Here, Larry L. King, playwright and author of The One-Eyed Man, a portrait of southern political life seemingly influenced by real Texan politicians, writes friend Bill Brammer. Brammer had worked for Lyndon Johnson, and King requests material on the politician. He also writes briefly of the debilitating cancer afflicting his wife, Rosemarie, who would die three months later.
March 12, 1972
Mr. Bill Brammer
1737 Napoleon
New Orleans, La.
Dear Wullum:
You rat fink bastard. What about your pledge to send me all that Lyndon material you compiled, assembled, wrote up, and what not? I hustled my ass and got you your bail and dope money and you drop me like Texas politicians do when one does a favor for them. Get your ass in gear.
I lately ate on spare ribs and drank beer with McMurtry, and we talked Texas and literachure and Brammer and so forth. Have not seen Uncle Bud Shrake as I have not sallied forth to New York in some time. I’ve been sticking close to home, because Rosemarie’s been having it pretty rough. She’s been hospitalized for a couple of weeks as the good doctors try varied drugs and methods to attempt to lessen her pain but they have not been astonishingly successful to date.
Did you see the March 10th Life, in which I got a pretty fair foot-stomping Texas-style piece on Loving County?
Ain’t no news much. It is late and I tire, and hanker for you to keep your promise about the LBJ material. Hang loose and don’t tell the bastards nothing.
Yours in Christ…
From Larry L. King: A Writer’s Life in Letters, Or, Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye. King, Larry L., and Richard A. Holland. Fort Worth, Texas: TCU Press, 1999.