Letter to the Editor
Doorknobs Winner
My piece needs a home. It's good, I think, but the Princeton gentlemen at Vanity Fair have rejected me again. One would think such an educated bunch could read beyond that bastard Fitzgerald – he's not the only writer writing!
I must submit it somewhere. If not the hallowed Vanity Fair, then perhaps Collier's? No, they seem to be publishing mostly serials. I'll send it to that new weekly, the one with the prissy fellow on the cover. The one not edited for the old lady in Dubuque. They must need copy; you can't fill a magazine with cartoons.
October 15, 1925
Dear Editor Ross:
I'd like to congratulate you on the launch of your delightful magazine. As a life-long Manhattanite, I can testify that the city has been in dire need of a sophisticated publication such as yours to fill a long-standing literary void. The New Yorker puts a fresh focus on the city's culture, and I would like to offer a young person's assessment of the dizzy twenties. I'm enclosing the essay "Why We Go to Cabarets: A Post-Débutante Explains" for your consideration. I believe you'll find the piece shares your magazine's vision, and I'm confident it will appeal to a wealth of readers.
Sincerely,
Miss Ellin Mackay
I hope this sells, but the magazine is struggling. It probably won't be around long.
Oh dear, the time! Irving will pick me up soon. He has written a new song; Always, I think it's called. I'm eager to hear it.
