Beschreibung:

Kerouac, JackTyped letter signed (“Jack Kerouac”) to Jerry Wald, on adapting On The Road for the big screen
4 pages (278 x 215 mm), on two leaves, with four manuscript revisions in pencil, n.p., n.d. [mid January 1958]; light fold marks, a few small spots.
[With:] Letters and Notes to Myself. 6 pages (275 x 218 mm), on six leaves, with manuscript dates in pencil, 21 and 28 November 1960; rust residue from paperclip, liquid stain to final leaf. Housed in a folding chemise and slipcase.
Kerouac explores adapting On the Road for the big screen.
Jack Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando in late 1957 and asked him to star as Dean Moriarty in the movie adaptation of On the Road, with Kerouac playing his alter ego, Sal Paradise. He didn't respond. Thus commenced the journey of getting On the Road onto the big screen which would go on for several decades. Kerouac first writes of Jerry Wald in a letter to Joyce Glassman on 13 January 1958, "Producer Jerry Wald is writing to me from Hollywood soon.” (Charters pp. 119-120). He must have received his letter shortly after, for on 16 January 1958 he writes to Lucien Carr, "Things looking up in movies, got big intellectual (classic) letter from big producer who wants big socko ending where Dean crashes & dies, utilizing myth of James Dean on ROAD story, I dunt care."
The present letter, his response to Wald's pitch, adopts a far more sensitive and enthusiastic tone than his apparently indifferent quip to Carr. On the James Dean idea, he states “To utilize the real life myth of James Dean and superimpose it onto this beat generation story is, really, a genuine act of Mythmaking. I’ll buy it. That's why I say your ideas are good.” He then goes on to systematically respond to points in Wald's letter on plot and characterization.
From Kerouac's responses, it is possible to discern Wald's suggestions: he wants Sal and Dean to be enlisted in the army at the beginning of the movie, and he wants Dean to die dramatically in a car crash at the end. Kerouac is resoundingly insistent on the nonviolent nature of Sal and Dean specifically, and the Beats generally, allowing them to be enlisted in the army only if they "make Dean a staff car driver (gunless)" and "Sal a cook". He goes on to suggest Wald reads the recent Esquire article to gain a clearer understanding of the Beats, illuminating this with a contrast—
"(For instance, Hemingway’s heroes went to bullfights for diversion, but we went to Mexico and explicitly avoided bullfights because we knew the bull would die a cruel death. In other words, the cacs of Road are sweet and tender people. They are NOT angry, not bitter, they only want to get high and “stay high.”) they are basically religious kids,.)” [punctuation Kerouac's].
A central concern is the perceived mass misinterpretation of On the Road; “On The Road was a sad and tender book, the critics only noticed the freneticism and overlooked the mild Huckleberry Finn spinebone of the story…”, and the consequential insistence that the adaptation rings true to Kerouac's intended meaning. Key to this is the kindness and tenderness of Sal and Dean, as Kerouac states, “The reason why I am a writer, Mr Wald, is to preach kindness via my artistic productions.” Kerouac voiced his frustration at Wald's suggestion of a racy, more violent movie to John Clellon Holmes; “Movie ain’t sold yet but Brando and Kubrick discussing it together. I guess Jerry Wald is out since I told him I absolutely refused to let any cruelty be injected into a movie version of the ROAD. His idea was very cruel. Fuck these killers of the world’s heart. Money’s good but I was sent on earth for a prior reason.” (Charters pp. 137-138).
Kerouac expresses his wish in the present letter to be deeply involved in the movie production, both to ensure the correct interpretation of the book, and to gather material for a new publication about Hollywood, “I don’t know how to make movies. I do want to learn, tho, and would like to be one of the senarists on the picture, to learn and dig picture making and also to gather material for a novel about Hollywood. I want a write a novel about Hollywood that doesn't put it down, but reports fairly and truly and SADLY about that mad sad paradise of American life.”
As it turns out, Wald was never to own the movie rights for On the Road and Kerouac was never to write a Hollywood-inspired novel. Warner Bros offered Kerouac $110,000 which his agent, Sterling Lord, rejected in the hope of Paramount buying them for $150,000 (this never materialized). He mentions a film deal in a letter to Philip Whalen in July 1958, "The Dean will be Mort Sahl, a cynical New York yiddishe comic but intelligent. Sal will be Cliff Roberts. Screenplay by a DuPont. Tri-Way Productions. Anonymous angel bankrolled it, probably Max Gordon[...] Probably Brando maybe. Jerry Wald was just about to buy it for 20th Century when we sold it. But I get 5% of the movie profits, which I wouldna got from 20th Century Fucks." (Charters pp. 155-156). This fell through, and On the Road was condemned to "development purgatory". Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights in 1980 for $95,000, but it was not until 2012 that a movie adaptation made it on the the big screen.
The two later letters are written by Jack to himself ("Dear Jack") and are musings on society and civilization as he struggles with the pressure to write and the temptation of alcohol. The 21 November letter starts, "Civilization is rapidly becoming a multiplication of the evil influence of the disturbed. Where once you'd sit in front of a quietly spitting clicking fire of logs, staring with legs crossed in a comfy chair, thinking yr own thots, now you sit in front of the loud screaming agonies of disturbed soap operas." Kerouac is horrified by the television and its perceived "evil influence" on people close to him: his mother, the children down the street. He talks about his terrifying visions, his dreams, religion, his friends, including Ginsberg ("[he] seemed very critical of me"). The second entry from 28 November details how his mother let two college kids, Lynton Wells and Bob Heisenkrager, into his room. They ended up having a two day binge, and then "there I am waking up Saturday morning no work done and a kid in my bed and no Lois because she got drunk en route and never showed up... It's getting more dangerous every day to my sanity."
An intimate collection from a pivotal time in Kerouac's life.
REFERENCE:Not in Charters, presumably unpublished