Underfoot In Show Business: Helene Hanff

Helene Hanff shot to unexpected fame when her compendium of correspondence with a London book shop, 84 Charing Cross Road, touched the hearts of millions of readers. But long before her letters to Frank Doel made her famous, she was all set to become a playwright. She thought nothing of writing a three-act play in three weeks, and one of those plays won an important competition. As a result, she was taken up as an apprentice playwright by New York's prestigious Theatre Guild. She would be famous, and didn't care about living on coffee in a meagre bed-sit or borrowing her best friend's blouse for lunch with a producer. She was rapturously dizzy and young - and here is her funny account of the realities off which the dizzy rapture bounced.