American writer (1903-1968) who is best known for his crime fiction; his story It Had to Be Murder served as the source for Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic Rear Window. TLS, one page, 6 x 9, Hotel Marseilles letterhead, January 9, 1943. Letter to literary agent H. N. Swanson, in part: "I'm glad you told that RKO producer to forget his suggested offer on The Black Angel. I won't take under $10,000 on that book. It wouldn't be worth my while. If you don't think it will go for that, then let's you and I forget it too. I'd just as soon not sell it as sell again for what I got for Phantom Lady from Universal. I suggest you by-pass Universal and RKO both. The Universal contract was not a good one. I have since received a radio offer for Phantom Lady and have been unable to accept it because of the clause in the contract restraining me from disposing of radio rights for eighteen months. As I say, if you don't feel the book will go for ten thousand dollars at the present time, let's drop it. It doesn't have to be sold. Life's too short and too uncertain these days to bother with fractional amounts. I may not be around tomorrow." In fine condition, with staple holes to the upper left corner. A screen adaptation of The Black Angel would eventually be produced by Universal in 1946, directed by Roy William Neill and starring Dan Duryea, June Vincent, and Peter Lorre. Woolrich was reportedly unhappy with the film, as it deviated quite a bit from the source material.
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