Lot 282

Previous image preload Next image preload

Description:

Williams Tennessee

Tennessee Williams Signed Check to Lover Robert Carroll, PSA/DNA Slabbed

 

PSA/DNA slabbed check signed by American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) as “Tennessee Williams” on the payee line. The oversized check is orange with a basket weave pattern. Hand inscribed "For Deposit Only / A/c #39-194-2" verso. Bearing normal bank cancellation marks. Graded by PSA/DNA as NM-MT 8. The check measures 8.5" x 3.5" while the slab measures 12.375" x 5.5".

 

Check No. 2749 was drawn on the account of "Tennessee Williams c/o Julius Lefkowitz and Company" at Chase Manhattan Bank of New York, New York on March 16, 1978. Agents were directed to pay $242.74 to Robert Carroll of Key West, Florida.

 

Robert Carroll (born 1947) was Tennessee Williams's much younger lover. Carroll was a West Virginia-born Vietnam War veteran and aspiring novelist who met Williams in 1972. Of Carroll, Williams wrote in a May 1973 letter: "The trouble is that he [Carroll] plays on my sympathies and on my acute loneliness. You really don't seem to know how awful it is to be alone at my age - and 'gay.' He makes himself so pathetic at times…" Carroll and Williams carried on a long and tormented romance until 1979. Their mutually destructive relationship was fueled by the drug addiction and emotional instability of each. Carroll's 887pp memoir Chez Nous: My Intimate Life with Tennessee Williams, published in 2016, describes his relationship with the aging playwright.

 

Tennessee Williams had purchased a yellow clapboarded farmhouse at 1431 Duncan Street in Key West in 1950 and lived there intermittently until his death some 30 years later.

 

Williams had just finished working on his play Vieux Carre the year before signing this check. Inspired by Williams's experience living at 722 Toulouse Street in New Orleans in the late 1930s, Williams continued writing the play over the next nearly 40 years. Characters include a frustrated landlady, a young writer, a sick artist, a dying socialite, a drug addict, a gay photographer, and two elderly women. Not well-reviewed, Vieux Carre was only performed 6 times at St. James Theater on Broadway in May 1977.

 

Tennessee Williams was a college dropout who worked a variety of odd jobs before achieving literary success with The Glass Menagerie (1944). Williams' intensely emotional work was mostly autobiographical, and typically wrestled with themes like truth versus illusion, sexuality, social class, violence, and Southern identity. His Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were huge Broadway successes. In his later life, Williams struggled with drug dependency, depression, and personal loss. He died of accidental choking in 1983.

 

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Paypal, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

We do our own in-house worldwide shipping!
Applicable shipping and handling charges will be added to the invoice. ***PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR SHIPMENT TO BE SENT TO AN ADDRESS OTHER THAN THE ONE YOU HAVE ON FILE WITH INVALUABLE, YOU WILL NEED TO INFORM US OF THIS AS SOON AS PAYMENT IS SUBMITTED FOR YOUR WINNINGS*** Shipping and handling costs are competitive as we maintain discounted contracts with FedEx. If you have any questions, contact University Archives prior to bidding. After payment has been made in full, University Archives will ship your purchase within 5 business days following receipt of full payment for item. We currently ship via FedEx but if your purchase is shipping to a P.O. Box, we ship via USPS. All items are insured. We ship from our offices in Westport, CT. We may opt to use a third party shipper for very fragile, bulky or oversized items. Items requiring third party shipping will be denoted in the item description. Packages shipped internationally will have full value declared on shipping form. International buyers will be responsible for any customs fees incurred.

Please remember that the buyer is responsible for all shipping costs from University Archives' offices in Westport, CT to the buyer's door. Please see full Terms and Conditions of Sale.

University Archives

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of up to 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000