Description:

Raymond Chandler
[La Jolla, CA], Decemer 15, 1950
Raymond Chandler TLS Berating Alfred Hitchcock: "our fat little friend… [is he] scared or just terribly conceited" In Relation To "Strangers On A Train"
TLS

A 1p typed letter signed by American writer Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) as "Ray" above his typed signature as "Ray" at lower right. December 15, 1950. [La Jolla, California.] Typed in black and red ink on yellow lightweight paper with custom letterhead listing Chandler's La Jolla address. With a handful of contemporaneous typographical edits. Expected wear including flattened folds and staple holes at upper left. 7.125" x 10.5." Accompanied by a 5" x 7" vintage glossy black and white press photograph of Chandler promoting his latest Philip Marlowe mystery "Playback," ca. 1958. A few surface scuffs, else near fine.

Chandler wrote this letter to his two literary agents, "Eddie" (Edward Carter) and "Swanie" [H.N. Swanson (1899-1991)], and also mentions a third, "Stark" [Ray Stark (1915-2004)].

Most of the letter discusses Chandler's involvement in the production of the psychological thriller "Strangers On A Train," whose filming had wrapped but that had not yet been released by Warner Brothers (it would debut six months later, in June 1951.) Chandler was one of two screenwriters on the project -- along with Ben Hecht's assistant Czenzi Ormonde -- who developed the screenplay for Patricia Highsmith's 1950 novel of the same name. Alfred Hitchcock, who had bought the literary rights to the novel, directed the film. As Chandler makes abundantly clear in the letter, his experience working with Hitchcock was very unpleasant for both personal and professional reasons. As a result, Chandler disowned the entire film project and wanted to fire Ray Stark, the agent responsible for securing the disastrous Chandler-Hitchcock collaboration.

Chandler wrote in part, with unchanged spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors:

"Evidently Swanie has not yet heard from Carl Brandt [business associate of Ray Stark?], wlthough I told him a couple of weeks ago that I wanted out of the Stark connection and back with Swanie/. Not that it means much with me practically on the shelf…

Thanks for the clipping about Strangers on a Train [not included in this lot], but I am almost fantastically uninterested in this project and with everyone who had anything to do with getting it up. If I'd had an agent who was any good, he would have told me what to expect from our fat little friend [Alfred Hitchcock]. I'm not his kind of writer at all, and he is certainly not my kind of producer, since he is not in the least concerned with getting a strong script, but solely with getting on paper in some anonymous form an excuse for making the kind of scenes he likes to make and the sort of effects he likes to produce. He has hardly any feeling for dialogue and none at all for plausibility. I don't know whether he is scared or just terribly conceited -- perhaps a little of both -- but it's clear that he won't let anything into the picture which he can't at least say he thought of. He won't even give Ben Hecht any credit for doing good work. To listen to him you would think he had to rewrite everything Hecht wrote. Which I don't believe…"

Chandler had initially been excited and flattered to work with Alfred Hitchcock on "Strangers On A Train." Hitchcock had approached many great 20th C. writers and playwrights like Dashiell Hammett, John Steinbeck, Thornton Wilder, and others before seeking out Raymond Chandler. It wasn't long before Hitchcock and Chandler chafed against each other's personality and working style. As we have seen, Chandler believed that Hitchcock was deeply insecure and prioritized cinematic effects to literary authenticity or compelling storytelling.
Hitchcock stopped communicating with Chandler and removed him from the "Strangers On A Train" project in September 1950. This was after the director reputedly threw two drafts of Chandler's screenplay in a studio trash can while holding his nose!

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.125" x 10.5"
  • Medium: TLS

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