E.B. White
[North Brooklin, ME], November 26, 1965
E.B. White TLS: "It's delightful to be published by a house whose taste is so elevated nobody has ever turned on 'Gunsmoke'"
TLS

E.B. White TLS: "It's delightful to be published by a house whose taste is so elevated nobody has ever turned on 'Gunsmoke'"

A 1p typed letter signed by American writer Evelyn Brooks White (1899-1985) as "E B White" at center right. November 26, 1965. [North Brooklin, Maine.] On a leaf of watermarked paper with "E.B. White / North Brooklin, Maine" letterhead. Expected wear including flattened paper folds and a few extra winkles. Staple holes and a staple at upper left. White's signature is ever so slightly smeared. Else near fine. 5.75" x 7.75."

White wrote to Harper & Row editor Christopher Jennison, in part:

"It?s delightful to be published by a house whose taste is so elevated nobody has ever turned on 'Gunsmoke.' That's the kind of publishing life for me. I don't know what you people do with your Saturday nights, but I know what your secretary does with hers. She and I are curled up with the old Dodge City crowd --- Kitty Russell, Mat [sic] Dillon, Doc Adams, and Festus. Give her my love. Ask her if I don?t look just like Festus?"

White's affectionate comments about the television western "Gunsmoke," set in 1870s Dodge City, demonstrate that he was not too literary or high-brow to enjoy popular entertainment, unlike, perhaps, his own editor or others at Harper & Row. From the context of this letter, we can surmise that while White's editor Jennison did not understand allusions to "Gunsmoke," Jennison's secretary most certainly did. White rattles off the names of principal characters from "Gunsmoke": dance hall denizen Kitty Russell, played by Amanda Blake; the brooding Doc Adams, played by Milburn Stone; and U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness. As for White, he especially adored Festus Haggen, the squirrelly sheriff's deputy, played by Ken Curtis.

In addition to writing such anthropomorphic children's classics like "Stuart Little" (1945) and "Charlotte's Web" (1952), E.B. White was a prolific contributor to "The New Yorker" and other magazines.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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5.75" x 7.75"