"Having Wonderful Time"
New York: Random House, 1937. From the Bart Auerbach Collection. Foreword by Marc Connelly. 8vo. Original light green cloth. Faded, ends of spine and a corner frayed, front hinge partially cracked. Item #409186
Not a first edition, but the dedication copy, inscribed by Kober to fellow playwright Marc Connelly (best known for The Green Pastures, 1930): "Dear Marc - I think you're wonderful. Arthur Kober." Beneath this Bennet Cerf of Random House (who also published Connelly) has written: "This publisher has gotten where he is by always agreeing with his authors - Bennet Cerf." The printed dedication reads: "To Marc with Many Thanks."
"Having Wonderful Time, 'a comedy about New York City office workers at a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills, was produced and directed on Broadway by Connelly, opening on Feb. 20, 1937 (preceding of course the book publication with its appreciative dedication). The following year it was made into a Hollywood movie, starring Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Lucille Ball, screenplay by Kober, but with its Jewish ethnic humor sanitized. In 1952, with the adaptation by Kober, it became a Broadway musical under the title Wish You Were Here. (BA).
Price: $500.00