MAXIM LIEBER

AUTHORS' REPRESENTATIVE

Murray Hill 2-3135-3136

CABLE: FERENC • NEW YORK

545 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY

March 23, 1943

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, New York

Dear Langston:

I telephoned Miss Dorothy Funn of the Negro Labor
Victory Committee, or at least I tried to reach her,
but she was out and her secretary told me that she
was frightfully busy and that was why she had failed
to communicate with you before this. Between the two
of us we ought to be able to corral the lady and get
her to make up her mind whether she wishes you to work
on the pageant, and to pay accordingly.

I did contact Bill Sweet at NBC but he tells me that
they have not yet made any headway and the program is
pretty much in the air - they don't know whether they
are going down to Tuskegee Institute or whether the
show will be given up here, and they don't know whether
they can get Ethel Waters. It seems that Robson, who
they contemplated getting, is otherwise engaged.

As for Shapiro, he has not yet telephoned me and I sup-
pose that means that his interest has waned. But
Minna's and mine have not and we hope to make whoopee
or something, next Saturday at 8:00 P.M. at 634
St. Nicholas Avenue.

ML:GS

Yaddo,
Saratoga Springs,
New York,
July 23, 1943.

Dear Max,

Back at Yaddo again and the peace and quiet of the country is
wonderful for work. Are you on the farm at all this summer?

Here are a few little things I reckon I ought to mention to you:

1. Mr. S. C. Watkins, 5909 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 37, Illinois, on the staff of Wilcox and Follett Co., (Text Books) there is editing AN ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN NEGRO PROSE. He is using of mine in it the piece from COMMON GROUND, "WHAT THE NEGRO WANTS". He also wishes a short story of mine---air-mail rush---for which he does not have to contact Knopf (as evidently they wanted too much for one from WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS). I have sent him a story called AFRICAN MORNING once published in THE PACIFIC WEEKLY, also reccomended to him ON THE ROAD from ESQUIRE and THE DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT, ONE FRIDAY MORN-ING From the CRISIS, and PROFESSOR from THE ANVIL and A BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORIES. I do not know which one he will use yet, but in any case, I asked him to get in touch with you about it when he makes his choice. Also if he has not written you concerning the use of the essay, WHAT THE NEGRO WANTS, kindly get in touch with him as to the rates they are paying.

2. **Barney Josephson** seems to be serious about a Cafe Society Revue in the fall using Hazel Scott, the Golden Gate Quattette, Pearl Primus, etc. I talked with him just before I left the city. So, if you would be so kind as to pack up and send me that revue material of mine that came back from Georgie Hale, I will sort and eliminate the stuff that is no longer timely, bring up to date that might possibly now be used, and we will submit it to him.

3. Also, while you're sending, you might include the unsold poetry (with your cards as to where it's been so I won't repeat on it) and that little prose sketch about Harlem delinquents. Kindly mail or express it all to me here at Yaddo while I have these long country days to look it over again.

4. Reason for wanting the poetry is that Countee Cullen and Claude McKay propose publishing a book of three Negro poets, themselves and me, so I'd like to put my section together this summer.

5. I talked with the CAVALCADE OF AMERICA man before I left, and he asked me to submit some synopsis ideas for a possible program, which I will do.

6. Mr. Stanton of Continental Features, the Negro syndicate, writes that they would like to begin syndication of my short stories early in August, so I am now having a half dozen typed up, and will send them to you to submit to him next week. I will try, in each case, to indicate on the manuscript where they first appeared in case you have to get copyright clearances.

7. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA is publishing an antholоgy of contemporary Negro opinion and wishes a piece from me. I'll send it to you when it is done to forward to them and collect thereon.

8. I hope this week to get these little things out of the way and do something about the book so in the fall I bring you parts of it for possible magazine sale.

So, having disposed of business---I'll now tell you who's at Yaddo this year. Agnes Smedley keeps the place most alive with her tales of China. Karen Michailis, Kantorowitz, and Margaret Walker, also Rebecca Pitts are among the writers here. A couple of painters and a composer, Harold Shapiro from Boston are around, too. Twelve people in all, a pleasant group. I'll be here a month or so longer, I think.

My best to Minna. As ever,

MAXIM LIEBER

AUTHORS' REPRESENTATIVE

Murray Hill 2-3135-3136

CABLE: FERENC • NEW YORK

Zone 17

July 27, 1943

Mr. Langston Hughes
Yaddo
Saratoga Springs
New York.

Dear Langston:

Your letter of July 23 arrived just as I was beginning to
wonder about your silence.

I have not heard from Mr. S. C. Watkins of Wilcox & Pollett
Co. in Chicago so I am writing him today.

With regard to the synopsis ideas for a possible program
for CAVALCADE OF AMERICA, I suggest that you send the
material you prepare to me and I, in turn, will submit it
to Kondolf. In this way I will be familiar with every step
of the negotiations.

I will also await the material you are preparing for Continental
Features and the University of North Carolina.

As you requested, I am sending you via railway express the
review material and the poetry. I failed to locate the
prose sketch about Harlem delinquents which you mentioned
but I am returning two of your short stories inasmuch as I
have exhausted the market possibilities for them. I attach
hereto a list showing where all this material has already
been submitted. The following is a list of the material
going back to you:

- The Star Decides (story)
- Mysterious Madame Shanghai (story)
- Madam to You (3 poems)
- Christmas Cards
- Song for An Ordinary Guy
- Shall the Good Go Down
- Moonlight in Valencia: Civil War
- The Singing Dark (9 poems)
- Folks Who Knock At Madam's Door (4 poems)
- When The Armies Passed
- Jubilee (Revue Material)
- Tropics After Dark (Revue Material)
- Hey! Hey! Hey! (Revue Material)
- Run, Ghost, Run (two copies)
- KLAVERN OF THE KU KLUX KOLUMN (Revue Material)

With best wishes,

As ever,

GRAND CENTRAL
ANNEX

Mr. Langston Hughes
Yaddo
Saratoga Springs, New York

Yaddo,
Saratoga Springs,
New York,
August 13, 1943.

Dear Maxim,

The University of North Carolina Press intends to publish this fall an anthology of contemporary Negro opinion to which I have been asked to contribute an article. I've done one compiled from two old articles of mine---WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE SOUTH in *Common Ground*, Autumn, 1942, and MY AMERICA in the *JOURNAL of Educational Sociology*, February, 1943. The title of the new article is MY AMERICA and, since the deadline is tomorrow and I just finished it today, I've sent it directly on to the editor of the anthology:

Dr. Rayford W. Logan,
The Graduate School,
Howard University,
Washington, D. C.

with the request that payment be made to you. I hereby advise
you of that fact! $?! Mon chereami! I have forgotten just what
they said the pay would be. (But not much, we can rest assured.
It is HONOR I'm receiving.)

MAXIM LIEBER

AUTHORS' REPRESENTATIVE

Murray Hill 2-3135-3136

545 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK 17, N. Y.

September 28, 1943

Dear Langston:

I am enclosing two clips of a new series that Reader's Digest have recently inaugurated. The editor in charge was in to see me and asked whether any of my people could produce similar pieces. They pay $1000, which is not to be sneezed at.

Mr. McBride, the editor, suggested that an outline of about 200 words or so would indicate whether the story had possibilities. If they gave the "go ahead" signal they would commit themselves to the tune of a couple of hundred dollars, and if they accepted the piece, they would pay the full rate.

I was thinking that you might like to try your hand at grinding out one of these.

Please return the clips so that I can explore other possibilities.

ML:GS
encl.

Piece sent, 9/28/43,
Yaddo.

MAXIM LIEBER

AUTHORS' REPRESENTATIVE

Murray Hill 2-3135-3136

545 FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK 17, N. Y.

November 9, 1943

Mr. Langston Hughes
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, 30, N.Y.

Dear Langston:

This is in reply to your notes of November 3, 4 and 7 respectively, and I'll take up the various matters you mentioned in the order in which you brought them up.

We have written to Rayford Logan advising him that the financial terms he mentioned with regard to your contribution to WHAT THE NEGRO WANTS meet with our complete approval.

We have a follow-up system covering the anthology material which is used and there is a note in our files regarding yours which Mr. Watkins selected for his ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN NEGRO. Payment is usually made on publication.

When you advise me what Edwin Seaver has selected for CROSS-SECTION we will put this, too, in our follow-up to await payment.

I am very happy to learn that Contemporary Poetry have accepted two additional poems of the MADAM series.

You are right about the New Republic. They accepted DOWN UNDER IN HARLEM way back in April and when we called recently said that it still had not been scheduled for publication and that means no check until it is.

With respect to Continental Features, we have been calling Mr. Stanton consistently and he has been making promises to pay and then ignored them all. Finally we wrote him a letter (copy enclosed) which was a little sharp thinking that might bring him to terms but up to this writing he has made no sign. I suppose to make the threat effective we really ought to send him a letter from an attorney. The question then arises: Do you want to go that far and, if so, have you the money for it?

I have written a letter to Joy Davidman asking her for an explanation of what she proposes to do with respect to payment to you for material of yours used in her anthology. I'll let you know what happens.

I am certainly delighted to learn that P.E.N. has invited you to join. I think that the three power conference at Moscow must have had something to do with it. Now you will be obliged to cooperate, and I hope you do.

(over)

I have heard no rumors about Hollywood offering $15,000 for the rights to NEW WORLD A COMIN' and I suspect it to be apocryphal, though, of course, it may be true. In that event they will be buying it in _spite_ of its being a colored book.

Hitherto it has always given me a warm feeling to know that I was under debt to you, but now with your most recent communique of November 7 in hand I learn to my surprise that the _bables_ are turned. Mary Owings Miller sent me a check in the amount of $2.50 for your poem TOO BLUE. I was about to send you your share when your note arrived. According to my calculations, after deducting 30¢ commission on Madam and the Number Runner, and $2.40 commission on the Musette royalty payment, there is a balance due me of 45¢. So will you kindly let me deduct this from the next check I may send you? Or shall we just call it quits seeing that Christmas and New Year's are just around the corner.

As ever,

ML:GS

P. S. I've noted your inquiry to Mr. Lieber about a lecture agent to book you for white colleges next season. As a lady who is more or less familiar with the "lecture business" (I was with Harold R. Peat for 8 years and if you wish I'd be very happy if you used my name when writing him) my suggestion is that you run through the Red Book (telephone) and after making a list of all the lecture bureaus write them a form letter advising them of your availability for lecture engagements and give them a short biographical sketch. While I know that the lecture business is more or less shot, nevertheless, I think perhaps you might get a bite or two. I know that when we received such letters from prospective lecturers, if the writer happened to couch his qualifications in intriguing fashion we usually asked him to come in. Your name being on the "famous" side will help a lot. If I can be of any further help, please call on me.