René CLAIR (1898-1981) filmmaker. 5 L.S. and one L.A.S., Neuilly-sur-Seine 1970-1971, to Stanley Appelbaum, Dover Publications, New York; 8 and a half pages in-4 or in-8 (the L.A.S. in English). Project for an American edition of Cinéma d'hier et d'aujourd'hui [Appelbaum's translation, Cinéma Yesterday and Today, published by Dover in 1972]. December 24, 1970. He left it up to his discretion to publish the book in its entirety, or to make "some lighter" for the American reader... January 15, 1971. Extracts from the French press praising the book are sent... July 28, 1971. Answers to six cinematographic questions, the most important of which concerns his discovery of the works of Thomas de Quincey, while he was staying with Claudette Colbert, and his own translation of a passage. "I don't think the tone could be very different in the original, but I didn't find Quincey attacking French literature"... October 20, 1971. Some clarifications, confirming that Paul Gilson directed Mémoires des maisons mortes, and identifying a quote from Mallarmé... October 30, 1971. Marius and Olive are legendary characters: they were not created by Pagnol, "but by local tradition, as are the characters in the little Jewish stories"...