Anita Loos letters to Ray Pierre Corsini

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0099-F0531

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Anita Loos Letters to Ray Pierre Corsini comprises twenty-one letters from American novelist and playwright Anita Loos to her agent and friend, Ray Pierre Corsini, between 1962 and 1979 (Carey, p. 319). The collection also includes a copy of a letter from Loos to a Miss Taylor.

The letters discuss the writing and editing of Loos' later works, her travels and social life, and her relationship with Ray. Loos communicates her joy and frustrations with her works, seeks advice in editorial decisions, and mentions influences upon her works. She also talks about her busy lifestyle, detailing her travel plans and referring to numerous social gatherings. In all of her letters, her special friendship with Ray is apparent. Loos thanks Ray for all of Ray's support and congratulates Ray on the publication of Ray's own work.

Dates

Creation: 1962-1979

Creator

Loos, Anita, 1893-1981 (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Information

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Biographical Note

American novelist and movie script writer Anita Loos was born in Sissons, California (today Mount Shasta), to Richard Beers and Minnie Ellen Loos. Various sources cite her birthdate as April 26, but they disagree as to the year. Loos' biographer cites the year as 1888, but other accounts claim 1893 and 1894. As Loos' father experimented with journalism and the theater in the San Diego area, she became a child actress and for many years provided the family's main source of income.

At the age of fifteen Loos began writing film scripts for D. W. Griffith of the Biograph Company. By the time she was eighteen, she had sold Griffith over one hundred scripts. In collaboration with her second husband, director John Emerson, she produced several Broadway plays as well as two non-fiction works: How to Write Photoplays (1920) and Breaking into the Movies (1921).

She is best known, however, for her novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925). The book about the adventures of a blond flapper brought international fame to Loos, who, as one of the first women to bob her hair and shorten her hemlines, came to epitomize the flappers of the 1920s. The novel inspired a play, several musical versions, a sequel, and a movie, and was followed by two successful plays (Happy Birthday, 1946, and Gigi, 1951), two memoirs on the silent-movie stars Constance and Norma Talmadge, and four autobiographical works, among others. Loos died in 1981, four years after her last autobiography was published.

Carey, Gary. Anita Loos. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.Mainiero, Lina, ed.. American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from the Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1981.

Extent

22 item

Additional Description

Abstract

Twenty-one letters from American novelist and playwright Anita Loos to her agent and friend, Ray Pierre Corsini, between 1962 and 1979. The letters discuss the writing and editing of Loos' later works, her travels and social life, and her relationship with Ray.