SHAW, George Bernard. George Bernard Shaw with former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Gene Tunney.

180 x 228mm. Typed on paper on verso; “Shaw and American friend London, England … ”. Dated on verso 7/28/50. In fine condition.
In 2010 Tunney’s son; Jay R. Tunney wrote a book on his father’s friendship with Shaw ‘The Prizefighter and the Playwright’. It seemed a strange relationship, as Tunney was forty years younger than Shaw and the men could not have occupied more different worlds. Yet it is clear that these two famous men, comfortable on the world stage, longed for friendship when they were out of the celebrity spotlight. Although George Bernard Shaw had loosed much venom about America and Americans, he had many American friends and liked to meet visiting American’s, as long as they were willing to sit at the Shavian feet and admire him. G.B.S maintained a firm friendship over many years with Gene Tunney, retired heavyweight boxing champ, with whom he is seen in the garden of Shaw’s Ayot St. Lawrence home. although a pugilist, Gene was quite the cultured gentleman.