Caroline Baum correspondence with Robin Dalton relating to a proposed film production, 2001-2002

MLMSS 11408

fonds

2001-2002

9640773

0.03 metres of textual material (1 folder)

Robin Dalton was born in Sydney in 1920 and lived in Kings Cross until 1946 when she moved to London. From 1953-1957 she worked as an intelligence agent for the Thai government while officially attached to the Thai Embassy in London as a Press Officer. In 1963 she became a literary agent representing writers such as Margaret Drabble, Arthur Miller, Iris Murdoch, Edna O'Brien and John Osborne, and film makers such as Laurence Olivier, Louis Malle and Peter Weir. She went on to become a successful film producer with credits that include Emma's War (1986), Madame Souzatska (1988) and Oscar and Lucinda (1997). Her 1965 memoir of her childhood in Kings Cross, Aunts Up the Cross, remains an Australian classic. In 2013 Dalton was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Caroline Baum was born in London in 1958 and moved to Australia in 1985. She was the founding editor of Good Reading magazine and worked as Features Editor for the Australian edition of Vogue magazine. She was also the long-term presenter of the ABCTV book program Between the Lines until the program ended in 1998 and also worked as an executive producer with ABC Radio National. In 2006, she produced and co-wrote her first TV documentary about Australian writer Arthur Upfield. For some years she was Editorial Director of Booktopia, Australia's largest online bookseller. She also curates and hosts talks, blogs for arts organisations and provides media consultancy. Her first book, Only: A Singular Memoir, was published in 2017
Reference: Library correspondence file

Approximately 60 letters; email, fax, typescript and manuscript. This correspondence mainly concerns the proposed production of a film based on Jigsaw, a semi-autobiographical novel by Sybille Bedford which was first published in 1989 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize of that year. Owing to a lack of funding and a director the film did not eventuate. The majority of the letters (approx. 50) were written by Dalton and addressed to Baum. In five cases Baum has added her reply. The remaining letters were written by some of the other people associated with the production. As a collection the letters provide a lesson in the process of converting a novel into a film. We can follow the chain of events from optioning the rights to attempts to secure a director, a writer, the cast and finally finance. Frustrations and problems continually arise and it seems almost inevitable that the project will never get off the ground. As well as discussing the proposed production, Robin’s letters reveal much about her personal life over a two year period – her travels, friendships, meetings with film people and authors, health, opinions of films she has seen etc.

In copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales