October 8 1982

What is really rich? Most poets are not in this category. Nor are most of their spouses even after assuming posthumous powers. That is not how it works in the world of literary art. At best you sell some rights or an archive for thousands of dollars. That is not even money to some people. But for writers and their estates... big money means paying off the mortgage. Getting rich is not the way it works. One guesses Valerie knew this. She had refused permissions to publish her husband's correspondence with other women and otherwise behaved in an utterly ordinary manner after his death. Yet, when Andrew Lloyd Webber told her about his desire to use Tom's writing in a stage production, the answer was okay. And on October 8, 1982 Cats opened on Broadway. Valerie Eliot became an extremely wealthy woman. She bought art. She died, thirty-five years after her husband, November 12, 2012.  An auction of her collection is scheduled in a few weeks. We want to know what happens.