Letter from James Ivory, Berkeley, California, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1968 December 28 : typescript signed.

Beginning, "Later. I just mailed you a letter, now I write another one, still being so stirred up"; describing his mood and state of mind, and lamenting his lack of objectivity concerning the fate of "The Guru" with Fox-- "I seethe, I fret, my hand goes to the telephone to call Ismail in order to give him a piece of unwanted advice. What can I do about this?"; realizing that this must be how she feels "when we're shooting and you're powerless to do anything to get us to bring the most to your script and extract the maximum from it. Helpless, impotent, fretful"; acknowledging a comparison she previously made to a laurel tree, and that "I can't do anything now that doesn't in some way connect up with the films and the persons involved in making them with me"; noting that he isn't enjoying being in California and seeing old friends as he thought he would-- "My old friends seem so-- oh, I don't know what. So unimportant somehow, so trivial. Isn't it awful? I thought I looked forward to seeing them so much; when I'm face to face with them I just don't have any desire to be here. I want to be in New York, arguing with Ismail, pitting myself against real or imagined enemies"; continuing "Another thing that makes me seethe is Al Strelsin-- Why do we have him, what good is he to us?"; describing how Strelsin has used Ivory's salary to pay taxes and pay office expenses-- "Isn't that shameful, in a man worth 300 million dollars (he says)? And he takes 1/3 of the profits, if there are any ... For what? For introducing us to Darrell [sic] Zanuck?"; saying their lawyer is advising them, if Strelsin doesn't pay for an office to plan the premiere, to dissolve Arcadia Films; asking her to write to Merchant and "cheer and encourage him."