Archive of Drafts of Letters and Documents relating to Saroyan's separation and divorce from his wife Carol Marcus, and her affair with cartoonist Al Capp

Saroyan, William

Published by [New York], 1950

About this Item

In all, 29 pp. 1 vols. 4to. A Saroyan archive of essential biographical importance. In 1943, Armenian-American author William Saroyan, at the peak of his success and fame, married the 17-year-old socialite Carol Marcus. They had two children, Aram (b. 1943) and Lucy (b. 1946), but by 1949, as this archive painfully documents, the marriage was clearly breaking up. In July 1949, the couple agreed to separate; in September of that year they divorced; and Marcus, as a letter here reveals, began an affair with the cartoonist Al Capp. Eventually, Saroyan and Marcus remarried in 1951, but they quickly divorced again in 1952. This archive contains the following letters and documents relating to the marriage and its break-up: 1. Several typed and carbon drafts of Saroyan's request for annulment of the marriage, with several autograph corrections and insertions by Saroyan. The essential ground of the complaint was Saroyan's assertion that Marcus deceived him as to her origins, and pretended to be the daughter of a Catholic couple from Long Island, of Scottish, and French-Russian descent, rather than the illegitimate daughter of a Jewish mother, as she later admitted. 14 pages in all 2. Carbon copy of the separation agreement of July 1949. 6 pages. 3. Draft Typed Letter signed to Al Capp, Jan. 8, 1950. 3pp., with several autograph corrections. 4. Draft of the same letter. 1 page 5. Another draft of the same letter. 1 page. 6. Carbon copy of the final letter to Capp, Jan 8, 1950. 4 pages. A painful and moving letter to Capp regarding Capp's affair with Marcus, a warning to Capp that Marcus had a psychopathic personality ("she tells lies and believes them, makes false accusations, and lives in a world of fantasy"); and his belief that Capp is "wittingly or unwittingly helping this woman to plunge deeper and deeper into a life of fantasy which must eventually bring her to the urgent need of hospitalization, and to her children terrible suffering and heartache …" Carol Marcus later married the actor Walter Matthau; Aram Saroyan became a writer in his own right; and Lucy Saroyan became an actress. Light creasing to some leaves from prior folding, else fine.

Seller Inventory # 36630

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Archive of Drafts of Letters and Documents relating to Saroyan's separation and divorce from his wife Carol Marcus, and her affair with cartoonist Al Capp
• Publisher: [New York]
• Publication Date: 1950
• Binding: In all, 29 pp. 1 vols. 4to
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature