Collection of Signed items related to the 1977 play "Golda"

An interesting collection of items relating to the Israeli stateswoman Golda Meir and the actress Anne Bancroft, who portrayed her in the 1977 play Golda. Highlights include a touching autograph letter from Bancroft to Meir, written one week after her 1977 visit to Israel, when she met Meir in preparation to play the role; an original Playbill signed by Bancroft and a souvenir program signed by Meir; and an original address book containing contact information for people involved in the production of Golda, including Bancroft, her husband Mel Brooks, theater personnel and doctors and therapists. Also included are four autograph notes from Bancroft and her family to the collector, Mary Jane Vineburgh (who appears to have worked as a wardrobe dresser on Golda), a group of 8 x 10 photographs of Meir, Bancroft, and others, and several other pieces of related correspondence.

Contents, in full: ALS from Bancroft to Meir sending her "the complete works of Mel Brooks" and writing that she "will never be my old self again after seeing Israel" (2 pp., n.d. [1977], 8.5 x 11 inches, fine) ; Playbill program from the original production of Golda at the Morosco Theatre, signed by Bancroft on the cover (5.5 x 9 inches, fine); souvenir program from Golda, signed on p. 3 by Meir next to her photograph and featuring 3 pp. of color photographs of the production (9 x 12 inches, very fine); address book labeled " 'Golda' phone #s" (3.75 x 5 inches, good);  8 original photographs, showing Bancroft, Meir and others in various locations in Israel and at social events, as well as a promotional headshot of Bancroft (8 x 10 inches, fine); 3 original photographs of Bancroft as a younger woman at the Vacation Camp for the Blind in 1958, in an envelope addressed to her at the Morosco Theatre together with a note from the photographer and the original negatives (8 x 10 inches, very good); autograph postcard from Bancroft to Mary Jane Vineburgh (St. John, March 1, 1978) joking that "We could use you—dressing is so difficult, can hardly put on my bathing suit and my snorkle mask," signed "The Brooks + Enid"; miniature autograph Christmas card from Bancroft to Vineburgh signed "Anne B."; autograph note from Bancroft to Vineburgh with a thank-you note from her young son Max (3 pp., June 10, 1978); autograph note from Bancroft asking "Please buy 6 more bulbs for this lamp"; gold invitation card to a party for Golda Meir on November 6, 1977, addressed to Mary Jane Vineburgh; several photocopies of press clippings about the play; a photocopy of a letter from the president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to Lawrence Vineburgh, regarding a matter related to Golda Meir; an autograph note from Harvey Narcisenfeld to Mary Jane Vineburgh, sending a review; and several pieces of mail soliciting charitable donations.

The New York Times covered Bancroft's visit to Israel in 1977: "She had come to meet Mrs. Meir, [Bancroft] said, not only to watch her move, learn her mannerisms and listen to her talk but to find a passion in her own life that would match that of Mrs. Meir, 'something that would be a clue to my playing the role so that I would have a handle to hang on to every night... When I work, I have to find a personal image that is similar to the person I'm relating to in the play. If you don't lock into something extremely personal within yourself, the play will have gone by without your having felt anything. So I have to find out what Israel is to Golda, and what Golda's passion is all about. And then I have to find something for myself that is equal.' " (Margaret Croyden in the New York Times, August 14, 1977.) (10719)

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Signed Photograph

Culture, Ethnicity & Gender

Theater

Signed Document/Item

Archive

$1,200.00

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