they want a Percy Dovetonsils..." Typed Signed Letter, 4to, Beverly Hills, CA. May 31, 1960

Referring to his best known character, Percy Dovetonsils, Kovacs writes to his M.C.A. agent regarding a Warner Brothers contract. He adds one holograph correction in the first line which reads, "I had a call today from someone in New York, a [ he crossed out ‘the' and replaced it with ‘a'] record company. The connection was not too good, however I asked them to contact you...they are of the idea that they want a Percy Dovetonsils thing, and I said that I would do it on the one condition that I do it exactly as I want it...Regarding the Warner Bros...I think it is time that they are contacted with this ridiculous letter that they have sent me...and are told that I have now consummated my part in the contractual arrangement...but if they will turn over the art-work which I selected and the tape they can forget the $1500.00, otherwise they owe me, $1,500.00...." He signs, "Ernie." This letter is accompanied with a letter to his agent from Warner Brothers. Uncommon Percy Dovetonsils was one of Kovac's most popular and memorable characters. Condition; Two punch holes at top margin. Percy Dovetonsils, the lisping "poet laureate" character that Kovacs played, is one of his most well remembered ones. Created in 1950, Percy Dovetails is always introduced with a harp music and sips martinis when he reads his poetry.The record company telephone call that Kovacs mentions to his agent is probably from Vanguard Records. In 1961 Kovacs recorded an album of Percy reading his poetry for Vanguard, entitled "Percy Dovetonsils... Speaks." According to Josh Mills, interviewed for an article in Politico on Kovacs and Edie Adams (Mills is her son), the album was never released because Kovacs was under recording contracts with other companies, so he gave it to a Los Angeles hospital. Before her death, Edie Adams was able to get it back and it sat, mislabeled, for some time. Finally, in 2012, after Adams' death, it was found and released. Kovacs was a brilliant comedian of visual humor and also an author and movie actor. His influence can be recognized in the whacky comedy of "Laugh In," "Monty Python", and "Saturday Night Live.

When he died in a car crash in 1962, Kovacs was at the height of his career, with four shows running on TV and six films out from 1960-61. Shortly before his untimely death he had ended his "Take a Good Look" TV show and had begun his own series on ABC for Consolidated Cigars (Dutch Masters), "The Ernie Kovacs Show."  . Autograph