1947-04-03

April 3, 1947

Dear Mr. Petersen:

I am ashamed at my delay in writing to you about your communication to Mr. Barr. It reached me just as I returned from a long trip to Europe and I put it aside partly in order to think it over and partly in the hopes of seeing some solution to the problem of how to find someone willing to finance a film of this sort.

Now I still dislike writing you a discouraging letter but candidly I do not know who I think of as a likely patron for what is so excellent an idea.

No one would welcome such a film more than I: but how can we get it made? By all means, approach Mr. Lewin and let us hope that his response will be all that you might wish.

I have thought a lot about your idea and am greatly taken by it. It seems to me that it should perhaps really be made in France or at least made with cooperation between France and the U.S.A. Will you permit me to speak about it to one or two people when I am next in Paris in June? As I say, I am not optimistic about getting support, but I should regard it as a privilege were I able to help in any way to see your admirable idea materialize. And I know that if the film were [understreget] made there would be a great and endless demand for it, if no financial rewards.

Sincerely yours,

Iris Barry

Mr. Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen,
835 East Walnut Street,
Long Beach, New York