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14. [McKern, Leo] OLIVIER, LaurenceTLS Laurence Olivier to Leo McKernLondon: N.p., 19821p. TLS on headed notepaper. Faint central horizontal fold, two small stainsto lower half. Very well preserved, lacking the original envelope.1pp. TLS FROM LAURENCE OLIVIER TO LEO McKERN,WELCOMING HIM TO THE CAST OF KING LEAR.In 1959, Laurence Olivier hired Leo McKern to direct the Australianplay The Shifting Heart at the Nottingham Playhouse, in a co-productionbetween London’s Duke of Yorks theatre and Olivier’s own company.Twenty-three years later the pair were cast together in Michael Elliott’smade-for-TV production of King Lear, leading a cast which also includedJohn Hurt, Colin Blakely, Diana Rigg and Brian Cox.some thirty-three years later, a collection of pieces about theatre andtheatre-going.Oppenheimer’s lifelong friend Dorothy Parker [1893-1967] was thebasis for the character of Mary Hilliard in his play Here Today, stagedin 1932, and here contributes two pieces: the short poem The Actress,first published in her collection Death and Taxes (1931), and her theatrereview of The Jest, first published in Vanity Fair in 1919. (‘When the latestattractions at the local playhouses were so consistently poisonous thatone had just about decided to give up the whole thing and stay at homein the evenings to see if there was anything in family life -- then alongcame Mr. Arthur Hopkins and produced The Jest. And, once again, all’swell with the world.’)£750Olivier’s welcome note, on his own headed stationery, reads:‘Dearest Leo [handwritten],I have been meaning to write this ever since I heard the happy news totell you how very delighted I am that we are to be together again onLEAR.Thank you for making anticipation so pleasurable rather than soapprehensive.[signed] Your Larry O.’An affectionate letter, very well preserved.£29515. [PARKER, Dorothy] OPPENHEIMER, GeorgeThe Passionate PlaygoerNew York: Viking, 19588vo, pp. 623. Original pale purple boards, lettered in dark purple tofront panel and gilt on dark purple to spine. Top edge purple. Illustrateddustwrapper. 16pp. photographic illustrations.Slight offsetting to endpapers,corners a little bumped, but a very good copy in a worn dustwrapper, frontflap detached but present, and with some loss to spine ends.First edition. DOROTHY PARKER’S COPY, INSCRIBED TO HERBY THE AUTHOR: ‘To Dorothy with gratitude, love and hope thatshe will like being in here as much as I like having her in a book of mine.Always, George’.George Oppenheimer [1900-1977] was a playwright, screenwriter --and, in 1925, co-founder of Viking Press, the publishers of this book19
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