Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
This is a full-rate
Telegram or Cable-
gram unless its de-
ferred character is in-
dicated by a suitable
sign above or preced-
ing the address. SYMBOLS
DL = Day Letter
NM = Night Message
NL = Night Letter
LCO = Deferred Cable
CLT = Cable Letter
WLT = Week-End Letter NEWCOMB CARLTON, PRESIDENT J. C. WILLEVER, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT The filing time as shown in the date line on full-rate telegrams and day letters, and the time of receipt at destination as shown on all messages, is STANDARD TIME. Received at Main Office, 26 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, Calif. Tel. Colorado 4321 1932 MAR 11 AM 3 42 SA23 55 NL=NEW YORK NY2 10 MISS ZOE AKINS1= 2041 BRIGDEN BLVD PASADENA CALIF3=
DEAREST ZOE YOUR TELEGRAM GIVES ME WILDEST SURPRISE AND GREAT DELIGHT STOP I AM PERFECTLY SATISFIED WITH EVERYTHING I READ ABOUT YOUR CAPTAIN4 IN THE PAPERS STOP THIS GOOD NEWS FROM YOU WARMS MY HEART NO ONE CAN HOPE BRIGHT THINGS FOR YOU MORE WARMLY AND CONFIDENTLY THAN DOES YOUR OLD AND ALWAYS ADMIRING FRIEND=
WILLA CATHER. TELEGRAMS MAY BE TELEPHONED TO WESTERN UNION FROM ANY PRIVATE OR PAY-STATION TELEPHONEInformation about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1099.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1099
- Contents
- Document is one leaf, typewritten on recto only of telegram
- Person to whom letter was written
- Zoë Akins 1
- Date letter was written
- March 11, 1932
- Place letter was written
- New York, New York, United States2
- Location of original letter
- Zoë Akins papers, 1878-1959 (mssZA 1-7330), Huntington Library, San Marino, CA
Person Annotations
Akins, Zoë (1886-1958). American poet, playwright, and screenwriter.
Akins’ friendship with Cather started in 1909, when she submitted
verse to McClure’s magazine, which Cather rejected,
advising her to stay with playwriting. Akins subsequently moved from her
hometown of St. Louis, MO, to New York City and achieved success as a
playwright. She moved to California in the 1930s, adding screenwriting to
her accomplishments. Her play The Old Maid (1935), an
adaptation of an Edith Wharton novel, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. In
1932, Akins married Captain Hugh Rumbold, a British theatrical designer and
director; he died eight months later. Cather and Akins carried on a lifelong
correspondence, with Cather writing affectionate letters that included both
commentary on her own works and criticism of Akins’.
Rumbold, Hugo Cecil Levinge (1884-1932) (“Captain Rumbold”). British soldier and theatrical designer. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, son of a British diplomat, Hugo Rumbold was educated at Eton College, then entered the British Army in 1901, serving in South Africa in the second Boer war. He began his career in costume and set design before re-entering service during World War I, during which he was wounded and promoted to captain. Resuming his career, Rumbold worked with many distinguished managers and actors, and was part of a social set including Noel Coward and the Sitwell family; he was known as a wit, a dandy, and an occasional cross-dresser. In the late 1920s he became interested in film and went to California, where he met Zoë Akins, who was a Hollywood screenwriter; they collaborated on a play. In March 1932 Rumbold and Akins were married; he died eight months later.
Place Annotations
