Letter from James Ivory, Dinuba, California, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Cyrus Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1965 October 5 : typescript signed.

Saying how glad he was to get their letter, as he is starved for "young companionship" in Dinuba, although he is glad to be with his father; elaborating on the "Open Mind" appearance that Ismail made with Otto Preminger, and insisting that, in spite of their on-camera disagreement (or perhaps because of it) the two got along very well, later going to lunch at La Côte Basque with Madhur and two reporters from Paris Match; repeating the account that Carl Dreyer was very uncomfortable during the show, and that while Ismail complained about being cheated by Columbia Pictures, the producers of the show admitted that, out of fear of lawsuits, they bleeped each time Merchant said "Columbia"; saying that now Merchant thinks Preminger will finance their New York film, which Merchant wants to be Lillian Ross's "Vertical and Horizontal"; telling them Ross has been very complimentary to Merchant and Ivory about their work; discussing some scenes in "Shakespeare Wallah" that he's still not happy with; floating a few ideas for their next "Indian film"-- "Esmond in India" or "A Backward Place," or a Bombay-set story of Ivory's invention; noting what Ruth wrote in her letter about the war and giving his opinions; commenting on an anecdote about Leela Naidu "and the Harvard student," and asserting that she has alienated everyone who might have been of help to her career.