To Franklin Brewer [Letter 204]

March 25, 1946

Dear Franklin:

Your libretto of “MASTERPIECE” is delightful. I enjoyed reading it, and your lyrics are as good as I remembered them to be, or better. My congratulations.

I have checked on the situation with “Chantecler” and here is what I found out: the plays of Rostand are not in the public domain; the representative of the French Authors’ Society, which handles them, is right here in Hollywood, and I spoke to him; he told me that he doubts whether I could get the rights, because, unfortunately, “Chantecler” was made into an opera quite a long time ago (this shows, at least, that I had a good idea). The representative thought that the musical rights would be so involved that it might be impossible to clear them; however, he will inquire from France and will let me know exactly how it stands, in about two or three weeks.

I shall let you know as soon as I hear from him. Don’t be too disappointed if this project proves to be impossible. It was only a tentative idea of mine—and even if I can get the rights, I am not sure that I’ll be able to get the time to do the adaptation.

We were very glad to see you here—and hope that we’ll see you again in the not too distant future.

Sincerely,