Approximately fifty Autograph and Typed Letters Signed to Laurence Rivers, Inc., along with cuttings, etc., concerning Segall's play 'Lost Horizons'.

Lost Horizons by Harry Segall (1897-1975) opened at the St James Theatre on Broadway on 15 October 1934. An impressive testament to the efficient marketing of mainstream entertainment in early-twentieth-century America. Laurence Rivers, Inc., of 19 West 44th Street, New York City, were clearly the play's publicists, and the majority of these letters are from the representatives of various religious organisations in New York, thanking William Fields of the company for the gift of free tickets. Being in the main religious men most of the writers are inclined to go into some detail regarding their response to the play, and thus provide an interesting insight into the moral and critical values of such individuals in New York at the time. Organisations include Collegiate Church The Middle Church Second Avenue ('one of the very few plays in New York at the present time that I feel I can recommend without any compunction whatsoever to any one of my friends'); The Jewish Center 131-135 West 86th Street; Fourth Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church ('I heard one man in the audience say that he was seeing the play for the second time'); St. Anselm's Church 673 Tinton Avenue; Union Temple of Brooklyn; First Presbyterian Church ('I shall do what I can to make it known.'); The First Humanist Society of New York, Inc. ('The play is of unusual value in that it demands attention to the usually neglected fact of the responsibility of an individual to those with whom he comes in contact.').