Two Typed Letters Signed to Edna Ferber

Two typed letters signed from the American composer to his longtime friend, the novelist and playwright Edna Ferber. New York; March 16, 1962 and October 3, 1963, each 1 p. The first letter thanks Ferber for her gift on the opening night of his show No Strings: "Darling Ferb, I know that to get backstage last night was virtually an impossibility but somehow you always manage to do the right thing. The note was waiting for me when I got home (rather late) and the No String Bean was waiting for me before I went to the theatre. All of this made me much happier than caviar ever could and at the risk of redundancy I have to tell you that I love you very much. Rich." The second letter thanks Ferber for her "immediate and helpful answer to my cry of help" on a proposed project, and goes on to thank Ferber for her interest in his wife Dorothy's work, and concludes affectionately: "You're an extraordinary and entirely wonderful woman and I feel I must say to you that, as these years keep going by, I keep loving you more." Folding creases; filing note to head of one letter; overall fine. 7.25 x 10.5 inches (18.4 x 26.7 cm).

Rodgers and Ferber had their first encounter in 1928, when Rodgers rented the apartment next door to Ferber's at the Lombardy Hotel in New York. Ferber was very displeased about this arrangement and complained to the management, as Julie Goldsmith Gilbert recalls in her biography of Ferber: "She stated that of all the discourteous things they could do, putting a songwriter (not a composer, but a common songwriter) on her floor right next door to her was the worst." Rodgers found out about the letter and asked the hotel when Ferber was returning from Europe. He had her apartment filled with flowers for her return, thus winning her affection. Ferber became friends with Rodgers' wife-to-be, Dorothy, after they met at a party shortly thereafter, and they remained close throughout their lives. In later life the Rodgers and Ferber lived in the same building, only a few floors apart. (16001)

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