". . . I hate writing letters! (Actually, I rather like it when I have a lot of bitchy gossip to repeat, but it's summertime and the livin' is easy, meaning nobody's doing it with nobody).
". . . Leaving for Madrid August 5th (why Madrid? I'm glad you asked--to meet Leonard Bernstein, the well-known Jewish conductor and his beautiful wife the former Felicia Montealegre, ex-queen of television--or is that Leonard's title?--at any rate, they're celebrities), thence to Paris with Felicia (and maybe Leonard . . . ). . . .
"How's the play going? Better than 'Forum', I trust. We're a big hit, which is nothing to be sneered at I suppose, but it was the bitterest experience I've had yet. The show, under George Abbott's astute bungling, was a disaster until the last week in Washington, when Jerry Robbins came down to save it. Save it he did, by giving it three or four moments of style and an opening number (which I wrote the last weekend before we came into New York) which, contrary to Abbott's understanding, explained clearly to the audience what the show was about. I don't understand how that man got where he has . . . the enormity of his ineptness is unbelievable. He's totally humorless (the jokes literally had to be explained to him) and without any visible talent for staging or pace . . . and of course the critics gave him all the credit for the show. . . . I got really blasted. But that's to be expected--it's essentially a musician's score (I got wonderfully gratifying letters from [Frank] Loesser, [Harold] Arlen, Hugh Martin, etc.) . . . . However, these sour grapes are unseemly--the audiences love the show and at the moment we're the hottest ticket in town. Zero [Mostel] is still wrong for the show, but the critics and public eat him up (a full meal). Davy Burns is marvelous, as is Jack Gilford. And so am I.
". . . As far as raunchy gossip goes, . . . I can leave you with this question: why is the Duchess of Walden going to Portugal for a month alone when she and the Duke only recently returned from Europe? Answer next week."
With--Stephen Sondheim. Photograph Signed, half-length portrait showing him in a red sweater while reading. Signed diagonally in the image, middle left. 10x8 inches. Nd.