LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Apr Books, Manuscripts & Autographs #658  / 

25390

Howard Hughes & Katharine Hepburn 24 Telegrams

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia / Autographs - Original Start Price:4,500.00 USD Estimated At:18,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD
Howard Hughes & Katharine Hepburn 24 Telegrams
<B>Howard Hughes and Katharine Hepburn Collection of 24 Telegrams.</B></I> Consists of 22 telegrams sent from Howard Hughes to Katharine Hepburn between 1937 and 1939 and includes two 1939 handwritten drafts in Miss Hepburn's hand of telegrams to Hughes. One of the great Hollywood romances of the 1930s started innocently enough. In June 1935, while filming <I>Sylvia Scarlet,</B></I> Cary Grant invited Howard Hughes to lunch in Malibu. Hughes made a spectacular entrance by landing his Sikorsky Amphibian on the golf course where director George Cukor and co-star Katharine Hepburn were playing. Miss Hepburn mentioned it in her autobiography <I>Me,</B></I> thinking it "...rather nervy and romantic, in a bravado sort of way." Obviously, something about Hughes impressed her as, a year later, they began an affair that lasted more than two years and garnered much media attention. <BR><BR>The first of the telegrams from Hughes to Miss Hepburn is dated January 19, 1937 and addressed to the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago where she was starring in a theater production of Jane Eyre, in part: "...supposed to arrive six something in the afternoon probably not in time to see you before the theatre so will try to contain myself until eleven thirty, love Dan." Dan was short for Dynamite, one of their nicknames for each other. That very day, Hughes had flown from Burbank to Newark breaking his own transcontinental speed record. Hughes spent a few days in Chicago on this trip, leading to speculation that he and Miss Hepburn were married. <BR><BR>Most of the telegrams to Miss Hepburn were sent to Emily Perkins, Miss Hepburn's assistant, to avoid unwanted attention. All of the 1938 telegrams are addressed to Hepburn at 211 South Muirfield Road, which was the Hughes' home that she had moved into a year earlier, living there when she wasn't on the road or in her family's Connecticut home. One of these telegrams says simply "Here I am Boss, hope to see you tomorrow, Love Bobb, Boss Bobb." While their relationship is often thought to have ended in 1938, there are 1939 dated telegrams here that might dispel that notion. One message from Hughes reads (in part): "Conkshell, you are terrific, but you might say something nice amid cleverness and reminders which make me lonesome..." One of the two handwritten drafts from Miss Hepburn appears to be from this same period and reads: "<I>Arrived one item, missing one boss, lonely one mouse, empty one conkshell.</B></I>" An absolutely incredible lot of telegrams. Overall fine condition, worthy of the finest collections.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Small Flat (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot