To Esther Stone [Letter 191]

Esther Stone was the wife of AR’s cousin Burton, part of the family with whom she stayed in Chicago upon her arrival from Russia in 1926. 

February 15, 1946

Dear Esther:

Thank you for your letter. I was happy to hear from you—and glad that Burton is relenting. Tell him, however, that I like tough people. (He probably won’t like that.)

I sent out the two copies of “The Fountainhead” which you wanted, as soon as I got your letter, but this is the first chance I’ve had to answer it. I am returning your money order—I just haven’t the heart to charge you for copies of my book. So please accept them as a sort of return for two parties.

I am working now on an unusual assignment—the screenplay for a picture about the Atom Bomb. It is the most difficult writing job I have ever attempted. And it keeps me chained to my desk as usual.

Please give my regards and best wishes for the success of the store in Momence to Mr. and Mrs. Stone.

Best regards from Frank and me to Burton and you—

After much research, including interviews with Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie Groves, AR did a complete treatment and seventy pages of script for a movie tentatively titled “Top Secret.” The project, however, was sold to MGM in 1946, which instead produced its own “atom bomb” film, The Beginning or the End (1947).