Lorrimer Letters

The following are letters between Peter Whitehead and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Thorold Dickinson written during 1965-1966.

Peter Whitehead to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1965-1966

18 Carlisle St.,
London. W.1.

26 Oct 65

Dear Lawrence,

Someone ought to write a poem or something showing an Englishman writing a polite letter to an American, in order to be impolite, and writing in a style which he feels will . . . win the guy over . . . a sort of neo-Baroque Anglo-American. Herewith enclosed a copy of a good specimen to Booker of 13, alas, productions.¹ Let's hope it galvanises him into immediate, uncommercial, idealistic action.

Many thanks for your letter. All your suggestions very helpful. If Booker doesn't cough up, I'll try and edit the picture to a part of "Situation" . . . and if that doesn't seem to really work, I'll extract the unsold lines of the poem and do a little cheat here and there. Don't worry—I'll work something out. You'll be in it. You are in it. What ever happens I can keep you in the 16mm complete version, even if the 35mm release version has to be a bit reorganised.

Profit-wise it's being split up into 50% distributor, and then the rest split between the Finance people, the poets and myself. The poets have 25% between them. Accounting for it on a time basis—how else?—as Ben Nicholson said recently when I said how stupid it is to charge twice as much for a painting cos [because] it's twice as big!²—but how else?—who's to say . . . etc, you get, as per enclosed letter, if Bookkeeper Booker doesn't snatch it up, 2% of profits. If the film goes well, that could amount to a holiday in Cuba for a couple of weeks next spring—for two.

Must rush . . . photos are being done . . . will try and write politely next week. Have just made the film to end all films—a cinéma-vérité film of the Rolling Stones! Should be on a network early December. It really is rather good and rightly crazy. AND entertaining . . . the dividing line between art and commerce—quote—on their recent publicity. How amazed I was to find it true!

Hope it might make me a fortune and then I'll be flying in to bail you out of jail, see some blue movies and off to Vietnam for the Tourist Agency—give my love to anyone who you think might need it for when I arrive and see you soon . . .

Very best wishes . . .

18 Carlisle St.,
London. W.1.

27th October '65

Dear Lawrence,

Sorry to bother you again—wrote you only yesterday, but completely forgot to ask you the following—about something entirely different.

Miss Djuna Barnes wrote a book called Nightwood and some short stories called Spillway. I'm sure you know them . . . published over there by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy.³

I am very keen to film something of hers. It's rather up one of my twisted streets. Faber and Faber here know next to nothing about her. I hoped you might know, or know someone who does etc . . . and could help me without too much trouble. Is she still alive, who are her Agents, can she be written to etc . . . and will a bottle of Gin still do the trick, as I won't have much else. She must be eighty I suppose.

If she is still alive and IF I do happen to make some money in the near future with the lousy Stones film, I want to fly to the States and meet her, and coax her into letting me have film rights or something. "Cassation" could be a fantastic film . . . ⁴

I want to buy a book, unobtainable over here. Please bill me. Title . . . MALDOROR . . . Les Chants de Maldoror, by Lautreamont—Isidore Ducasse. Translated by Guy Wernham. Now it's published in the USA—I have a library copy—but WITHOUT any single reference to publisher etc. Maybe it's banned, black market, blue or...