Lot 88016: HARRY BENNETT (American, b. 1925) Cry Shame,

HARRY BENNETT (American, b. 1925) Cry Shame, paperback cover, 1950 Gouache on board 12 x 10 in. Not signed This illustration appeared on the cover of the novel by Katherine Everard (a pen name for Gore Vidal), Cry Shame, Pyramid Books #23, 1950. It has been said Vidal published this book under a pseudonym because of his fear of appearing too prolific, and also to isolate his growing literary reputation from what was deemed a "potboiler." Vidal's pseudonym was an in-joke, derived from Manhattan's notorious Everard Baths. "She wanted fame -- at any price. Her strange affair with a screen idol who was 'ambisextrous' shocked all of Hollywood." From the Estate of Charles Martignette.