SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD. (1856-1950). Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright and critic; well known for his many plays including The Devil’s Disciple and Pygmalion. TLS. (“G. Bernard Shaw”). 2/3p. 4to. London, February 24, 1940. On his personal stationery. To American attorney BENJAMIN H. STERN (1874-1950).

“I have received he enclosed cablegram from one Frank Orsatti, quite unknown to me.

I saw Gabriel Pascal yesterday and asked him what it meant. He said he had employed Orsatti as an agent in the Pygmalion affair, allowing him ten per cent on the net profit after my royalty and the distribution charges of General Production Films of London and the interest on the capital advanced etc. have been paid. Orsatti has been paid on this basis, which presumably establishes his claim on Pascal for the percentage; and Pascal is ready to pay him what remains due to him as soon as he can obtain the consent of the British Treasury to the export of the money. Pascal is now naturalized as an Englishman.

Pascal is engaged in the filming of my play Major Barbara; but he has changed from Metro-Goldwyn, who has the American distribution of Pygmalion, to United Artists, with Orsatti left out. This has infuriated Orsatti: hence his cable to me and another at reckless length to Pascal.

I enclose a copy of my Pygmalion agreement with Pascal. With this and the information above you know as much about Orsatti’s case as I do myself. As I have done nothing to make myself responsible for Pascal’s debts I just put you ‘au fait,’ and shall do nothing more unless you advise me to the contrary.

Frank Orsatti’s address is Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood. Faithfully…”

Born in Dublin, Shaw made a name for himself in London as a music and theater critic during the 1880s and 1890s, writing for The Pall Mall Gazette, The Saturday Review and other publications. While writing fiction and plays, he also authored pamphlets for London’s Fabian Society, a socialist group allied with the British intelligentsia. Likened by some to Shakespeare, Shaw combined satire, comedy and social criticism into more than 50 plays, which include Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Arms and the Man, Man and Superman, St. Joan, and Pygmalion.

English movie producer Gabriel Pascal (1894-1954), who was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, deliberately obscured his origins claiming that he was rescued from a burning building as an infant and raised by Gypsies. He studied filmmaking in Vienna, acting in and producing films in Germany and Italy. His long and fruitful partnership with Shaw allegedly began when Pascal, walking along the shore of the Mediterranean, struck up a conversation with Shaw who was skinny-dipping. Shaw dared Pascal to join him, which the younger man did, impressing the playwright and marking the beginning of their friendship. “Shaw, who was amused by Pascal and called him a ‘genius,’ wrote, ‘Gabriel Pascal is one of those extraordinary men who turn up occasionally – say once in a century. When Gabriel appeared from the blue I just looked at him and handed him Pygmalion to experiment with,’” (“How Shaw Gave ‘Pygmalion’ to a Broke Director,” The New York Times). Despite his displeasure with prior screen adaptations, the notoriously difficult Shaw allowed Pascal to produce Pygmalion stipulating that he be involved in the production. The result, released in 1938, was an enormous hit. Shaw was so pleased that he agreed to have Pascal produce Major Barbara in 1941, Caesar and Cleopatra in 1945 and Androcles and the Lion in 1952. Unfortunately, Pascal died before he could produce The Devil’s Disciple, which was eventually released in 1959, and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier.

Frank Orsatti collaborated with his three brothers at the Orsatti Talent Agency, which represented Hollywood royalty like Frank Capra, Edward G. Robinson, Betty Grable, and Judy Garland, whose role in The Wizard of Oz they brokered.

American attorney Benjamin H. Stern, a partner in the firm Stern & Reubens, was an authority on international copyright law and Shaw’s longtime attorney in America.

With several minor holographic emendations. Folded with a note in an unknown hand in the lower margin. In overall fine condition.