LETTER: Typed letter signed, to Katharine Cornell.
ON A KELLER DOCUMENTARY, ROOSEVELT, AND CHRISTOPHER FRY
Keller, Helen. Typed letter signed, to Katharine Cornell, September 9, 1954; one leaf, two
pages, of personal letterhead.
Accompanied by the original mailing envelope and a snapshot of Cornell, Keller, and Polly
Thomson, docketed on the verso as taken by Nancy Hamilton, showing the group going “across
Vineyard Sound for a hospital benefit showing of ‘Helen Keller in Her Story.” Earlier in the
summer of 1954, this group had released a documentary entitled “The Unconquered,” later
renamed “Helen Keller in Her Story,” which was narrated by Cornell and directed by Hamilton.
Eleanor Roosevelt attended the benefit screening on Martha’s Vineyard, along with a star-studded
list of guests, including Billie Burke, Noel Coward, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mary Martin,
Tallulah Bankhead, Henry Fonda, and Richard Rodgers, many of whom helped promote the film
and provided advertising blurbs. Though the film was never a commercial success, the critical
acclaim it received culminated in its receiving the 1955 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
In part:
O the delight of the sail on the Viking ship that was the dream of Goering, and O, the
delicious fun of the sparkling spray! O, the touching welcome of the dogs, and the cheery
fire at Chip Chop…How wonderful everything was!—the warm-hearted reception of the
film, the delightful compliments I received, the delectable weather and the next day’s
lunch with David and Adele Levy and Mrs. Roosevelt. I wish we might all have been
together longer, and nothing could have meant more to me than a real talk with Mrs.
Roosevelt, but as it was our visit at Chip Chop was most refreshing to Polly’s and my
spirits and bodies…I have reread parts of ‘The Darkness Is Light Enough.’ The more I
understand the ideas expressed in Christopher Fry’s beautiful language, the more I
appreciate the play and enter into the rich thoughts filling your role.
(#4657352)
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