Shooting script for the first attempt at a movie adaptation of Careful, He Might Hear You. The novel was a critical and commercial success on its first publication in the United States in 1963; Joshua Logan, theatre and movie director and writer, bought the rights soon after publication for '$50,000.00 in cash plus 10 percent of the future gross box-office receipts ... and expects to be filming in Australia next year', according to the Australian Women's Weekly (21 August 1963). The screenplay went through the familiar twists and turns of pre-production: Joshua Logan made it to Sydney in January 1971 looking for an actor to play P.S., alongside Elizabeth Taylor as Vanessa; the movie didn't go ahead, reasons vary: Joshua Logan couldn't find a suitable actor for P.S., the more general 'financial problems', there is a telling note at the front of this version, 'Suggest shooting picture in England with small second unit to get Australian atmosphere', and the version here was never produced. Logan had purchased the book outright -'rights in perpetuity', in 1963 with no options if the movie was not produced within a specified period. Jill Robb, with persuasive assistance from Sumner Locke Elliott, bought the rights from Logan, produced an adaptation in 1983 featuring Wendy Hughes as Vanessa, Nicholas Gledhill as P.S., and it was awarded best film at the AFI awards for 1983. This copy is marked 'shooting script', shots not yet numbered, runs to 120pp. or, in the rule of thumb, for the relations between screenplay and finished film, a two hour movie.
