Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Cyrus Jhabvala, Simla, India, 1967 June 7 : typescript signed.

Thanking them for the telegram they sent (June 7 is Ivory's birthday), of which 2 copies were delivered; explaining that he is sending "all this" to them in Simla "so you can be thinking thoughts which you should be thinking, and not taking too much of a rest"; reiterating his conviction that Utpal Dutt would work as the Ustad [in "The Guru"], and pointing out that both Jennifer and Madhur claim Dutt is attractive, and "here and there some other women have also said that, so perhaps he's okay, in the new scheme"; giving his thoughts on some potential titles for another project [presumably the "Shakespeare Wallah" sequel]; suggesting to Ruth that she get her agent to persuade the BBC to hire Merchant ivory to adapt some of her short stories; describing Lillian Ross's growing paranoia about her son Erik's safety, which is about to culmanate in her firing her cook over kidnapping fears; commenting on "the trial of Captain Levy" [Dr. Howard B. Levy, an American Army doctor who was court-marshaled for refusing to train Green Beret medics headed to Vietnam], which "has stirred up everybody here"; playfully suggesting that Dorothy Strelsin's current presence in Jordan (while Al is in Ischia "being smeared with hot mud") will cause the king's abdication.