If you keep a personal journal you probably have a “lost and found” note somewhere in the opening pages. (“If found please return this book to…”) Well, today we’ve got a treat for you care of the Harry Ransom Center: the first page of Marlon Brando’s address book circa his A Streetcar Named Desire theatre days.
The opening page of the address book has the actor literally begging for the book’s return if lost:
“On bended knee I beg you to return this. I lost eight others already and if I lose this I’ll just drop dead!”
Eight lost books!
Ironically the book was lost and it wasn’t returned. (Though thankfully the actor didn’t drop dead and, in fact, went on to become one of the greatest film actors of all time!) He dropped the book on the stage of the Barrymore Theatre sometime in 1949 during the theater’s run of A Streetcar Named Desire. Robert Downing, the play’s production manager, found it and, ignoring the note(!), kept it until it ended up in the possession of its current owner, the Harry Ransom Center.
Check out an image of the page below, along with what appears to be Brando’s addresses from the time period. (Both “37 W. 52” and the earlier, now-crossed out “47 W. 47th N.Y.C.”)
(Source)
About Paperblanks®: We have been producing superb writing journals for twenty years. We are book people, and we believe that the written word matters and that our blank books have a critical role to play in the art and continued practice of writing itself. For more about Paperblanks®, go to our website at paperblanks.com.
