From Douglas Fairbanks, May 24, 1921, request for a letter he used in a book.

Dear Mr. Russell: I’ve just parted with one of my most precious possessions and now I am coming to you in the hope that you will humor my word-old-de- sire to “eat my cake and have it” . Here are the facts in the case: A most wonderful book is being made for the forth- coming Actors’ Fund benefit. A volume of original manuscripts, - short stories, poems, playlets, sketches and color-drawings, representing about fifty of the most famous authors, playwrights, and artists in the world, is being bound in the hope that its sale may net the Fund at least ten thousand dollars. Feeling that the book would be incom- plete without some of your work and that you would be glad to aid in this cause, I parted with the letter you sent me after your recent visit. Now I am hoping you will send me another, else I shall believe that this is a case in which virtue is not its own reward. With our very best wishes to you and Mrs. Russell, Yours very sincerely, [signed] Douglas Fairbanks May twenty-forth, Nineteen twenty-one.

[Transcribed by Melynda Seaton, 2011-10-12]