PRINT SOURCE: Thomas Raddall Fonds, Correspondence. From Thomas Raddall to Ronald Weyman, 10 February 1964. MS-2-202 38.21.
Subject HeadingsCBC producer Ronald Weyman and T. H. Raddall exchange letters about the public reaction to the CBC Television adaptation of Raddall's novel, The Wings of Night. Raddall reports on a very positive local reception and notes the desire of the local member of the Nova Scotia Assembly, W. S. K. Jones, to borrow the film and show it without advertisements. In spite of having a few misgivings about character development, Raddall indicates he is very pleased with the production. In response to a query from Weyman, Raddall responds that he has retained the film and television rights to The Nymph and the Lamp.
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February 10/64 Mr. Ronald Weyman,Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Box 500, Toronto, Canada. Dear Ron: I should have written before. Thanks for your letter of the 7th. Like you I had letters and cards from people coast- to-coast, even a few from Americans living near enough to the border to pick up Canadian shows they like. And as you can guess, it1 created more excitement in these parts than anything since "Gone With The Wind". On my winter walks to Milton and back (up one side of the river and down the other) people came run- ning out to hail me and discuss each episode, no matter the temperature outdoors. Greatest criticism here was the short length of the parts. With the advertising out it amounted to -- what, about 22� minutes? This doesn't give the viewer a sufficient bite at the story to sustain him over the week-long interval. Our member2 in the N.S. Assembly (a member of the cabinet) wants to borrow the whole film and run it in the theatre here as a single show, for the benefit of the people who want to see it whole -- and in aid of any charity I care to name. I don't know whether this is possible or not, technically or otherwise. If it were, I should like to see much of the footage that obviously ended on the cutting-room floor, especially the courtroom business. In my book the whole story really led up to the courtroom, and the trial itself was the climactic drama. I felt that Neil was not given the chance to show himself as the moody and angry man he was; nor was Peter Carr given enough scope to be the vehement character he was. Of course any author hates to see his story cut to fit the necessities of a serial or even of a one shot play; it's his baby and he bleeds at every cut. Production and direction were top rate, and the casting was absolutely perfect. I congratulate you, my dear Ron, on your part in all this. If as an author I suffer occupational hemo- philia it's no fault of yours. You ask about The Nymph. The movie and TV rights are in my own hands and I have given no options. Deborah Kerr and husband Peter Viertel decided they weren't interested -- it looks as if she's got all the work she can handle till she's tottering to the grave. Maxine Samuels wrote last Fall. I asked her to make a proposition and she shuffled. I didn't write her again. CBC STAGE wants to do a one-shot 60 minute radio play of The NYMPH,3 which can't affect screen rights, so I'm saying okay. |
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