93 - Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963), poet, draftsman,... Lot 93

93 - Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963), poet, draftsman, playwright and film-maker. Autograph letter signed about "Parade en 1917", 1 p in-8 plus address page with postage, February 11, 1917 (postmark), to René Chalupt (poet and music critic): "My dear friend. How kind you are. I hang the island of Montserrat on the wall as a sun and I stuff my stove with the 6 white girls*. Viscount Hoyotoho is dropping bombs on Berlin **. Take care of the piano if you see Satie and we'll have a good session of "Parade" ***. Jean Cocteau" (* Jean Cocteau is referring to René Chalupt's poem "The Brick" whose first stanza is: "In the island of Montserrat / There are six white girls; / The customs officers know the coolness of their arms / And the path of their hammock between the branches". The "Hoyotoho" is the war cry of the Valkyrie in Wagner's opera. René Chalupt was a friend of the composer Eric Satie - Cocteau and Satie were working on "Parade", a one-act ballet, with an argument by Cocteau and music by Satie, which was to be premiered three months later, on May 18, 1917, as part of the Ballets Russes)