Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1972 January 12 : typescript signed.

Noting that he hasn't heard from her in "many weeks" and expressing concern over "this long silence"; wondering-- "like all good lapsed Catholics when something goes wrong"-- whether he has done something to cause it; noting that "this is not a very good time of year" and it takes great effort to get anything done; telling her that the editing, music recording, and mixing of "Savages" are continuing apace; saying he has almost finished "Portrait of a Lady" and likes it very much, agreeing that Paulita Sedgwick would be wrong for the role of Isabel Archer and saying he can't think of an American actress who would be; thinking that David Warner would make a good Ralph Touchett, and "young Shirley Maclaine would have made a very good Henrietta Stackpole"; surveying the plot and musing that "only people like Richard Chamberlain come to mind" for the character Gilbert Osmond; musing over what can make or break a film; asking "What's this you told Ismail about The Bad Woman transferred to Rajastan [sic], and having to do with the murdered Maharaja of Kishengarh [sic]?"; describing Kapoor family patriarch Prithviraj Kapoor, who Ivory has "seen quite a bit of" while the latter is in New York being treated for cancer: "he really is a very interesting man, and I think very smart, or with a breadth none of his sons have ... I bet he could act wonderfully if given the right role. He has so much vitality too, and personal style."