Blues for Mr. Charlie by Baldwin, James - 1964

New York: Studio Duplicating Service, 1964. Mimeograph, rectos only; 173 pp. Blue card stock wrappers, title stamped on front, bolt bound. Shelf wear to top and bottom edges; head of spine chipped. Mimeograph, rectos only; 173 pp. James Baldwin's second play is dedicated to "the memory of Medgar Evers, his widow and his children, and to the memory of the dead children of Birmingham"; both Evers' assassination and the killing of four young girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had occurred in 1963, while Baldwin was writing the drama. That ongoing work was mentioned in "Notes About the Author" in the 1963 Dial Press reissue of Notes of a Native Son, which was edited by James Silberman, from whose collection this script was derived.

The title page states that the mimeograph was the property of the Actor's Studio Theatre, which staged the critically praised initial production, directed by Burgess Meredith, in 1964. The play ran from April 23 until August 29, with a cast that included Al Freeman, Jr., Rip Torn, Pat Hingle, and Ralph Waite, and later transferred to London. At front are six pages of Baldwin's prefatory "Notes for Blues