Hats Off
Sir: You are to be respected for having the courage to ignore initial poor reviews (including your own) and recognize the cinematic gem that is Bonnie and Clyde [Dec. 8|. Today's movie audience, exposed to such a larger number of movies than ever before, is more sophisticated than Critic Emeritus Bosley Crowther thinks. No longer do bad guys all wear black hats and act mean--life is not that simple.
XAVIER KOHAN Manhattan
Sir: To call Bonnie and Clyde "ordinary people" because they laughed and occasionally cried is a heinous insult to the meaning of "common man." To applaud the sadists, voyeurs and media manipulators masquerading as directors, actors and writers is as misguided as were the lives of that flagitious couple. Bonnie and Clyde is a victory if the battle was to rape senses, offend dignity, and threaten the thin threads of humanity some of vis are still tenaciously holding on to in spite of the Mr. Beattys of this age.
NORMA LEE MAHDAVI ERIC CAMPBELL REPLOGLE Bronxville, N.Y.
Sir: The vicarious violence that I participated in while watching Bonnie and Clyde left me so drained that I still have neither the energy nor the desire to pull a trigger--anywhere. Fantastic!
FRED KLINE San Francisco
Sir: Maybe I am just an old fuddy-duddy but they all spell risque to me. At 38 years of age, my favorite recent movie was Mary Poppins. I can always stay home, watch TV and hope that another Walt Disney will some day be resurrected.
(MRS.) MAURICE L. CORBIN Owings Mills, Md.
On to the Waistland
Sir: Miniskirts may be cute on the campus and boisterous at the beach, but your cover article [Dec. 1] omits that spot where they are truly most appealing: the garment industry's pocketbook. What could be sweeter than taking an ordinary skirt, cutting it into three pieces, and then selling each piece for twice as much as the original?
(MRS.) MARIQUITA H. BODINE Arlington, Va.
Sir: At last girls are dressing for guys instead of other girls.
JOHN T. WALSH Chicago
Sir: It bears out a theory long held: that certain fashion designers are dedicated to trying to make men hale women.
FREDERICK ANDERSON Pipersville, Pa.
Sir: What next year? Waistland--when hemline and neckline meet?
ERICA PAAP The Hague, Netherlands
Sir: Ladies,
Do as you please With your knees. But let your thighs Be a surprise.
JOSEPH Di PALERMO Mineola, N.Y.
Power & Pride
Sir: The executive committee of the Black Family Conference in Westchester County thanks you for listing its commitment to a new black consciousness and black pride as a positive endeavor rather than an act of subversion [Dec. 1]. All too often, the Black man's image has been distorted and grotesquely presented to the predominant white world as little more than that of 20th century, nuclear-type heathens.
BOB MAYHAWK Co-Chairman
Westchester Black Family Conference White Plains, N.Y.
Sir: You speak with approval of racial pride--a concept which is both ludicrous and vicious. If a man need take pride in the color of his skin, it is obvious that there is nothing else he can take pride in. You speak with approval of a list of black activities and organizations, ignoring the fact that if "whites only" student groups are justly condemned, changing The color makes no difference. Racism is racism and consists not of condemning a certain race but of believing that such a concept as "race" has any meaning.
BYRON VON KLOCK New Haven, Conn.
Covering the Story
Sir: I cannot believe your staff would have intentionally permitted a completely unfounded slap at the Kansas City Star in the story on Primitive Garcia [Dec. 8]. The story says, "Though both Kansas City newspapers virtually ignored the affair. . ." and then proceeds to give two women the credit for stirring public attention and contributions. The Star and Times coverage consisted of 19 stories (seven on Page 1), two editorials and 45 inches of letters in our public-mind column.
RICHARD B. FOWLER President
The Kansas City Star Kansas City, Mo.
>TIME apologizes for ils oversight.
Nominating Convention
Sir: It is impossible for me to nominate one Man of the Year, so I'll have to name two: Dr. Norman Borlaug, the agricultural scientist who has developed a dwarf wheat that can give mankind a 20-year respite from famine; and Dr. Alan Guttmacher, head of Planned Parenthood-World Popu lation, which hopes to avert this famine by curtailing population growth.
ROGER BERGERE Miami, Fla.
Sir: For his unpopular but efficient performance in his final year as Secretary of Defense of the U.S., during which he successfully perpetrated his "own" war, I nominate Robert S. McNamara.
JOHN G. DEZEK Madison, Wis.
Sir: Man of the Year awards to the four patriotic Intrepid defectors for demonstrating the basic difference between democracy and Communism: putting one's conscience and morality above the dictates of the Johnson Administration.
ED WEBER Akron
Sir: The Negro soldier in Viet Nam.
DAVID NEWSOM Washington
Sir: Astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee.
H. H. HAMMER Manhattan
Sir: Cleveland's Mayor Carl Stokes.
RUTH E. ALSTON Philadelphia
Sir: The Beatles.
MICHAEL E. FRANKEL
Interlaken, NJ.
Sir: Mrs. Mao Tse-tung.
DR. JAMES KRITZECK Notre Dame, Ind.
Galled by the Gaul
Sir: It is time to recognize that De Gaulle--not France but this man--is the most virulent enemy that the U.S. has today [Dec. 1]. For diplomatic reasons, as a nation we can perhaps do little but as individuals we can do much, because the French are businessmen. No patriotic American should even think of visiting France until De Gaulle is removed. And let us refuse to buy wines, perfumes, jewelry, clothing--anything that comes from France, until that happy day when France is released from this dictator's grip.
TREVOR E. HODGES Towson, Md.
Sir: Your comments on the gold drain suggested an idea so simple there must be something wrong with it. Why is it not possible, when France presents a slug of dollars and demands gold, to say: "Sure, we will redeem the dollars with gold, and we will credit the gold to that account you have owed us so long. Thank you."
E. R. HUCKLEBERRY, M.D. Salt Lake City
Two Views of TV
Sir: After twelve months in Viet Nam in combat with the 1st Air Cavalry Division, I was bemused by your article on the TV combat news reporter [Dec. 1]. With very few exceptions, these fearless purveyors of perceptiveness and veracity arrive at the scene of battle after the outcome has become certain; they invariably interview the twice-wounded private who has just witnessed his two best buddies killed, who hasn't slept for two days, and who is most likely to caustically comment on the conduct of the action, conduct of his leaders, conduct of the war, reason for American involvement, and why he would much rather be in a New York bar than in a Southeast Asian jungle. After this "in-depth" analysis of a typical day's progress in the prosecution of the war, the "political-military-economic-medical" expert gives his somber and acrimonious interpretation of the day's events, year's progress, decade's possibilities and century's certainties.
DAVID P. PORRECA Captain, U.S.A. Fort Benning, Ga.
On the Mark
Sir: Having been a constant reader of TIME since early youth, it was not without pride or gratitude that I saw your favorable comment on the Maersk Line and on me personally [Nov. 24]. Denmark is a small country, frequently too impressed with its own opinions on what other countries should or should not do, and far too often Denmark, in consequence, is quoted abroad on its less constructive attitudes. Your comment on our activities is therefore doubly appreciated.
MAERSK MCKINNEY MOLLER Copenhagen
Cavities Can Be Good for You
Sir: In your article on my brother, Howard Zieff (television commercials) [Nov. 24], the description of him as short and hyperactive is sadly incomplete. My kids are short and hyperactive--he's intense, brilliant, and personally fascinating. It may be interesting for your motherly readers to note that our family dentist gave him his original art lessons, and with each visit his genius emerged. Unfortunately, my group had fewer cavities.
(MRS.) MARGIE ZIEFF FINN Sepulveda, Calif.
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