"What can I possibly say!!?!?"
Thus begins a 1965 letter from comedian Joan Rivers to future New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow. In the letter, located in Gussow's archive at the Ransom Center, Rivers thanks Gussow profusely for publishing an article about her at such a formative point in her career. Rivers closes the letter: "To say 'thank you very, very much' sounds so trite but I really mean it—I'm floating on air." Then, when words don't suffice, Rivers lets a picture take over: a hand-drawn stick figure of herself literally floating on air, beaming atop a cloud.