Letter from James Broughton to Sally Dixon
(4/27/1973)
April 27, 1973
Bless you for your beautiful well-wishing redemption-filled cards! And all their affirmation of hope & destiny. I am deeply touched & highly grateful. I am mailing to you today a copy of my recording, which I hope you will enjoy; it's something of a rare item these days, but that's not the best part of it. With it anyway all my wishes for your delight.
It is thrilling news that I shall be receiving the Guggenheim.
A first installment will come in July, they tell me. Surely I have you much to praise for bringing about this lovely windfall. I only hope that I shan't have to nibble much of it away to meet non-filmic expenses. As it is, I shall have to take a good portion to pay off my accumulated lab debts and to pay for internegatives to be made on recent films, which is an expensive business, particularly with DREAMWOQD.
Suzanna has come back from the hospital, but she is still very weak & only slowly healing. It looks like it may be a long tine before she is operative and able to work again. I feel more than slightly crushed by the financial burden. There will have to be some psychiatry involved too. I accepted offer to be juror of Bellevue Film Festival this summer, just for the money; I dislike being Judge. I don't see how I can be gone from here this summer for more than a few days at a time. Vacationtime for the kids complicates responsibilities.
But I am cheered again, despite the worries. I should be able to complete the half-finished films I have on hand here, and maybe part of my autobiography. What is doubly cheering is your news that Our Fund has gotten launched. Thrilling!
Don't send it. Keep it. Safe. A nestegg to add to. We shall make magic together for sure for sure. Maybe it will be all the better for having had longer to mature, to root, to find its inevitability. Under the present circumstances I am
having to commit myself to heavier teaching load next fall than I had planned or hoped for. Would you think it, therefore, too unreasonable too far off if we aimed for next June?
Meantime building up our fund... I am going to try to find a slot along the way for a seminar in film directing at the workshop there. At this moment, however, the only clear week in the next academic calendar is March 10 to 16, 1974! I may know more clearly after the faculty meeting next week.
dear Sally, you are a major joy of my life. A national treasure. And I hold you close to my heart and wish you every possible fulfillment. I feel very embarassed about letting down the project for this year, and I hope there is not too much disappointment all around. Let us keep the faith flying. Love from
