Agent H.N. “Swanie” Swanson’s correspondence with Clients F. Scott Fitzgerald and others on offer at Bonhams & Butterfields

Fine arts auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields will feature letters and documents from Hollywood’s “Golden Age,” as property from the files of H.N. Swanson, a Hollywood literary agent who represented F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and others, is sold to the highest bidders during the Sunday, February 19, 2006 auction of Fine Books & Manuscripts in Los Angeles.

Pictured right: Lot No: 1295 MONROE, MARILYN. 1926-1962. MONROE SIGNS AS NORMA JEANE AND MARILYN.
Typed Document Signed (“Marilyn Monroe” and “Norma Jeane Dougherty”), 1 p, 4to, Beverly Hills, CA, June 11, 1947, being a carbon agreement between Monroe and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, leaf toned, adhesive remnants to upper right corner, perforations at left margin. Estimate: $10,000 - 15,000

Beginning Thursday, Feb. 16 through Saturday, Feb. 18, collectors, institutions, and fans alike will be able to preview the 300-lots of property on offer. The illustrated catalog is online for review and purchase at www.bonhams.com/us.

H.N Swanson (known affectionately as “Swanie”) was lured to Hollywood by David O. Selznick and RKO in the 1930s. After a stint as a Junior Producer, he was offered several employment opportunities at major studios. Refusing all for the opportunity to open his own business as a writer’s representative, Swanson’s client list grew to include a “Who’s Who” of 20th century literature including F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner.

High points from the H.N. Swanson Archive include a rare hand-written letter signed by Fitzgerald apologizing for his dreadful behavior while on a drinking binge (est. $5/7,000).

Another lot related to Fitzgerald is a copy of his 1939 dismissal letter from MGM (est. $2/3,000) as well as Fitzgerald agreements with other studios and correspondence to garner rights for radio broadcasts of Fitzgerald-penned stories – including references to the difficulties locating the writer who seemingly disappeared in the summer of 1940 (est. $2/3,000).

Pictured left: Lot No: 1300 MONROE, MARILYN, and MILLER, ARTHUR. MONROE AND MILLER SIGN INSURANCE FORMS.
Document Signed (“Marilyn Monroe Miller” and “Arthur Miller”), 2 pp, 4to (conjoining leaves), [Roxbury, CT], [After 1956], being an application for enrollment in the Associated Hospital Service of New York, form filled out in an unknown hand, document printed on yellow paper, leaves creased and toned, staple perforations to upper left corner of p 1, otherwise fine.Estimate: $7,000 - 9,000

Dr. Catherine Williamson, Head of the Bonhams & Butterfields Books and Manuscripts Department, reflects on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his screenwriting career in Hollywood: "It's heartbreaking to realize that the man who wrote the great American 20th century novel [The Great Gatsby] couldn't get ahead in Hollywood. This town is tough.”

A two-page letter from William Faulkner to “Swanie” describes how the writer became entangled with a less-than-reputable agent who signed him to a seven-year contract at Warner Bros for the ridiculously low—even for 1943—fee of $300 a week (est. $2,500/3,500). A letter from Swanson’s files notes that Faulkner’s worth was more likely $1,000 per week and multiple documents detail the never-realized plans between Swanson and his NY-based business partner Harold Ober to get Faulkner out of his bad contract.

Complementing the material from the Swanson files is a collection of manuscripts of Marilyn Monroe, including a rare studio document signed both “Marilyn Monroe” and “Norma Jeane Dougherty” (est. $10/15,000). Monroe rarely used her real name after 1946, when she adopted her stage name at the behest of Fox executive Ben Lyon. The offered document is an agreement between Monroe and the studio confirming that she agrees to the terms of the contract she signed the previous year while still a minor. Because the original studio contract was made in her original name, she must sign this document as both Norma Jeane and Marilyn — this would be one of the last times she would do so, as Fox fired her two months later, and future contracts were drawn up under the Monroe name only.

An interesting Monroe document is a short to-do list onto which Monroe has scribbled notes for her meeting with Fox Studio execs. Her wish list includes the request that a loan of $3,500 be forgiven, the request that her agent not take money “off the top,” and that she be allowed to form her own production company. In her handwriting is the reference to another star -- Monroe desired a situation much like that afforded to Rita H(ayworth). This 3x5-inch slip of paper used by Monroe to frame her future is estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

Many first editions will be offered, as will handwritten notes and calculations of Albert Einstein, rare never-before published examples of correspondence between famous individuals such as John Steinbeck writing to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964, early Americana, and collectible early printed works.

For more details visit the Bonhams web site.