Lot 969: CRABTREE, LOTTA

969. LOTTA CRABTREE (1847 - 1924) American actress, a protégé of Lola Montez; while still a child, she became a favorite in California mining camps with her sprightly singing, dancing and reciting, and, in 1867, scored her first success in New York City in a dramatization of Charles Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop, and thereafter she performed in burlesque and comic pieces, captivating large audiences; although she lived to be 77, retired at the height of her career while in her early 40s. Scarce T.L.S. "Lotta" 3pp., 8vo., "The Brewster" Boston, Feb. 15, 1917, to "My dear friends" [Florida real estate developer and Bakkon Yeast CEO Curtis Freshel], advising: "...I appreciate very much your invitation...Impossible. Each winter I say to myself, I will not be here but in a warmer climate. However, that this will materialize next year, I hope...Housed, I am, as there is snow outside and plenty of ice on the pavements. However, it will soon be Spring, and how I shall enjoy the outdoor of it. I thank you so much for those cards especially the one with the large strawberries. Yum! yum! yum!...We went in town to see Lew Telengen [sic, Tellegen], [Geraldine] Farrar's husband. He is indeed highclass in appearance and a very good actor. Then we saw Charlie Chaplin in 'Easy Street'. I tell you it was anything but easy what he did and the rest of the company. Splendid for fun...". Boldly signed, adding a hasty postscript: "Kindly pardon use of typewriter". Some age-toning, otherwise in good condition. From the Curtis Freschel papers. $400 - 500