AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY AMERICAN STAGE ACTOR AND FOUNDING PRESIDENT OF ACTORS EQUITY FRANCIS WILSON.

- 25 words penned in blue ink & filling a cream colored 8-3/4 inch high by 5-3/4 inch wide sheet of "The Stenton / Philadelphia" letterhead with the address & a device in blue at the top. Signed "Francis Wilson". The corners of the letterhead are lightly soiled & creased. Folded twice for mailing. Very good. Wilson writes to a Mr. Rupp telling him that Rupp has written too late. "With the double performance to-day and tomorrow my time is mortgaged and my opportunity lost. Another time, thank you."Francis Wilson [1854-1935] was an American stage actor, born in Philadelphia, who was the founding president of Actors Equity [1913-1920]. After several years playing in comedy and comic opera and making a great success in "Erminie" [1886], Wilson made his first appearance as a star in "The Oolah". He formed his own theatre company in 1899. He was also an author, writing several plays, a memoir of Joseph Jefferson, an autobiography, and "John Wilkes Booth, Fact and Fiction of Lincoln's Assassination" [1929], which he wrote with information from his close friend Edwin Booth.…