BIB_ID
452086
Accession number
MA 23840.708
Creator
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, 1927-2013, sender.
Credit line
Gift of James Ivory, 2021.
Description
1 item (14 pages) ; 24.7 x 19.5 cm + envelope
Notes
Year from postmark and James Ivory's notes.
Handwritten page numbers are incorrect.
Envelope stamped, addressed to Mr. James Ivory, 400 East 52nd Street (Apt. 12-G), New York, 10022 N.Y., U.S.A., postmarked March 10, 1969.
The enclosed New Yorker cartoon depicts three people in line for a "Complaints" window, a woman and two men; both the woman and the second man look angry. The man in the center turns to the man behind him and says "Would you go ahead of me? I can't seem to get my dander up." Inscribed below the printed caption, in Jhabvala's hand: "In case you didn't see this N. Yorker cartoon. It's exactly you. And look-- there's me in the front and Ismail just behind you in the queue of life. We [underlined] have our dander up all right, Ismail and I."
Handwritten page numbers are incorrect.
Envelope stamped, addressed to Mr. James Ivory, 400 East 52nd Street (Apt. 12-G), New York, 10022 N.Y., U.S.A., postmarked March 10, 1969.
The enclosed New Yorker cartoon depicts three people in line for a "Complaints" window, a woman and two men; both the woman and the second man look angry. The man in the center turns to the man behind him and says "Would you go ahead of me? I can't seem to get my dander up." Inscribed below the printed caption, in Jhabvala's hand: "In case you didn't see this N. Yorker cartoon. It's exactly you. And look-- there's me in the front and Ismail just behind you in the queue of life. We [underlined] have our dander up all right, Ismail and I."
Provenance
James Ivory.
Summary
Giving a brief accounting of the letters she has recently received from Ivory, and the one she assumes has been lost, and vowing to be more methodical in her replies; assuming Shashi and Jennifer have received the letter Ivory sent them; going over the synopsis for "Bombay Talkie" [a.k.a. the Shashi-Jennifer film] in great detail, point by point; teasing Ivory for an eccentric use of the word "venal"; asking "How do you like that cartoon I'm enclosing?"; going on to note all the similarities between the three people in the cartoon and Ivory, Merchant, and herself; commenting on Ivory's observation regarding Mitra and Lillian Ross [see MA 23840.770] and adding her own observations; commenting on how Merchant's reactions to scripts do not coincide with their success in getting funded; suggesting they now try to get some money out of Filmways for their abortive dealings concerning "A Lovely World"; ribbing Ivory over how long it took him to send her the books she requested; thanking him for the Simon & Garfunkel albums Ivory sent to her with Faie Joyce; discussing her impressions of the records and how they remind her of Bob Dylan and the Beatles; stating "Jhab hasn't heard from the Customs people" and asking if Ivory wants his passport back; relating an amusing anecdote about Nirad Chaudhuri involving a lunchtime interaction with Lady Diana Cooper; teasing him about his spelling; saying he reminds her of "that interview with the Maestro," and using it to illustrate the sense of perpetual alienation she feels; voicing her desperate worries about the success of "The Guru"; discussing a pair of scenes in the film; describing a music festival she recently attended, where Bismillah Khan and Imrat Khan both played; commenting on the news of Merchant "threatening to come to India"-- "He must be very fed up with New York, for it's always at such a point that his longing for home becomes unbearable"; reacting to the news that the Asia Society has cancelled their premiere of "The Guru" [see MA 23840.769]-- "Stupid old Asia Society."
Catalog link
Department