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 3×5-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.
