SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD. (1856-1950). Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright and critic; well known for his many plays including The Devil’s Disciple and Pygmalion. TLS. (“G. Bernard Shaw”). 1/2 p. 4to. London, December 9, 1933. On his personal engraved stationery. To American attorney BENJAMIN H. STERN (1874-1950).

“Will the enclosed do for The Devil’s Disciple contract with Radio Keith Orpheum of Hollywood? I should have sent it before; but in the hurry of producing my new play I forgot to post it.

I want if possible to make the contract with the London office of R.K.O., if such an establishment exists, as I do not want to pay both American and British income tax and surtax on the royalties if I can help it.

The political ethics of such an arrangement may be questionable; but as I do not live in America and England is always full of Americans I don’t think either of us can be expected to pay for the upkeep of two civilizations.

I am much indebted to you for your work on the Dodd Mead agreement. Frank Dodd is here; and I have gone through it clause by clause with him. By a later post (possibly it may mean a later ship) I will send you your draft with all the necessary comments so that you can go ahead with the fair copy for me to sign and the Dodd counterpart. We do not differ over it, as you will see by the draft...”

Born in Dublin, Shaw made a name for himself in London as a music and theater critic during the 1880s and 1890s, writing for The Pall Mall Gazette, The Saturday Review and other publications. While writing fiction and plays, he also authored pamphlets for London’s Fabian Society, a socialist group allied with the British intelligentsia. Likened by some to Shakespeare, Shaw combined satire, comedy and social criticism into more than 50 plays, which include Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Arms and the Man, Man and Superman, St. Joan, and Pygmalion. His 1897 play The Devil’s Disciple, set during the American Revolution, was his first financial success. “In 1933 and 1934, Shaw negotiated with RKO to film The Devil’s Disciple starring John Barrymore and Saint Joan starring Katharine Hepburn. He agreed to let The Devil’s Disciple, but not Saint Joan, be trimmed to eighty minutes. Although RKO consented to his terms, the project collapsed when Shaw read the studio writer’s screenplay of The Devil’s Disciple, which he considered hopelessly incompatible with his drama,” (Selected Correspondence of Bernard Shaw and Gabriel Pascal, ed. Dukore). The movie, directed by Guy Hamilton, was released in 1959 and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier.

The year of our letter, 1933, Shaw made his first visit to the United States, landing in San Francisco in March, visiting Hollywood and staying with William Randolph Hearst before departing by steamer for New York, where he lectured at the Metropolitan Opera and was overwhelmed by the media attention. “By now Howard C. Lewis, director of Dodd, Mead and Company, Shaw’s newly appointed publisher (supplanting the bankrupted Brentano’s), and Frank Dodd [1875-1968; grandson of the publishing company’s founder Moses W. Dodd] had arrived to spirit the Shaws away from the ship for a drive… Escaping contentedly from the hundred and fifty oppressive journalists and cameramen, the Shaws rode peacefully through the incredible city, Shaw ‘cran[ing] his neck like any tourist to look at the Empire State Building until he almost fell out of the automobile, and… turn[ing] round to look over his shoulder at it so long that he rode backward through the spectacle of one of the great crossroads of the world at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street.’ …They lunched privately and quietly at the Claremont Restaurant overlooking the Hudson, following which they crossed the newly completed George Washington Bridge… A brief stop was made at the Dodd, Mead office at 443 Fourth Avenue after which Shaw paid an unscheduled visit to the Theatre Guild’s offices and theater,’” (“‘That Awful Country:’ Shaw in America,” Shaw, Laurence). Shaw’s relationship with Dodd, Mead lasted more than 40 years.

American attorney Benjamin H. Stern, a partner in the firm Stern & Reubens, was an authority on international copyright law and Shaw’s longtime attorney in America.

With a single ink emendation. Folded and creased with some marginal notes in an unknown hand as well as light dust staining and pin holes in the upper right corner. In fine condition.