MGM File Copy
ANDERSON, Robert
Tea and Sympathy
New York: Random House, N.d. [1953]
8vo, pp. 182. Original hessian boards, lettered in black to front panel and spine, title in gilt to black spine label, publisher’s device in gilt on black and stage production photograph to front panel. Top edge black. Illustrated dust jacket. Black and white production photographs to title page and through text. ‘FILE COPY’ stamps and (now ungummed) ticket pocket and printed return ticket laid in, further stamps to front panel of dust jacket and MGM ownership stamps to lower right of front free endpaper and random pages through text. Stamped number ‘5640’ to front free endpaper and front panel of dust jacket. A very good copy in a very good dust jacket with two chips to top edge of front panel.
First edition, second printing. The MGM file copy of the play text, retained during the making of their bowdlerised 1956 film version starring the original stage cast of Deborah Kerr, John Kerr and Leif Erikson. The story of the growing pains of a young gay man faced with isolation and the bigotry of his peers, Robert Anderson’s Tea and Sympathy ran for 712 performances on Broadway, and was adapted by the playwright for the 1956 Vincente Minelli film of the same name. Everett Evans of the Houston Chronicle called it ‘one of the first plays to tackle the then-taboo topic of sexual orientation and related prejudice’, and cited the play’s final line, ‘Years from now... when you speak of this... and you will... be kind.’ as ‘one of the most quoted curtain lines in stage history.’
Despite Hollywood’s ongoing observance of the Hays Code, meaning all explicit references to homosexuality were removed, the film remains a cornerstone of early queer cinema.
MGM File Copy
ANDERSON, Robert
Tea and Sympathy
New York: Random House, N.d. [1953]
8vo, pp. 182. Original hessian boards, lettered in black to front panel and spine, title in gilt to black spine label, publisher’s device in gilt on black and stage production photograph to front panel. Top edge black. Illustrated dust jacket. Black and white production photographs to title page and through text. ‘FILE COPY’ stamps and (now ungummed) ticket pocket and printed return ticket laid in, further stamps to front panel of dust jacket and MGM ownership stamps to lower right of front free endpaper and random pages through text. Stamped number ‘5640’ to front free endpaper and front panel of dust jacket. A very good copy in a very good dust jacket with two chips to top edge of front panel.
First edition, second printing. The MGM file copy of the play text, retained during the making of their bowdlerised 1956 film version starring the original stage cast of Deborah Kerr, John Kerr and Leif Erikson. The story of the growing pains of a young gay man faced with isolation and the bigotry of his peers, Robert Anderson’s Tea and Sympathy ran for 712 performances on Broadway, and was adapted by the playwright for the 1956 Vincente Minelli film of the same name. Everett Evans of the Houston Chronicle called it ‘one of the first plays to tackle the then-taboo topic of sexual orientation and related prejudice’, and cited the play’s final line, ‘Years from now... when you speak of this... and you will... be kind.’ as ‘one of the most quoted curtain lines in stage history.’
Despite Hollywood’s ongoing observance of the Hays Code, meaning all explicit references to homosexuality were removed, the film remains a cornerstone of early queer cinema.
