Bodeen had a strong affinity for the works of Edith Wharton. During the time Otto Preminger was about to film "The Fan," Bodeen interested the director into asking 20th Century Fox to purchase the rights to "The House of Mirth," but nothing came of it. Bodeen dramatized Wharton's earliest novella, "Bunner Sisters," which was presented at the Pasadena Playhouse with Lenore Ulric and Sally O'Neil, and even though John Ford showed interest in it, nothing came of it either. Bodeen also talked George Cukor into directing a screen version of Wharton's little-known novella, "Her Son" to star Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, but that too came to naught.
