Letter from Ismail Merchant, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Cyrus Jhabvala, Delhi, India, [1965] October 17 : typescript signed.

Thanking them for a recent letter and asking them to write often; telling them that the doctor who recently operated on him in New York will be visiting India, and he has asked him to look up the Jhabvalas while he is there, and sending some clothes with them for the whole family; saying he has been speaking to potential distributors for "Shakespeare Wallah" but they all want an additional 20 minutes removed from the running time, which Ivory doesn't want to do; expressing despair over the current climate in filmmaking in New York-- "the more repulsive the film the more are the returns on the box office"; lamenting the situation and complaining that "This city is a [nightmare]"; reassuring them that "we will make a New York Film"; telling them he will be in London around the 3rd of November, and will be inviting Ruth's mother and brother to the London Film Festival screenings of "Shakespeare Wallah"; asking them to ask friends to "write to a few important journalists and critics" there; wishing they could come to visit for a weekend.