Letter from Lillian Gish, New York, New York, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1943 February 10 : typescript signed with mauscript corrections.

Apologizing for not having written for so long; writing that she came east to do the play "Mr. Sycamore" (by Ketti Frings) with the Theatre Guild, which closed after only seven weeks, and calling the play "one of my favorite failures" although "it was easy to see why it came to such a sad end, as the writing was not as imaginative as the idea"; informing him that her sister Dorothy did (E.P. O'Donnell's) "The great big doorstep", which was given a "beautiful production" by Herman Shumlin and only ran for 4 weeks, and that the film "The commandos strike at dawn" opened there six weeks ago and she hears is making more money "than any picture Columbia has ever made", adding "It is an exciting melodrama, but fails on the human side, as you never get well enough acquainted with any of the characters, to care what happens to them."; mentioning that she is trying to sell and series to the radio on "Famous sisters of the world", and that they started with the Soong sisters, but "There were so many restrictions placed upon us by the Chinese delegation, that we couldn't make it as exciting as we wanted it to be", noting that they were unable to mention that "one could have two wives" in China or that Mrs. Sun Yat-sen became a Communist, and concluding "However, we did it, which is surprising, as when Deems Taylor tried to put on the story a few months ago, the State Department turned thumbs down."; mentioning that she gave a lecture at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, that her mother and sister are well, that Lester Cowan is planning on doing "Christopher Bean" in color, with Monty Woolley, her sister Dorothy, "and me playing the Pauline Lord role"; writing that she would be "delighted" to have any copies of Wegenknecht's "Lillian Gish, an interpretation" and offering to buy them or cover any expenses involved; noting that she is reading Kent Cooper's "Barriers down"; informing Wegenknecht and that she talked to Col. (Robert Rutherford) McCormick about him, and explaining McCormick's involvement in a lawsuit brought against the Associated Press which might explain his not getting in touch; stating that she has just "written to Mr. Conway, urging him to get 'The Patriots' by Sidney Kingsley", as it is a play "every American should see", and is "exciting and thrilling."