Letter to Cathie for Ford Killen

Letter to Cathie for Ford Killen

Expresses his feelings for her. Says he had re-read all her letters. Says how much he enjoyed London. Writes of visit to New York and hopes she will visit him there. Mentions some of his activities. Continues with chat and gossip. Signs Heathcliff.

Two page typewritten letter

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EKillenFReidKM[Date]-04

[U.S. Army Air Forces crest]

Mitchel Field, N.Y.
Sq. H., 104 AAFBU

My dearest darling Cathie:

It has been only a couple of three days since I last wrote you, but here I go again and I hope you are not becoming bored with my constant chatter and babble. There is nothing like a good, long talk with you to cheer me up. However, I am still in the [deleted] da [/deleted] dark as to your feeling, and will have to wait until I receive the “first” letter from you before I really can write to you with any mutual understanding.

This is also a beautiful, crisp day, with not a cloud in the sky, nor a breeze on the ether. A day truly fit for a king, and if I knew that you loved me I would feel like a king; right now I feel a littl [sic] like a “prince”, but I will reserve my kingly feelings until I hear from you. Maybe this sudden gust of letters will surprise you, but it has been so long since I heard from you that I must let you know how I feel again and again. I took ALL your letters from their lair, where I had put them for safekeeping and re-read every one of them. Cathie, you’re wonderful. If I haven’t told you before remind me to tell you every day and every minute, until we’re 103, and then I’ll tell you every 30 seconds

Oh, to be in jolly olde England today …. I loved London on Sundays …. I loved England on Sundays and incidentally I loved you (pardon Love … present, past and future tense) on Sundays. Everyone was so lazy, strolling about the parks …. list3ning [sic] to soap box orators in Hyde Park, bidding for a dog, or a silk nightie, or a pot of flowers….. And the West End, practacally [sic]deserted until the movies opened in the afternoon…..

Going into New York a few nights ago, I got a panoramic view of New York, and the Empire State building standing ablaze with a million lights, head and shoulders above the otner [sic] skyscrapers …. along the river, there must have been a billion lights aglow, for miles and miles. I thought of you then --- of how I would like to be showing you those lights and maybe I would like New York a little better if there was someone there to share my enthusiasm. As it now stands, London still is way ahead in my heart, though she has no 102-story buildings, and dozens that tower more than 60 stories. I never have had a desire to visit the observation tower in the Emipre, [sic] because height holds no fascination for me. Having been 18 or 20,000 feet in an airplane, going up about 1,500 feet in a bldg. just lacks charm, or inducement.

BUT, once you are here (if you come) we still have a date to meet first atop the Empire, and I will have the photographers from all the metropolitan newspapers there to catch your warm charm and personality in the lens of the cameras. That should make quite a spread. One of the guys who works with me asked me the

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other day when you were coming; that it would make a good story. I replied that it was a sacred matter and that there would be no publicity. But I’d like for you to agree to some publicity; if not, I’ll shout it from the roof of the Empire Bldg.

Did I tell you I got an exclusive interview with Betty Garrett who heads the cast of “Call Me Mister,” the top revue in New York; and about half a dozen pictures. I took my own photographer along. She is the wife of Larry Parks …. Perhaps you’ve seen him in “The Jolson Story”? He plays Al Jolson, the greatest of the old personalities of vaudeville.

After chow: Just returned from chow and will continue with this epistle. After glancing over the day’s newspapers, and seeing if there was anything worth noting …. I feel much like going to sleep. Although there is no room for sleep while you’re on the job …. Maybe it would be better if I tried sleeping nights .. they say that nights are made for love; then others say it was made for sleep; they even made a picture called History is Made at Night. How did I ever get on this subject anyway?

Next time I am going to double space my letters, so that they will seem longer than they are. Just think, if I had 2-spaced, I would have been on my fourth page, and I could have terminated it there; but as it is, I’ll have to continue until I am through with this page, or even another. Wish I had never started making letters so long, then my correspondents would be satisfied with a much shorter note.

Darling what are you doing today? Are you still studying hard. and do you have a lot of exams, and have you appeared in any students’ productions yet? I’d like to see you in your legit debut. What do you prefer …. “What Every Woman Knows,” or “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?”

Everyone coming in wanting to know something or people calling up to ask questions drive me mad …. its really rough … in these “here parts.” Remember the story I did on Vronsky and Babin, the piano team; I think I sent you a clipping: I’m going to attend their concert at Carnegie Hall Dec. 3. Usually they play Russian stuff …. Rachmaninoff among others …. I like his music …. veddy [sic] much.

I’m persistent in hounding you for a large tinted (or otherwise [deleted] wi [/deleted] if you don’t have it) photo of you to put up in my office. And if you have any snapshots of yourself ….. send me some [deleted] pnese [/deleted] please ……

Again I say, until I hear from you …… All my love
Forever & ever
Just
Heathcliff