“TELEVISION WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING? THEY’LL HAVE TO GET THE PRICE DOWN?”: EXTRAORDINARY 1951 RAYMOND CHANDLER SIGNED LETTER TO HIS AGENT, DISCUSSING HIS PROSPECT FOR TELEVISION SALES OF HIS WORKS, COMPLAINING OF LOW PAYMENTS AND NEGOTIATING OTHERS

CHANDLER, Raymond. Typed letter signed. La Jolla, California, January 18, 1951. Single sheet of letterhead (measures 8-1/2 by 11 inches), typewritten and signed on the recto. Handsomely framed, entire piece measures 18 by 15 inches. $9000.

Original typed letter by Raymond Chandler and hand-corrected and signed by him, written to his Hollywood agent “Swanie,” discussing the prospects for television sales of his works that reveals his hopes and misgivings about the new medium, which offers “not much money for writing anyhow.”

This 1951 letter from Raymond Chandler, typewritten on his La Jolla letterhead and signed by him with his corrections, is to his Hollywood agent H.N. Swanson, who began representing Chandler in the 1940s at the recommendation of Joseph Sistrom, "an experienced producer at Paramount who was also a detective-story enthusiast." In these years Chandler "spent a great deal of time trying to arrange for a radio show and later a television program to be based on his work? [but] made negotiations difficult because he insisted on the right to approve the script." He briefly left Swanson for representation by Ray Stark, only to return to Swanson shortly before this letter, which focuses on television prospects. Though known to be "contemptuous of television" (MacShane, 106, 161-64), Chandler offers hopes that the medium "can deliver a personality." In other matters he rejects the reprint of a early story and answers Swanson's request for a copy of Professor Bingo's Snuff, his 1951 "spoof of a locked-room mystery" (Widdicombe, 130). Chandler then discusses sale of kinescope rights (films of live television broadcasts), and closes by noting "television will never amount to anything" until the customer can be made to "pay for his entertainment."

Beneath the typewritten date of "January 18, 1951" and the address of "Mr. H.N. Swanson, Inc., 8523 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood 46, Calif.," Chandler's letter reads: "Dear Swanie: Herewith a carbon copy of PROFESSOR BINGO'S SNUFF which you said you wanted, although I can't imagine why. Of course I can understand your point of view about a television show of Philip Marlowe, although I don't quite agree that because a thing has been done badly it's too late to do it well. Of course [inked line through both words] you ["Y" inked over "y"] may be right on the theory that bad money drives out good. But I still think that television can deliver a personality and a character, something which is not possessed by either Ralph Bellamy or Bill Gorgan ["a" inked over "o"). The only other idea I had was somewhat on the same order I'm afraid. It was to be a series on NBC, and at one time Ray Stark assured me that it was definitely sold. The show was to be called 'Steve Grayce, House Detective,' based roughly on the character in THE KING IN YELLOW. The incidents were to take place entirely within a big hotel. I rather think the boys who did the Philip Marlowe show, Bob Mitchell and Gene Levitt, actually did scripts or a script. // As to the Avon offer of fifty dollars for anthology rights to I'LL BE WAITING, I am definitely not interested. The price is too low. And don't you think it's a little unfair to sell anthology rights to any of the stories in the book Houghton Mifflin published? Anyhow, I don't like anthologies. In principle and from the sales record it would appear that the public doesn't either. Let's forget all such offers. Shouldn't you refer them to Bernice Baumgarten rather than to me? // The Nash-Kelvinator thing is all right if it goes through. I got $750 for THE LITTLE SISTER and $1,000 for THE BIG SLEEP, with no kinescope. But for a short story I think $500 would be adequate. I know the television people don't have much money—not much money for writing anyhow. And I thoroughly agree with Joe Sistrom that television will never amount to anything unless some means is devised to make the customer pay for his entertainment. But I think a dollar to see a picture is too much. They'll have to get the price down below that. Yours ever, [signed] Ray. Encl. PROFESSOR BINGO'S SNUFF." With printed letterhead stating "Raymond Chandler [line] Mailing Address: Box 128 6005 Camino de la Costa, La Jolla, California." Several initials inked above at the right corner; "X" in margin to left of paragraph two. Two corrections made in the text in the same ink as Chandler's signature.

An exceptional letter in fine condition.