Letter from James Ivory, Florence, Italy, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, New York, New York, 1985 May 19 : autograph manuscript signed.

Enclosing two checks [not present] with strict instructions regarding when to distribute or deposit them; telling her they watched three hours of rushes today and they were very good; feeling part of the reason they were good is that "I have a new cameraman" [Tony Pierce-Roberts], Walter Lassally having become "too much like Subrata [Mitra, the temperamental Indian cinematographer who shot Ivory's first few films]"; describing running into Gayatri Devi when he went to Santa Croce with Merchant and Maria St. Just; describing the huge amount of "transport" they have on this film, and remarking that the accompanying teamsters are "the same men [as in New York], very macho Italians, strutting around"; describing one particular "film groupie" who has attached herself to the production; describing visiting the Church of Santo Spirito, and experiencing the contrast between the "degraded riff-raff ... congregated [on the stairs], sunk in a stupor of wine and drugs" and the church interior, "one of the most beautiful churches in the world"; describing the drug problems in Florence and around Italy, and crew members finding used syringes "by the hundreds and thousands" at their locations; dryly suggesting he should write a "Letter from Florence" for the New Yorker, but wondering "[C]an I really describe the degradation I saw in a city which has welcomed us so warmly?"; noting that "Dick says Hlena is the best pupil he has ever had in one of our films ... She looks so interesting when she plays, frowning away like Poji [Firoza Jhabvala, Ruth's daughter] and her lip stuck out."