I am sorry to say in answer to your inquiry that I do not expect to be able to come east soon. If Miss Fowler passes this way, we shall be very glad to see her and to show her some of the sights if she wishes.
May 9, 1949: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
As to the name on Red Planet ms., no, I’m not adamant; I’ll always listen to your advice and I’ll lose a lot of sleep before I will go directly against your advice. But I feel rather sticky about this point, as I hate like the deuce to see anything go out under my own name, without even sharing responsibility with Miss Dalgliesh, when said item includes propositions in which I do not believe. The matter of style, plot, and the effect on my literary reputation, if any, I am not adamant about, even though I am not happy about the changes-if you say to shut up and forget it, I’ll shut up. It’s the ” Sullivan-Act-in-a-Martian-frontier-colony” feature that I find hard to swallow; from my point of view I am being required to support publicly a doctrine which I believe to be subversive of human liberty and political freedom.
EDITOR ‘s NOTE Because of the necessity of editing Red Planet to suit the sensibilities of librarians (who, at that time, were mostly elderly ladies), Robert seriously made the suggestion that Miss Dalgliesh’s name be added to the book as an author. This suggestion might have been made over the telephone-the files are incomplete on this point.
But the storm blew over, and Red Planet, firearms or no, Willis’ sex or no, became very popular. It was one of Robert’s most popular books for juveniles.
May 17, 1949: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
I’ll have to give some thought to the Scribner’s beef over the name. I can’t see why Alice Dalgliesh’s name, tacked on, should be a handicap. Maybe they would like to send the script back for reworking to my ideas. It seems to me that if she insists on rewriting the story by remote control, then she should expect to share the blame.
On the other hand, it is fairly evident that you feel that the story is just about as good now as it was before. I am sorry to say that I don’t think so; maybe it’s good but it ain’t a Heinlein story; it’s been denaturized, had its teeth pulled. But I am very reluctant to go against your advice. / think it will damage my reputation and I know that it includes ideas of which I violently disapprove. What do you think, Lurton? Lay it on the line.
FARMER IN THE SKY
September 8, 1949: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
I am up to page 150 in the first draft of my current story [“Farmer in the Sky”], intended for Boys’ Life and for juvenile book, and should have this draft finished in ten days. It will probably take another month to shape it up into a satisfactory serial version and book-length version.
September 24, 1949: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
The first draft of the Boys’ Life and juvenile trade book job is finished, but the motion picture [Destination Moon] has developed daily crises which will probably continue until the shooting is over, about the end of November. As there is a long, tedious job of cutting to do to turn the book into a 20,000-word serial, I don’t know when I will be sending in the manuscript. You may tell Crump [editor of Boys’ Life] if you like, that the story is finished, but it may be a month or six weeks until it is ready. My situation here is unclear; my contract is up next week, the movie not yet shot, and myself unwilling to extend the contract on its present terms.
We’ll see.
EDITOR ‘s NOTE: Robert had done the script for Destination Moon with Rip Van Ronkel in Hollywood in 1948. George Pal purchased the script, and Robert was to do technical direction on it.
The normal delays ensued. We arrived in Hollywood in early June 1949 — shooting was supposed to begin soon thereafter. However, with rewrites, preproduction, and all the things that go on in Hollywood, actual shooting did not start until around October or November.