Manuscripts

Fred Roos collection of Eve Babitz materials

Description: This collection contains material documenting the relationship between Eve Babitz and Fred Roos including drafts of an unpublished manuscript, essays, and letters. The manuscript drafts are titled "The Movie Monk" and include inscriptions to Roos from Babitz, and the essay drafts appear to be versions or sections of her 1975 article "All This and the Godfather Too." There is a typewritten letter from Eileen Peterson, Fred Roos' publicist, with edits and thoughts on a draft of Babitz's essay about Francis Ford Coppola and The Godfather II. Lastly, there are photostat copies of Babitz's published essays "Ports Serve L.A.'s Sitting Rooms" and "The Sheik" as well as a "L.A. Woman" book jacket.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1970-1982
Call number: mssRoos
Creator: Roos, Fred(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased by Nick Aretakis on behalf of The Huntington from Heritage Auctions, Sale 7433, Lot 38391, December 10, 2025.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights: The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Associated people: Babitz, Eve,
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

Fred Roos collection of Eve Babitz materials

Manuscripts

This collection contains material documenting the relationship between Eve Babitz and Fred Roos including drafts of an unpublished manuscript, essays, and letters. The manuscript drafts are titled "The Movie Monk" and include inscriptions to Roos from Babitz, and the essay drafts appear to be versions or sections of her 1975 article "All This and the Godfather Too." There is a typewritten letter from Eileen Peterson, Fred Roos' publicist, with edits and thoughts on a draft of Babitz's essay about Francis Ford Coppola and The Godfather II. Lastly, there are photostat copies of Babitz's published essays "Ports Serve L.A.'s Sitting Rooms" and "The Sheik" as well as a "L.A. Woman" book jacket.

mssRoos

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Eve Babitz papers

Manuscripts

Materials documenting the life and career of writer and artist Eve Babitz. Writings includes drafts and galleys of her books Slow Days, Fast Company (1977), Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time (1979), L.A. Woman (1982), Black Swans (1993), and Two By Two: Tango, Two-Step, and the L.A. Night (1999); as well as articles and stories; screenplays; unpublished manuscripts; and collected clippings and publications. The Personal series includes incoming and outgoing correspondence with friends, family, and publishing contacts; biographical and family items; and Babitz's notebooks and datebooks. Photographs are of Babitz, her friends and family, and the Los Angeles area, including hundreds she took with a Brownie camera documenting her friends and social sphere from 1968 to 1971. Artwork primarily consists of collages Babitz made between 1967 and1970, some commissioned for publication or album artwork. Collage subjects include musician friends and acquaintances including Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, Stephen Stills, Ginger Baker, and Noel Harrison; commissioned work featuring Marilyn Monroe and Liza Minnelli; and pastoral and abstract scenes. There are also drawings and paintings dating from the early to mid-1960s.

mssBabitz

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Eve Babitz collage

Visual Materials

A collage by Eve Babitz that likely depicts Henry James and Edith Wharton and was gifted by the artist to her former partner and fellow writer Dan Wakefield. The female figure has been cut out of the photographic print and an image of clouds at sunset has been placed in the negative space. Babitz's signature and date are at the lower right corner. The collage is mounted on a board.

priPEF 105

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I used to be charming : the rest of Eve Babitz

Rare Books

With Eve's Hollywood Eve Babitz lit up the scene in 1974. The books that followed, among them Slow Days, Fast Company and Sex and Rage, have seduced generations of readers with their unfailing wit and impossible glamour. What is less well known is that Babitz was a working journalist for the better part of three decades, writing for the likes of Rolling Stone, Vogue, and Esquire, as well as for off-the-beaten-path periodicals like Wet: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing and Francis Ford Coppola's short-lived City. Whether profiling Hollywood darlings, getting to the bottom of health crazes like yoga and acupuncture, remembering friends and lovers from her days hobnobbing with rock stars at the Troubadour and art stars at the Ferus Gallery, or writing about her beloved, misunderstood hometown, Los Angeles, Babitz approaches every assignment with an energy and verve that is all her own. I Used to Be Charming gathers nearly fifty pieces written between 1975 and 1997, including the full text of Babitz's wry book-length investigation into the pioneering lifestyle brand Fiorucci. The title essay, published here for the first time, recounts the accident that came close to killing her in 1996; it reveals an uncharacteristically vulnerable yet never less than utterly charming Babitz.

653856

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Eve Babitz collage reproductions

Visual Materials

This collection contains four poster reproductions of Eve Babitz collages, created and gifted to artist Ed Ruscha by Babitz. The posters depict musicians George Harrison and the individual members of the band Cream, including Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker.

priBabitz

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Eve Babitz collage reproductions

Visual Materials

priBabitz

Fred Roos collection of Eve Babitz materials

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Fred Roos collection of Eve Babitz materials

Eve Babitz papers

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Eve Babitz collage reproductions

Eve Babitz collage reproductions