A Letter of Note

I think the first time I ever heard of electronic mail, or email as it is now ubiquitously called, was when Francis Ford Coppola mentioned that he was using it back in 1989, during the early days of his development of the script of The Godfather: Part III at Paramount.

Before then, what we now call "snail mail" was the preferred method of written communication, with all of the attendant accoutrements of stamps, envelopes, stationary, ink pens or typewriters, and more than anything else...patience.

There is a website called "Letters of Note" that is bringing back the art of the letter and features vintage correspondence from the famous to the not-so-famous to the "famous-to-their-mother-in-their-own-house-at-lunchtime", as my wife likes to say.

In an homage to both Letters of Note and to one of my personal heroes, I dug out of the file to share with you this letter I received back in 1984 from the legendary hard-boiled crime fiction writer (he disdained the label novelist) Mickey Spillane.

Dig that logo design for his production company! Classic!

Here is the text in case it is hard to read:

March 24, 1984

Dear Bill:

Sitting a death watch over my friend Dave is a rough deal. How he manages to hold on, eaten up by cancer the way he is, seems incredible. This, coming on top of the fribullation that hospitalized me, has left me shaky enough to curtail a lot of activities.

Frankly, I don't see any way I can get involved with any more projects at this point. Any active segments of my agenda are being decelerated and I am going to have to take it easy from now on. Luckily, I'm old enough not to be bothered by having to slow down.

I'm sorry to have to cancel out of the arrangement we discussed, but those things happen. I'll notify Con Murphy and Jack McKenna and they can get your check back.

Meanwhile, best regards and stay a tiger on the courts.

Sincerely, 

Mickey Spillane

The Dave in the letter is Dave Gerrity, a drinking buddy of Spillane's and the author of "Cry Me A Killer" "Kiss Off The Dead" and other noir books in the Spillane idiom, who passed away not too long after this letter was sent. Despite the retiring tone of the letter, it is interesting to note that Spillane lived for another 22 years after "decelerating the active segments of his agenda", passing away in 2006 at the age of 88.

I had met Gerrity and Spillane and his then 92 year old agent Jack McKenna down in Naples, Florida one weekend back in 1983 to discuss a proposal to make a film based on two of Spillane's novellas "Me, Hood" and "Killer Mine".

I played a lot of tennis in high school and was even captain of my tennis team one year. But I was no match for the amazingly spry and seemingly bionic McKenna, who was 92 going on 16 and ran me ragged around the court while Spillane and Gerrity drank and laughed at my expense.

So the last line of the letter is really quite an endearing joke on me, "the tiger" who got whipped on the courts, from the old literary lion himself.

Spillane knew that "people buy a lot more salted peanuts than they do caviar" and always fancied himself a guy who typed books for the masses. Having this typed letter from him makes me remember and appreciate those more epistolary days, and the letters of note we exchanged with one another.

Enjoy!

william

Comments

[Janet M]

Wow! Mickey Spillane was quite a writer, even in a short letter he opens with a bang. Too bad that you didn't get the project going, I love film noir.

[Frances]

thanks for sharing that wonderful letter. Think of being able to write like that in just an ordinary letter. But I also loved your story about the letter as well. It's really a good tale.

[John]

The penultimate authentic voice...and to see/hear it warmed to such a personal degree. Thanks for sharing this, and the story behind the story.

My most memorable brush with Spillane was via a passionate fan of his writing -- a corporate ad exec who'd hired me (then a young copywriter) to write an industrial lighting catalog. He opened our notes session by looking me in the eye and saying, "'BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Three bullets ripped into my gut, and I was off on the adventure of my life.' Make my catalog read like that. Like Mickey Spillane." One of the best bits of coaching I ever got.

[Ev McElroy]

Thanks SO much for sharing that correspondence and the amusing tennis match story. I have been reading your blog for a while and find it totally engaging. Thanks for that.

[Supra Skate]

Are you doing anything tonight/this weekend/tomorrow?f you are not busy tonight, would you like to go out with me?

[Supra Skate]

Are you doing anything tonight/this weekend/tomorrow?f you are not busy tonight, would you like to go out with me?

[Elsita :)]

I loved this post, Billy :)

[uebernachtung guenstig buchen und sparen]

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[davek]

I do found what you write about very interesting and odd, but I enjoy them. Thank you. Kowledge is power. I am still working on that.