Letter from James Ivory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, London, England, 1985 March 27 : autograph manuscript signed.

Observing that "[w]e are in that period of stress and waiting for Ismail to get all the money together" for "A Room with a View," and one of the reasons it's proving difficult is the fact that "The Bostonians" "did not perform as expected"; noting that Maggie Smith will be leaving another job early to be in Florence for the start of shooting; lamenting that "Ismail has been cheated of his big moment at the Academy Awards" by the death of Michael Redgrave; telling her that Kurt Johnson's play has not been well-received, and John Simon in particular "ripped it to shreds"; quoting Simon's most recent homophobic remarks with disgust; saying the play's director Ellis Rabb "has fled the scene" but Johnson and the rest of the cast "are pulling together"; praising their performances, but noting that Johnson has lost a lot of weight and "did not look well."