Robert A. Heinlein In Dialogue with His Century

4. Rent or Buy or Build?

19. These pre-screenings of Destination Moon “in suburban sites” presumably took place in June 1950. The screenings were reported without identification of sources in “Destination Moon: Robert A. Heinlein, Filmwriter” by Christopher Schaefer, New Libertarian, no. 187 (undated but 1999), 61.

Two sneak previews in average suburban areas were used to test the box-office appeal. Survey results from these two previews showed that 64.4 percent felt the film was OUTSTANDING (or) EXCELLENT. Another 32.l2 percent rated the film as VERY GOOD (or) GOOD. And 94.5 percent said they would recommend the film to their friends.

Comments and reactions from audiences in these two pre-release screenings were all positive. Here’s a sampling of typical comments from the audience that illustrates the enthusiasm with which the film was received:

“The entire picture was remarkable, unusual…”

“Very good!!! Excellent!!! Outstanding!!!”

“Should be a nominee for the Best Picture of 1950. Fine acting.”

“I can sum it up in one word—outstanding!”

“We need more pictures like this.”

“Movies are better than ever!”

“Greatest picture ever seen! Exceptional music background.”

“This picture is in a class by itself … totally different. Most interesting picture I’ve seen.”

“I would like to see a sequel.”

“Your picture was the best I’ve seen in years!”

“It’s a top 4 Star picture in my opinion … it should get an Oscar.”

Eagle-Lion released Destination Moon with the ad lines, “Adventurers Conquer Space With Passenger-Carrying Rocket!”

When contacted in October 2013 about the source documents he used in this article, Christopher Schaefer said these comment cards and such were in the Destination Moon files at the main library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, now on La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.

21. RAH, in fact, never discussed his reaction to Dianetics with Hubbard directly. Hubbard obliquely expressed disgruntlement about Heinlein’s silence on the subject in a July 14, 1950, letter: “I guess you waited so long for the book that it just plumb wore out its welcome. If you knew the amount of pressure I had to put on the publisher to get you an advanced copy, you would appreciate it more.”

Heinlein did mention his unsettled disappointment at vagueness and lack of demonstrative rigor to John Campbell, even before Dianetics came out publicly:

Your letter was most interesting re Ron’s forays in therapeutic psychology. I have heard from him several times about such activities and am much interested and have asked many questions—but your letter has been a dern sight more informative than his letters. But he has promised me galleys of his book. (RAH, letter to John W. Campbell, Jr., 08/01/49.)

Nevertheless, Dianetics remained a subject much of interest and discussion among Heinlein’s colleagues. Campbell, in fact, carried through the psychological experimentation he learned from Hubbard even after leaving the Dianetics movement.

After reading Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950), Heinlein commented to Campbell:

Dianetics—I wish to the devil that I knew a lot more about it. Your letters are persuasive but sketchy; Ron [Hubbard]’s book, despite its size, is remarkably vague when he gets right down to cases. I am troubled by the Great Schism and by the spectacular nonsense that accompanied Ron’s troubles with Sara; I am troubled by the number of Simon-pure screwballs that I see associated with it, especially in Los Angeles.… (RAH, letter to John W. Campbell, Jr., 08/15/51).

A flavor—though not historically accurate—of what Heinlein may have meant by “Simon-pure screwballs” is depicted in the recent film evocation of the early Dianetics-movement, The Master.

32. Lurton Blassingame, letter to RAH, 02/02/50. In his draft Answers to Interrogatories in the Puppet Masters plagiarism suit against Roger Corman and The Brain Eaters, dated 10/13/60, Heinlein recalled that the germ of the story was jotted down on one of the blank index cards he carried with him “sometime shortly after the end of World War II—probably during 1946. The working title was INVASION BY E.T.” That jotting concerned the image of a mountain lion ridden by what he then thought of as a Martian invader, and was concerned with the damage a large carnivore might do when intelligently controlled—a very Astounding-esque notion. “I recall that I toyed with the idea of having first contact with the invaders be between a hunting party in the rockies … But the hoorah over ‘flying saucers’ gave me a new notion which I added to the growing plot…”