Page One

Hollywood, California, June 16, 1930
Pencil and ink on paper
Gift of Phyllis (Hanson) Ray, Linday (Ray) Brayton, and Jacqueline (Ray) Newton, 1983-85

Sleeper’s clients in the 1930s spanned from the Vanderbilt family to Joan Crawford, yet nowhere else did he achieve Beauport’s eclectic vision. In this 1930 letter to Halfdan M. Hanson, Sleeper included a sketch for actor Johnny Mac Brown’s Hollywood home, a colored glass installation that evoked — but likely did not surpass — Beauport’s Amethyst Passage. 

Transcription:

Dear Mr. Hanson, – 

Just to thank you by letter, as well as by telegram, for all your quickness, genius and interest in the problem of the exterior appearance of the house I am doing here.  

The front, as you have drawn it, is perfect in effect and so is the south side. The rear elevation –  which is really very conspicuous from the street level –  is, of course, the most difficult to make good looking, on account of the length of the slopes in the roof there. I know you will find some attractive solution, however. It really has to be particularly good, because most of the living will be on the terrace in front of this façade.   

The gables as you have suggested them in your partial drawing, looked right in proportion. How would it be to have a little piazza or gallery, with a railing on the sides and front under the windows of these gables – something similar to those above the court-yard entrance of my house at Gloucester? 

For the sake of economy, it is necessary that we use stock windows, the architect here tells me. These are made in England, but come, of course, in certain sizes, and are made of steel, and similar in appearance, to the leaded glass casements. 

I have asked Mr. Arthur Kelly – the local architect here, to have his office get in touch with you, in regard to any and all questions which may be necessary for them to know, in order to bring the house and its appearance into conformation with your drawings as shown.