BIB_ID
453626
Accession number
MA 23840.927
Creator
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, 1927-2013, sender.
Credit line
Gift of James Ivory, 2021.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 22.8 x 14.5 cm folded (22.8 x 29 cm unfolded) + envelope
Notes
Year from James Ivory's note on envelope.
Envelope stamped, addressed to Mr. James Ivory, Apt. 12-G, 400 East 52nd St., New York 10022, N.Y. U.S.A., postmarked March 22, 1971.
The film being discussed in this letter is "Bombay Talkie" (1970). The interview that Singh failed to publish is the much-discussed "fake" interview written by Ivory with Jhabvala's input, which was eventually published in the Hindustan Times on April 25, 1971. The Pauline Kael essay Jhabvala quotes appeared in the October 3, 1970 issue of the New Yorker.
Envelope stamped, addressed to Mr. James Ivory, Apt. 12-G, 400 East 52nd St., New York 10022, N.Y. U.S.A., postmarked March 22, 1971.
The film being discussed in this letter is "Bombay Talkie" (1970). The interview that Singh failed to publish is the much-discussed "fake" interview written by Ivory with Jhabvala's input, which was eventually published in the Hindustan Times on April 25, 1971. The Pauline Kael essay Jhabvala quotes appeared in the October 3, 1970 issue of the New Yorker.
Provenance
James Ivory.
Summary
Enclosing the article she wrote which Kushwant Singh finally published in the Illustrated Weekly; allowing that the 4-page, heavily illustrated spread is "not too bad," even if they didn't get the cover photo Singh promised; saying it appears that the loss of the cover, as well as the absence of "your Interview" is due to neglect "from our side"; lamenting the failure of Ivory's interview to appear, and wondering if it's worth the effort to rewrite it for an English publication-- "I just want to let it all lie, let it lie"; describing Shashi's mood of fatigue, and observing how "Bombay Talkie" followed the pattern of all their films as far as box office is concerned-- "A great rush the first weekend--a profit the first week-- then a rapid falling-off"; chastising them both for forgetting this pattern; feeling guilt for the loss of Shashi's money, and Jennifer and Shashi's disappointment; transcribing a long passage from an article in the New Yorker by Pauline Kael, about "something [that] has gone terribly wrong with movies"-- "probably she's right, but I don't know that that's any satisfaction [...] It seems a grim fate to make films that nobody wants to see; also grim to write books that nobody wishes to read."
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