Typed Letter Signed

The uncle of famed financier Howard Hughes was a popular music writer ("American Composers," "The Music Lovers' Encyclopedia," etc.) who also authored novels, biographies, poetry and more. TLS, 1p, 7 3/4" X 9½", Los Angeles, CA, 6 May 1939. Addressed to future notable Lincoln/Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Near fine. On imprinted letterhead, Hughes thanks his correspondent for a "charming letter" and comments: "Where did you get the idea that Winston Churchill thinks so well of me as a biographer? I never heard that he had ever heard of me." (One wonders whether the correspondent meant the American novelist Winston Churchill, 1871-1947, not the British statesman.) He then comments on his work method: "It is true that I occasionally write all night. Many nights I do not write at all, but I rarely get started before midnight." Boldly signed in full.