Morganville, Kansas

September 1, 1948

Dear Mr, Todd,

When I thought I could write to you on the 28th, I was optimistic. Sunday, we were still high and involved in a visiting family � old neighbor � reunion. Monday, the blackest cup of coffee wouldn't mesh any more and we all slept. Tuesday began the avalanche of scrambled costumes and their return to the old hooks in our spare room closet. The post mortems have been continuous; our floors will have to be revarnished. Last night, we reluctantly took Charlemagne back to obscurity.

Tonight, the UNESCO committee is holding an open meeting at the stadium to elect a treasurer and secretary and appoint clothes collecting (They are already bringing things here) and food shipping committees, etc. etc.

Morganville will carry on faithfully and steadily. They are already thinking of ways to make more money. We know our �take� was not all [that] large as it should have been considering the crowd, but we feel that everyone�s education and good will toward the whole idea was worth much much more. Already we have had a query from a once isolationist banker in a neighboring town. A State Senator told me Sunday he was going to manage to give the program publicity in the legislature next winter. A visiting teacher is going to try to promote the idea in her school in Coldwater, Kansas next winter, etc., etc. The Ruegg girls and the Swedes may get together and send you a box of cookies, when it gets cooler. We have had several definite requests for repeat performances, here and in other towns. But we are a canny little village and know when to leave the game. I have had so many personal requests for the script for distant exiled citizens and from members of old families and the cast that I may look into printing costs � with great reluctance. It was jingled off during an eye operation and cast assembling in harassed hours. It was only meant to be read [to] music once � among friends.

The pictures came this morning and are not as good as I wish they were. We should have had a daylight dress rehearsal.

Speaking of the �what we should have dones� and the �without whoms,� we want to thank yon for sending Mr. Sonkin. He managed to give the whole idea the reassurance, glamour, and authenticity we needed � never mind the publicity.

If you were wondering how I might be, I will now confess I was quite uneasy until the first five minutes of his charm, for fear Mr. Sonkin might try to approach old Buttercup from the wrong side. We all talked about him along with everything else all day yesterday and they all believe that he �likes people.� Our final accolade, pronounced by Mrs. Huff, was that he was so easy to know, he might have been an old Morganvllle boy.

I may not be the official secretary after tonight, but I know you all want an inside line from time to time. Or will you?

Sincerely,



p.s. The pamphlets have been taken to the drugstore, restaurants, and pool hall, and school to be read at leisure.