Description

Description: This one-page laudatory autograph letter signed from the actor Philip Merivale to the actor Heggie also has a merry, teasing tone:

“My dear Peter

Unaccustomed as I am to pursue actors, I can not resist writing to tell you how stunning I thought your performance yesterday. It was sheer delight and I only wish they could cut some of the other stuff and have more of you. (But don’t show this to the author -or- the cast).

I forgot to tell you when we met so hurriedly in the street that I got a cable last Saturday to say that Viva [his wife Viva Birkett] has had another son. So don’t come bragging to me any more about large families.

‘Go git famous: git a reputation.’

Sincerely Yours/Philip Merivale”

Written on a 6 ½”  x 5 ¼” sheet of ivory paper and dated “2-9-1920”. Item #A01988

Philip Merivale (1886-1946) was a respected English film and stage actor and screenwriter. He acted in twenty films and played Henry Higgins in the Broadway production of Pygmalion (1914) and John Pendleton in Pollyanna (1916).

Oliver Peters Heggie (1877-1936), an Australian theater and film actor, began in amateur theater productions in Sydney and London. He gained prominence on Broadway (NYC), playing the lead in Androcles and The Lion, Old Man Minick in Minick, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Diggory in She Stoops to Conquer and others. He moved to Hollywood in 1928 and appeared in 27 films, including: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, etc.

Condition: In very good condition