Hooray for Hollywood
Your June 28 issue ruined my wife’s evening. We were going to watch a movie at home–she even had the popcorn popped–but then I couldn’t put your magazine down. Your report on the Berisha family’s slaughter in Kosovo was heartbreaking, and journalism at its absolute finest. Your story on the gun bill’s demise made sense out of a congressional mishmash. Meanwhile, your Hollywood retrospective, “Voices of the Century: America Goes Hollywood,” was incredible fun and impossible to stop reading. When my wife reads this issue, I’m sure she will find it in her heart to forgive you! Michael Ryan Topeka, Kans.
Usually contempt is my feeling when periodicals publish their Hollywood issues, and I give them away straight from the mailbox, without a glance. So with a grimace I began to nit-pick through the pages of your “America Goes Hollywood” issue. But instead of offering the usual drivel of poor-little-rich agents’ quarrels, party hot spots, corporate jets and who’s dating whom for one marathon fortnight, your issue was a director’s delight. Classic anecdotes, sizing up, or down, of colleagues, personal anxieties–the really real substance–impressed this reader. Bravo. You broke a leg. Todd Ragsdale Scudder Richmond, Va.
“I Heard Nothing But the Screams,” the title of your article on the Beatles’ 1964 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” exactly describes my own experience. I was in the audience that Feb. 9, a young teenager, with three of my friends. I remember every detail about the Beatles. What’s amazing is that I haven’t been able to remember who else was on the show that night. I’ve wanted to find out, but never got around to it. Now, thanks to Frank Gorshin’s recollection, at least I know who one of those acts was. Also, my belated apologies to him for screaming through his act. Ann Godley Elmwood Park, N.J.
America hasn’t gone Hollywood; NEWSWEEK has. John F. Dillon Murray, Ky.
For 35 years as a showbiz columnist for Philadelphia’s Evening Bulletin and, later, The Philadelphia Inquirer, I kept pursuing the significant, revelatory anecdote. Your salute to American entertainment was a fascinating treasury of such gems. Many thanks for an exceptional nostalgiathon. Harry Harris Elkins Park, Pa.
In your article “The Fragile Bombshell,” Shelley Winters said of Marilyn Monroe: “Once she showed me the orphan asylum she’d been in, two blocks below Vine.” The “orphan asylum” was the Los Angeles Orphans’ Home Society, founded in 1880. In 1911 it moved to the heart of Hollywood, one block from Paramount Studios, and in 1952 the name was changed to Hollygrove. The facility has served more than 15,000 abused and neglected children in its 120 years and now receives strong support from the entertainment industry. Norma Jean Baker lived here when her family could not care for her. Her childhood photo graces our “history wall,” located outside our main dining room. More than one former Hollygrove resident has shared stories about knowing Norma Jean: “I experienced my first kiss through a screen door with my sister’s friend Norma Jean,” said one 70-year-old Hollygrove alumnus. Thank you for an excellent article and a balanced portrayal of this troubled young woman. Judith A. Nelson Executive Director, Hollygrove los angeles, calif.
My heart skipped a beat when I caught a glimpse of Elizabeth Taylor on your June 28 cover. I can’t help wondering, however, why you chose a picture more than 40 years old. Surely Taylor’s beauty is so timeless that a contemporary image is still a joy to behold. Richard Bryan Crystal Baltimore, Md.
Paul Robeson Jr.’s piece on his father and the lyrics of “Ol’ Man River” was very moving (“Pride’s Deep Voice,”). I have the greatest respect for Robeson’s talent and his great struggle against racism and injustice. But it was Oscar Hammerstein II, not Robeson (as his son claims), who wrote the lines “Dere’s an ol’ man called de Mississippi; Dat’s de ol’ man dat I’d like to be!” (and all the other words to “Ol’ Man River”). Elsewhere in “Show Boat,” the word “nigger” was used because it’s sung by black dockworkers in 1880s Mississippi, who would certainly have used it in their everyday lives. The term is historically honest, not racist. Hammerstein fought in the struggle for racial equality right alongside Robeson and thousands of others. For anyone to imply, to whatever extent, that he was a racist is outrageous. John Steele Gordon North Salem, N.Y.
Artie Shaw has always been my favorite. I bought all his records and used to play them in the car, on a wind-up Victrola. Once at a show in Hartford, Conn., like any lovesick teenager, I wandered to the rear of the theater, and who should appear but Shaw’s chauffeur. He looked so remarkably like Artie Shaw that I gladly accepted his offer to ride in his car–and I believe now that I was riding with the great man himself! Thanks to NEWSWEEK, I now understand why he chucked it all. Thank you. Muriel D. Ott Turners Falls, Mass.
I’ll bet I’m not the only reader offended by your egregious juxtaposing of articles about the murder of a family and a woman gang-raped by Serbs and dismembered while still alive with a feature on the twaddle, pap and utter triviality of 100 years of Tinseltown. Surely that feature could have waited a week or so. Carla Kelly Valley City, N.D.
Tears and Prayers Over Kosovo
I am simply awe-struck by Rod Nordland’s reporting of the Suva Reka massacre in your June 28 issue ("‘Daddy They’re Killing Us’," News of the Week). By describing what he saw and heard from witnesses and surviving victims of the vicious Serbian attack, he showed us the brutal and intensely dark underside of the human spirit in ways that no television or radio program could. Thank you for helping me feel as though I, too, were there, wailing with the mothers of innocent babies who were murdered in the name of a political struggle. Sharon Heede New York, N.Y.
I had a new emotional experience this morning. For the first time, I began to cry after reading a news article. " ‘Daddy, They’re Killing Us’ " touched me so deeply that there were tears running down my face by the end of the first page. Now that the war in Kosovo is over, and the truth about the horrors that took place is being revealed to the public, it embarrasses me to think that not too long ago I was doubting the wisdom of NATO’s involvement. The tragic story of the Berisha family proves that the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, although on a far smaller scale, was in its own way as horrendous as the genocide that took place in Europe during the Holocaust. Jessica Fain Providence, R.I.
The horror of Sebehate Berisha’s death saddens my heart, as does the senseless killing of infants and children and other family members whose murders your story documented. It is a paradox I can never seem to understand–that human beings are capable of both great compassion and nauseating evil. The choice lies with each of us. Susan Atwood Fisher Ann Arbor, Mich.
I was on an airplane at night somewhere over Pennsylvania when I read your story about the atrocities in Kosovo. It prompted me to do something I had not done in 15 years: I prayed. I prayed for the innocent lives lost, and I prayed for justice for the killers. Not our justice, but God’s justice. Jacques Blanchard Louisville, Colo.
Taking Aim at Gun Laws
In your article on gun-control laws, “Caught In the Cross-Fire,” (News of the Week, June 28), you cite the often-quoted statistic that 80 percent of Americans would prefer stricter regulation of firearms. I sincerely doubt that 80 percent of Americans are knowledgeable about our current gun-control laws. What the public wants is less violent crime, which–despite horrible aberrations such as the shootings in Littleton–has in fact been declining steadily for years. Peter Coppenrath Westboro, Mass.
In “Caught in the Cross-fire,” you say that it’s hard to blame vulnerable Democrats for taking cover from the NRA. Whom should we blame for the senseless slaughter of our children, friends and other loved ones? Recently proposed stiffer gun-control laws have garnered support from a majority of the population. We put people in office to protect us and our rights, and they repay us by cowering in fear of the NRA? Who cares if standing up to the NRA means losing your seat in Congress? Wouldn’t these elected representatives rather go to sleep at night knowing they’ve done their job, not to mention what’s morally right? If not, they’ve chosen a career in politics for all the wrong reasons. Dawn Canady Arlington, Va.
Taking Stock and Playing It Safe As a conscientious investment professional who has helped clients for the past 25 years to build financially sound retirement plans, utilizing quality stocks and bonds, I take great umbrage at Mel Novit’s June 28 My Turn, which characterizes investors as gamblers and professionals like me as charlatans. While it’s true that on a daily, weekly or monthly basis the odds of making or losing money in the stock market are not much better than betting red or black in a casino, the evidence is compelling that long-term investments in quality companies produce significantly better returns than the certificates of deposit Novit recommends. But people as risk-averse as he is should stick with CDs, be happy with their 4 and 5 percent returns and hope that 15 or 20 years into retirement they don’t outlive their assets. James A. Collins Jupiter, Fla.
