Now that you have made your opening, let Raymond do the rest. That is to say, you & Whitford sit still, & let R. come there—don’t you go to him. I We can’t have allow our agents to occupy the position of second fiddle.

Do you think you understand my position toward Raymond as to the play? It is simply this: I wish to God he would not take it.

(Read that over, four or five times, till you get it soaked home.)

If he should take it, there must be a lot of things put in the contract—a limit (of time,) for one thing;&—say, the first time the another piece has to be inserted into the week, this contract to cease then m Ⓐemendation. (I bet I know the value of that clause from old experience.)

Whenever you & Whitford talk with Raymond, have the conversation taken down in shorthand & preserved. You can do this openly. He would stand with his foot on the steps of the throne of God & lie, concerning what was said—so, for your security & mine, you want to preserve a record of what he did say. He knows that I know, that as a liar he has not his equal, either in hell or out of it.

(Keep this letter for future reference—you’ll see.)

Why do I offer him the piece at all? 1. For these reasons: He plays that character well; there are not thirty actors in the country who can do it better; & 2. He has a sort of sentimental right to be offered the piece—though no moral or legal or other kind of right.

Therefore, we do offer it to him—but only once, not twice. Let us have no humming & hawing—make short sharp work of the business.