ALS signed “Bruce,” three pages, 8.5 x 11, no date [early 1971]. Handwritten letter to “Bob,” ostensibly friend and actor Robert Baker, in full (grammar retained): “Jim fusses over India’s location again — after the three of us have sat down and discussed — at Warner’s meeting. Warner is ready to move ahead; even with the increase of budget; however, now we are waiting to hear if Warner will okay another location trip (this time with director and cinematographer). We should know shortly.
So what it all amounts to is that I am not getting my ‘desperate money’ as I hope it would — thanks to Jim!
Stirling sold his T.V. series ‘Longstreet’ and I will do one episode, however, that won’t be till June. Freddie Weintraub’s movie looks like a sure thing (script is being prepared now) but of course it won’t start till Sept. I have nothing but faith for ‘Silent Flute,’ though again it won’t be till late Oct. or early Nov.
One other thing that ‘might’ just keep me — and I should know in about two weeks — is to go back to Hong Kong and make a film during the next few months, before the T.V. shooting of ‘Longstreet.’
Linda is of course still working (for peanuts!) and in the midst of baby sitting, selling stuffs, waiting, waiting, waiting...I feel my life energy is being suppressed. The hell of it is that I know where I am at, where I am going, and my ‘energy’ is in abundance for my craft, but...
I am keeping you up to my latest now because should I feel the borrowing from the three grand would help my momentum, I might. However, you have to understand this: first, I have to feel sure where I will be heading, so that I can repay you. Second, being me, I would not like to feel obligated, and this goes for whether or not I will borrow, because flimsy as this saying goes: ‘I will treasure your thoughtfulness and kindness in my heart.’ That is all I say, do you understand? I hope I will not have to talk this matter with you again in the next ten days because I feel somehow or other, this task will be a great strain on your part. If it is, let me know and we won’t even mention it again. I hope my Hong Kong deal, which is at present, the only hope, will come through.
Last but not the least, I want you to know that though my back is not 100%, I am going through rough moment, I have no doubt in my mind what I meant to be, to express, and to do. Life has forced ‘what should be’ to me at the moment to give me contrast as well as harmony to ‘what is to come.’ Like a cinema I am watching all this flow by and accept them for the bank in my heart so that with the contact, the conflict, the letting go, I understand.
May things flow once more to where I can express my happiness once more after tasting bitterness.” In fine condition, with some light circular stains. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.
Although undated, the content of this letter points to the early stages of 1971, a pivotal period in the life and career of Bruce Lee, some six months removed from a major back injury and finally back to training. He reveals as much to his friend, Robert Baker, best known for portraying the Russian villain Petrov in the 1972 movie Fist of Fury, admitting that “my back is not 100%, I am going through rough moment.” It wasn’t about to get any easier for Lee.
Eager to return to Hollywood following the cancellation of The Green Hornet, Lee looked to his friends for help, namely actor James “Jim” Coburn and screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, who landed him small roles in movies like Marlowe and the television series, Longstreet. Most important to Lee was the trio’s collaboration on a film entitled The Silent Flute, which, after a month-long scouting trip to India in February 1971, was scrapped by Warner Bros. after Coburn left the project.
The news devastated Lee, who viewed The Silent Flute as his next big break, but the actor took the news in stride and, on the suggestion of producer Fred Weintraub, booked a trip to Hong Kong. The trip proved to be a revelation. Lee, a relative unknown in America, was a celebrity in Hong Kong thanks to television reruns of The Green Hornet. The Hong Kong visit renewed Lee’s confidence, opened him to the idea of filming overseas, and changed the trajectory of his career.
When Lee returned to California in May, it wasn’t long before he met with an associate of Golden Harvest film producer Raymond Chow, who promptly offered Lee his "Hong Kong deal," a two-film contract for $15,000. Lee accepted and starred in his first two Hong Kong films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, movies that paved the way for his international breakthrough role in Enter the Dragon. Despite his setbacks, Lee’s optimism and resilience are perfectly represented by the closing line of this letter — “May things flow once more to where I can express my happiness once more after tasting bitterness.”
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