Letter from James Ivory, London, England, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1971 July 10: typescript signed.

Thanking her for her notes on the narration for the film [see MA 23840.863], saying that they are "exactly what I needed"; describing the changes he has made to the film; lamenting the fact that he has no-one to read it, John Freeman being on holiday; denying that he is as tired as she thinks he is, and explaining why he thinks it has been so difficult for him to write the narration, mainly the splitting of his attention and efforts between this film and "Savages"; describing an unnerving incident at Eden Fleming's home when some boys threw a rock into the house, narrowly missing Ivory and striking another guest; noting that he has "been spat upon (in India, behind the Red Fort, by the gypsies), hissed (in Berlin), had my life threatened (by Gitel Steed's husband in New York), and now finally stoned in London"; trying to allay her fears about the "second-rate colleges" in America that her daughter Renana is applying to, and pointing out that his film course at USC was "horrible" but he is doing fine now, and he believes "Renana can certainly make out very well, I'd imagine, wherever she finds herself"; telling that the "Curat's [sic] Egg" [i.e. "Bombay Talkie"] will be opening soon in London, and that David reported that the screening at the NFT went very well; quoting Jhabvala's mother as saying "when she saw the typewriter scene she thought you'd gone 'Pop' and was worried, but was reassured as the film went along"; telling her the new version of the jacket for her book is "coming along much better" and Mrs. Leeston [from John Murray] is having him come in in a few days to check on it.