very difficult task extremely well done. But let me tell you it is quite a sensation to see one's life portrayed on the screen--enjoyable, startling, humorous, serious, fascinating, stirring mind and emotion in quite an extraordinary way. I was extremely interested to watch the interplay of fact and fiction--detailed accuracy juxtaposed with fictional abandon--and how accurate impression was obtained by the use of inaccurate events (the suspender salesman, the fly, the frying fish in San Diego). And I noted with admiration how the fictional events you brought into the story invariably obtained the audience reaction you were striving for. And the reviews--the enthusiasm of the mass publications; the tongue clucking of the intellectuals--on the whole, I thought they were excellent. Almost all of our friends were enthusiastic about the film. Judged from the reaction I have seen, it should meet with great success. My thanks and best wishes accompany this letter. I wish I could accompany it to the coast, and be with you to express them.”

Stapled in front of the first page is a carbon of a letter Wilder sent to Lindbergh on April 23, 1957. His letter reads, in full: “Thank you for your very generous letter. I am fully aware of the shortcomings of my effort. In all honesty, I don’t think that any picture maker, no matter how rich or talented, could have done justice to your superb account. As far as I’m concerned, the best that came out of it was getting to know you. I shall treasure this for the rest of my life.” Staple and punch holes to top edge, central horizontal and vertical fold, and scattered edge toning, otherwise fine condition.

Wilder had adapted Lindbergh's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography to create the screenplay for The Spirit of St. Louis, which tells the tale of the aviator’s historic transatlantic flight from its May 20, 1927, departure from Roosevelt Field to his landing at Le Bourget Field in Paris on May 21. Lindbergh expresses sincere regret here in being unable to attend the Hollywood debut, emphasizing “my greatest regret lies in losing the opportunity to see you and other friends who worked on the film so long, hard, and ably” to create what Lindbergh called “a grand job.” Even so, Lindbergh confesses to Wilder that after seeing the finished product, “I was still unable to look at it objectively. I find myself too close to the events, to the people, the plane, and the cockpit. At one moment I would be carried along by the story as though I were on the flight itself, thirty years ago; and at another, I would be jerked back into my theatre seat saying, almost out loud, ‘my God that isn't Harold Bixby’ or, ‘It wasn't a Harley Davidson motorcycle, it was an Excelsior.’” Though Wilder humbly maintains that, “I don’t think that any picture maker, no matter how rich or talented, could have done justice to your superb account,” he certainly did his best, going so far as to build three accurate replicas of the famed aircraft for production. A letter of outstanding content and excellent association!
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