Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, London, England, 1974 February 20 : autograph manuscript signed.

Observing, "How strange that you're just a disembodied voice now-- and a name on a letter"; confessing to having had a teenage crush on James Mason, which makes her present "horror" at the prospect of his being cast as Cyril Sahib rather ironic; agreeing that Gielgud wouldn't be right, and declaring Michael Redgrave to be close to perfect for the role; asking if he's begun to shoot "The Wild Party" yet and if he needs her to make any changes to the script; asking him to send payment to her agent and to hoping he has sent a letter laying out the terms of the book deal [a tie-in with "Autobiography of a Princess"]; saying she is looking forward to seeing his synopsis of "The Wild Party"; advising him to work "much harder and more personally" with the actors prior to the beginning of shooting-- "I think you ought to take time off to be with each principal actor and go over the script with him or her, individually, just the two of you"; saying she used to do this and it showed her how much actors need this personal attention, but "not from the writer but from the director"; oberving that he "must feel like a general launching his army into battle"; asking him to see her mother, who's feeling neglected by Ava.