Nixon in China

     Re Steve Cohen’s review of Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera—
     As a dance and theater artist myself, I had high hopes for Nixon in China, and like the reviewer, I found it ultimately disappointing. Though the music was interesting, even beautiful at times, and the opera was well sung, I found the libretto strangely stilted and the staging quite boring.
     Personally, I found the choreography uninspired. It consisted of strung-together inane ballet steps, not even terribly well executed (bad unisons, etc.) with a few acrobatic moves thrown in to ostensibly entertain us. Disappointing to say the least from a choreographic star like Mark Morris.
     In general, I expected something much more innovative, given the collaborators and the subject matter.
Amy Smith
South Philadelphia
February 23, 2011

Opera marriages

     Re “Operatic marriages, pro and con,” by Diana Burgwyn—
     Add Evelyn Lear and Tom Stewart to the list of successful operatic marriages. In my personal experience with them, she was protective of him and he was aware of her foibles. Great singers and great partners.
Arthur Waddington
Wynnewood, Pa.
February 23, 2011

Jurowski conducts the Orchestra

     Re “A night of musical heroics,” by Victor L. Schermer—
     Mr. Schermer is a waste of two ears. He heard nothing in this concert. The Wagner was a mangled car accident; Jurowski hasn’t a clue as to how Wagner should be played.
     The Orchestra in the Beethoven concerto was sloppy and ragged, and the much-touted cadenzas were ridiculously out of context with the master’s intentions. They were there for Lisa Batiashvili to show off her technique, not to promote or enhance the inherent brilliance of the concerto.
     Overall, the performance was a yawner. The Orchestra all but slept its way through the concerto.
     As for the Prokofiev, it looks as if Schermer left the concert hall before the performance, since his review does nothing more than paraphrase the program notes. Too bad, because the Prokofiev was the one piece of music that really sounded right. Clearly, Jurowski spent the majority of his rehearsal time with this symphony; clearly, the orchestra really enjoyed playing it. The phrasing, dynamics, solo and ensemble playing were all spot on; it was the essence of Prokofiev.
     Too bad I cannot say the same for the rest of the program.
Paul Stevens
Charlestown Township, Pa.
February 23, 2011

     Victor Schermer replies: I agree with you about the Wagner; the Orchestra’s articulation wasn’t the best, but the first piece of a first night’s performance is often that way for a variety of reasons, and I felt forgiving of that in this case. It was you, not the audience who must have been asleep during the Beethoven. They were hugely enthusiastic at the end, as were the musicians, and Batiashvili must have received four or five curtain calls, while some of the musicians were actually applauding— a rarity. As for the cadenza, it wasn’t written for Batiashvili, but some years ago for Gidon Kremer, who certainly cannot be considered a “show-off.”

Tina Brown, pro and con

     Dan Rottenberg’s feint at praising Tina Brown (Editor’s Notebook) is more salt than food. The median IQ of the Internet makes ranters like Rush Limbaugh look thoughtful. Nicholas Carr and Shirley Terkle constitute an emerging vanguard of commentators judging internet “thinking” as infra compos mentis. Leo Lowenthal long ago indicted the celebrification of American media, a sort of secular canonization that encourages Americans to worship at the altar of the trivial and flashy.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
February 25, 2011

     Editor’s comment: The concerns expressed today about the Internet are largely identical to those expressed 500 years ago when Gutenberg invented movable type— i.e., that it would stir up the masses and lead to an outpouring of pornography. Which it did. But didn’t the benefits outweigh the liabilities?

The King’s Speech

     Re “The King’s Speech reconsidered,” by Anne R. Fabbri—
     I must say I have been a bit perplexed about why this film seems to have generated such interest. Anne Fabbri’s review explains it and doesn’t mince any words.
     I’ve never been able to understand this interest Westerners have in the idle rich and their marriages, the whole Princess Diana thing. Who cares what these silver spoons do in between their tennis games and garden teas?
     I think this film is so popular, because it has to do with the almost universal appeal of a story line about overcoming a handicap.  And the producers get to have great visual imagery by using royalty, rather than using some poor slob with a real handicap, trying to overcome real odds to put food on the table or something.
     I will say though, having had speech impediments most of my life, I do empathize with the story line of a stutterer.
Roy Wilson
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
February 12, 2011

     I happened to like The King’s Speech, mostly for its sheer storytelling, and also because it gave me an inside look at something that’s usually so severely encased in “royal armor.” I hoped it would puncture the false notion that royalty is above humaneness.
     Fabbri’s essay reminded me that Americans still hanker after all that is star studded and royal. Could that passion be connected to the fairytales about the “American Dream’?
Michelle Marcuse
Philadelphia
February 13, 2011

     I agree that The King’s Speech isn’t as good as it’s hyped-up to be, but I liked it nonetheless for being, as Anne Fabbri observed, “an old-fashioned, feel-good film in sumptuous color"— no small achievement these days.
     I’m puzzled by Fabbri’s vehement denunciation of royalty. After all, the film doesn’t espouse monarchy. It depicts a man who stutters— a cruel affliction wherever it alights, upon rich man or poor.  Here it is especially poignant because George VI must make public speeches in the course of his duties.
     I wish Fabbri had examined more closely the developing relationship between therapist and patient, between commoner and Royal, between client and provider, man qua man.
     Colin Firth’s King George is admirably restrained, as befits a man who was wounded since childhood by a bullying father and older brother, and who is characteristically stunted by his upper-class insularity. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Lionel Logue, especially when you consider a subtext of the film: the British disdain for Australians. George VI expresses this disdain, as do the principals of the London theater group who archly dismiss Logue when he auditions for their play.
     Fabbri says Rush overacts, but over-acting is a valuable teaching tool. Consider the crowning episode of the film, when Logue orchestrates the king’s speech before the radio microphone. He’s like a puppetmaster: He controls the king, but gently, humanely, in friendship. Still, the commoner is in command. A nice little irony.
     Fabbri shoots herself in the foot when she brings Woody Allen’s name into a serious discussion of “real life.”
Charles Perrone
Moorestown, N.J.
February 14, 2011

     How much more narcissistic, vain, soulless, and lackluster can Americans get? Anne Fabbri’s “review” of The King’s Speech exemplifies the arrogance of so many Americans today that makes us despised around the world. For someone of Anne’s educational background to not fully understand how fragile the legal roots of our democracy are today is a frightening commentary on the values of our educational system.
     Does Anne (or for that matter anyone in this English-speaking land) realize that our spoiled-rotten everyday lives are made possible by 1,000 unbroken years of legal underpinnings in the Magna Carta?
     Freedom isn’t free without the ability to shoulder the full weight of its responsibility. The British monarchy, for all its pomp and circumstance and tourist dollars, knows this in the depth of every word, every breath, and every action its members take. That is exactly the reason behind their “exceedingly boring” demeanor: They are fully conscious of the enormous weight of their personal baggage, and don’t pretend that it doesn’t exist.
     If they’re not crushed by it, they continue to set examples that reverberate globally, especially in times of personal and political crisis.
     Thank God that our first black president possesses the hard-won instincts for survival, the Constitutional knowledge, and the charisma and intelligence powerful enough to comprehend all these things, and to set an example for Americans who are still struggling to grow up and become adults.
Margaret Chew Barringer
Narberth, Pa.
February 16, 2011

     Good God, Anne! If you don’t think the monarchy should exist, why don’t you just write a letter to the Prime Minister? And if The King’s Speech was so offensive to you, why didn’t you just read the synopsis and decide not to be among the “bowers and scrapers” you so unfairly label those of us who found it a good, entertaining film, regardless of its historical accuracy and the rightness or wrongness of the monarchy?
     It’s a film, for goodness sake. You know, “make believe.”
Paul Decker
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
February 16, 2011

     Thank you Anne. The drama continues. Now we can’t escape the details of the next “royal” wedding. Soon, America will be lapping up every detail of the gowns the bridesmaids will be wearing. 
     The middlebrow British royalty might be a comic relief in today’s world if they weren’t such ostentatious leeches… and so damned boring. It’s infuriating that every move they make is in our news media.
     However, my heart goes out to a stutterer, no matter what his station in life. Speech therapists who cure this disorder take the sufferer back from hell into life.
Arlene Love
Fairmount/ Philadelphia
February 16, 2011

     Re “Why The King’s Speech worked for me,” by Dan Rottenberg (Editor’s Notebook)—
     Because Dan Rottenberg knows how to write. Because D.R. sees the world in idealistic ways. Because his viewpoint expanded mine. (No surprise.)
Allan Kalish
Gladwyne, Pa.
February 15, 2011

     Dan Rottenberg’s “Why The King’s Speech worked for me” was an excellent response to Anne Fabbri’s embarrassingly shallow and flippant piece.  The King’s Speech is a needed reminder that, in times of national crisis, even ordinary human beings are capable of extraordinary and courageous things.
     It’s worth noting, for instance, that George VI and his family stayed in London during the blitz in World War II and narrowly escaped being killed when two German bombs exploded in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace while the family was in residence. After that incident, the Queen said, “I am glad we have been bombed. We can now look the East End in the face.” Some fops!
Ann C. Davidson
Fairmount/ Philadelphia
February 26, 2011

Chamber Orchestra

     A few comments in response to Tom Purdom’s marvelous review of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia:
     Tom writes: “I also derive some satisfaction from the craft of writing.“
     Although I obviously care very deeply about music, my work for the Broad Street Review is 90% about writing and 10% about the music. Few things give me as much satisfaction as expressing my ideas within the classical form that Dan Rottenberg so strictly enforces: the thousand-word essay.
     Tom says, “Faure’s Pavane would make a perfect opening number” for a concert aimed at an audience of fantasy lovers. “It’s a processional for exotic creatures that inhabit a magic court in a fairy tale world.”
     Thirty years ago, Henry Varlack, an announcer for the long-departed classical FM station WFLN, used the Faure Pavane as the lead-in for his show. In those days, I would often leave the radio on as I fell asleep, and ever since, the fabulously sensuous flute solo with which the Pavane begins has evoked for me that feeling of moving from the everyday world into the magical realm of the deep night.
     (By the way, here’s a link to a piano-roll recording of Faure himself playing his own piano arrangement of the Pavane. His pianistic abilities did not, alas, match his skill as a composer. )
     Tom writes that on this hearing he was impressed by the way the Beethoven First Symphony “contains most of the elements we associate with its author.”
     I used to pooh-pooh the Beethoven First until last summer, when I heard Kurt Masur conduct it at a New York Philharmonic open rehearsal. As Tom says, it’s a wonderful and, to me, a wittily subversive, bomb-throwing work.
Dan Coren
Queen Village/ Philadelphia
February 15, 2011

Disappointing Skull

     Re A Skull in Connemara, at the Lantern Theater—
     Like Robert Zaller, I found Martin McDonagh’s skullduggery tedious and unamusing.
     This was a rare occasion of disappointment at the Lantern, a favorite Philadelphia stage. But the shortcoming was the play, not the players.
Mary E. Hazard
Center City/ Philadelphia
February 16, 2011

Menotti centenary at Curtis

     Re Steve Cohen’s review of Curtis Institute’s Menotti Centenary concert—
     Curtis and Philadelphia are fortunate to have in Danielle Orlando a very talented musician who worked intimately with Gian Carlo Menotti for a number of his mature years. In that concert at Curtis, she not only brought to the audience a fresh understanding of who Menotti was, but is also the bridge that enables a new generation of young artists at Curtis to appreciate his music.
     Brava Orlando!
Jane Grey Nemeth
Haverford, Pa.
February 16, 2011

     Editor’s note: The writer is the former director of the Opera Company’s Pavarotti International Voice Competition.

The Empire Builders

     I really enjoyed Jim Rutter’s thoughtful and analytical review of The Empire Builders. It gave me more insight into the context of the play and helped me think more deeply about the play’s symbolism. Thanks!
Kathleen Quinn
Phoenixville, Pa.
February 16, 2011

Nussbaum’s ivory tower

     Re “Martha Nussbaum’s ivory tower,” by Norman Roessler (June 2010)—
     Unfortunately, the reviewer is spot-on. I had looked forward to reading Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, but I quickly realized I would be disappointed. Professor Nussbaum simply assumes that the purpose of education is to create a better society.
     Is that so? Would Montaigne agree? Does it matter? Her book is full of unexamined assertions.
     One also wonders why Nussbaum says higher education is in crisis, given her judgment at the end that the elite schools (including her own University of Chicago) are really doing a good job of meeting her goals.
     I demur.
Frank Gado
White River Junction, Vt.
February 15, 2011

Learning to love Milton Babbitt

     Kile Smith’s “How I learned to Love Milton Babbitt” was a nice article. I wrote a quote from Monet on my status page this morning on Facebook:
     "Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.”
     That’s pretty much it.
Andrew Rudin
Allentown, N.J.
February 14, 2011

Jews and slavery

     Re “When slaves in Egypt owned slaves in Virginia,” by Carol Rocamora—
     Every racial and ethnic group in history seems to have included slave owners at one time, of course. I find the shock that Jews may have as well to be misplaced. People of all faiths justify action of all kinds.
     I hope The Whipping Man has other merits, because if it lives or dies on this novelty, I’m not much interested in it. And as a Jew, I find the suggestion of a higher ethical standard, below which Jews must not fall if they are to retain others’ sympathies, to be ever troubling.
David Millstone
East Falls/ Philadelphia
February 9, 2011

Marian Locks

     Re “How Marian Locks changed Philadelphia,” by Anne R. Fabbri (May 2010)—
     I will never forget Marian Locks. What a scene she had! It all came together for her, the best of the world, and right here in little old Philadelphia. You could feel and see the quality. And meet the artists, who were my heroes.
     When she asked me to show her my art, I was star struck. Her gallery was by far the best art thing going down in Philadelphia for a long time. I hope history remembers what Marian and the innovative artists she exhibited accomplished at her gallery.
James D. Fitzgerald
Brandamore, Pa.
February 18, 2011

Underground journalism

     Re: Bob Ingram’s recollections of ‘70s underground newspapers—
     When I was a teen living in Mt. Penn, Pa., I would secretly squire away furtive copies of The Drummer and dream that one day I would be as big as Bob, Maralyn Polak and Clark DeLeon. Now, when I look into my mirror, I realize I have achieved my ambitions in the literal if not in the literary sense.
Jackie Atkins
West Cape May, N.J.
February 7, 2011

     In my basement archives there are yellowed copes of The Drummer. The usual suspects are there: Ginsberg, Ira Einhorn, Victor Bockris, Bonnie Cook (whatever happened to Bonnie?), as well as my own “Omar Bloom at White Plains Hospital” column, in which (thanks to Editor Ingram) I was encouraged to submit my own illustrations.
     Can you imagine such artistic freedoms, sans the blog, in an established newspaper today? Perhaps a published book of selected Drummer pieces might one day make a valuable contribution to the “Underground Canon.”
Thom Nickels
Fishtown/ Philadelphia’
February 8, 2011

Remembering Louis Sullivan

     Re “Remembering Louis Sullivan,” by Patrick D. Hazard—
     Growing up near Buffalo, with parents who prized art and architecture, of course I appreciated the Guaranty Building. Every summer, to get to our Minnesota grandparents’ home, we had to drive through Owatonna— another Sullivan landmark.
     To cap off our Sullivan experience, we moved to the Mississippi River town of Clinton, Iowa. At first we were angry (lack of culture, we complained), but Mom said, “There is a great Sullivan building there. And it is a nice town.”
     She was so right. The building is still there. Don’t miss it.
Mary Lenihan
Hermosa Beach, Calif.
February 9, 2011

Discovering Lapland

     Beguiled by Thom Nickels’s frozen idyll in Lapland, I remembered how I turned Finnish at 18. It was from visiting Cranbrook, just outside Detroit, where the architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen actually did for design what the German Bauhaus only tried to do. George Booth, the idealistic publisher of the Detroit News, designed Cranbrook to combat the Nouveau Ritziness of Detroit’s innocently ignorant new automotive elite.
     And, Thom, the Finns were not taciturn— they were frozen silent! In the summer of 1970 I took my son Tim there to celebrate his 16th birthday at a Leeds masseuse’s family farm outside Helsinki. (She had taught me for the first— and, alas, last time how a fuckless rubdown is one of the deep joys of life. And she babbled nonstop.)
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
February 20, 2011

Misleading blurb

     Tom Purdom’s review of the Vox Amadeus all-Vivaldi concert was overwhelmingly positive, and I agree whole-heartedly with the praises offered for the exemplary musicians. I am stunned that the only negative aspect of the review (that The Four Seasons is performed too frequently) is used as the “summary” statement at the top of the article.
     Who picked that? Did they not read the whole interview, or was the misleading “summary” intentional?
Pam Phelan
Wynnewood, Pa.
February 9, 2011

     Editor’s comment: The latter. Sometimes an editor must mislead his readers a bit to entice them to read the story. And aren’t you glad I enticed you?

When museums sell art

     “When museums sell art,” by Gresham Riley, is an awesome job. Yours is the best piece I’ve yet seen on the deaccessioning issue.
Donn Zaretsky
New York
February 3, 2011

     Editor’s note: The writer is an art lawyer and writes for The Art Law Blog.

     After the Barnes collection moves to the Parkway, we can be sure that some of it will be sold to pay for the cost of the move. Will the old guidelines apply, or will someone have to come up with some new ones to enable the rape to be legitimized?
Andrew Kevorkian
West Philadelphia
February 2, 2011

The Milk Train

     Re Toby Zimnan’s review of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore—
     It’s a fantastic review, which I have forwarded to several friends who are ordering tickets, thanks to Toby Zinman’s very special critical powers. I saw both the earlier Broadway productions and will race to this one with my friends.
John Lane
Fitler Square/ Philadelphia
February 2, 2011

Top Ten composers

     Re Dan Coren’s essay on the Top Ten Classical composers—
     Here are my Top Ten, in order of preference:
     Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, Chopin, Schumann, Verdi, Brahms, Shostakovich
Peter Burwasser
Queen Village/ Philadelphia
February 2, 2011

     A pity the official list omits the composer Beethoven called “the master of us all"— Handel (who would certainly be my No. 1). And where’s Strauss?
Bernard Jacobson
Bremerton, Wash.
February 23, 2011

     Editor’s note: The writer is the former program annotator for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Life, by Keith Richards

     Thanks, Bob Ingram, for the review of Life, by Keith Richards.
     May I suggest another? Patti Smith’s Just Kids, about her coming of age (and Robert Mapplethorpe’s). A beauty of a memoir, chock full of insights and struggle and love affair(s) of two youths intent on developing their artistic sensibilities in the juicy ’60s in New York.
Tom Bissinger
Pottstown, Pa.
February 3, 2011

     How about a little credit to the ghostwriter, James Fox?
Kerry Pechter
Emmaus, Pa.
February 10, 2011

Black Swan

     Janet Anderson’s review of Black Swan is far superior to Robert Zaller’s, although the former’s is too plot-oriented. However, Anderson grasps what the audience does: This is a psychological thriller with one ballerina as the focal point— a disturbed one because of her innocence and ambition and her stage mother. There were some rather grotesque scenes, but as a whole Anderson “got” it. The film is not misogynistic.
Rochelle L. Holt
Fort Myers, Fla.
February 4, 2011

The season for ungifting

     Re “’Tis the season for ungifting”—
     After reading Maralyn Polak’s prescient column, I started looking around at gifts I’d received from various ex-friends over the years. If enough time has passed, the articles take on a life of their own. If the article is beautiful and has value, I keep it. The rest find a happy home at Pennsylvania Hospital’s Bargain Shop.
     At some point, all of us have enough stuff. I admire Maralyn Polak’s goal of paring down and simplifying. Making charitable donations benefits the giver and the recipient.
Jane Biberman
Washington Square/ Philadelphia
February 8, 2011

Power of visual images

     Re “The ultimate power: visual images,” by Anne R. Fabbri—
     Sadly, I must concur with Anne. There is a famous, perhaps apocryphal, account of New York City’s “Boss” Tweed raging over “them damn pictures"— the caricatures created by Thomas Nast. Tweed didn’t care what New York journalists wrote, but every citizen could look at and digest Nast’s depictions of a Tweed bloated with ill-gotten wealth.
     (A generation earlier, France’s King Louis-Philippe passed a law making it a crime to satirize him, or any members of his regime, in words or pictures. Men went to jail for doing it, yet to this day, we still know Louis-Philippe by the taunting image of his face drawn as a pear— French slang for a dolt.)
Andrew Mangravite
Yeadon, Pa.
January 26, 2011

     This is a fabulous article. Everyone should read it and understand our behavior. It should make us think, and be more open-minded.
Pasquale Coppari
Roselle Park, N.J.
January 26, 2011

     Editor’s note: The writer is an artist.

     Ms. Fabbri fails to address the objections by many to the exhibition of works such as Piss Christ and the Wojnarowicz AIDS video: the exhibitions were supported by taxpayer money.
     When such works are displayed by private entities, the folks to whom they are deeply offensive just ignore them. The objections have nothing to do with the medium.
Wilbur Bourne Ruthrauff
Center City/ Philadelphia
January 26, 2011

     Editor’s comment: See the following letter.

     Terrific piece by Anne R. Fabbri. The removal of David Wojnarowicz’s film, A Fire in My Belly, from the Smithsonian was another chapter in Jesse Helms’s playbook to attack gay artists and score political points while marginalizing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.
The “Hide/Seek” exhibit is privately funded, but anti-gay religious leaders and Republicans falsely claimed that it was not. The Smithsonian, unfortunately, caved in, so that this vital exhibit wouldn’t be further maligned.
     This film was intended as AIDS activist art— a j’accuse against the anti-gay wing of the government and religious homophobia. Beyond any artistic merit, it has historical significance in the canon of GLBT political art and of a community that was losing a whole generation of artists to HIV/AIDS.
     Fortunately, this censorship has resulted in more screenings of the film elsewhere, and in the courageous David Wojnarowicz.
Lewis Whittington
Center City/ Philadelphia
January 30, 2011

     Bourne Ruthrauff replies: Any exhibition at the Smithsonian is supported by taxpayer funds. Mr. Whittington also notes that the Wojnarowicz video has been screened widely at other, non-taxpayer supported venues, without protest. Doesn’t that demonstrate the falsity of Mr. Whittington’s claim that the video was censored?

     Yes, “Seeing is believing” is an old adage that remains current. Postmodern theory may deconstruct the “truth value” of the photographic image ad infinitum, but photos are still read as evidential. All pictures, even cartoonish ones, have a certain kind of power distinct from language. This is especially true when they have become symbolic— quickly and effectively conveying all kinds of packed meanings. When two symbols are crossed, sparks may fly.
     Perhaps, though, it is not a matter simply of visuality. Pictures have long constituted a broader, more popular kind of communication than words, ranging from the icons of medieval Christianity to the street tags of today. For many in today’s society, books are so “yesterday” that they barely register. TV shows, movies, even just still images— these are what count. The tag “as seen on TV” bestows value.
Blaise Tobia
Powelton Village/ Philadelphia
January 26, 2011

     What a wonderful explanation and article on a puzzle that has always intrigued me. Thank you for this article and keeping the dialogue about art and its place in society alive.
Daniel Heyman
Fairmount/ Philadelphia
January 23, 2011

     Editor’s note: The writer is an artist.

     Good point with the Hitchens comparison. But I think that when a person takes the trouble to read, then the potential for outrage can be just as strong.
Peggy Payne
Apex, N.C.
January 26, 2011

     For those who enjoy having their emotions manipulated by images, there is nothing like message-based art for the job. For those, however, who are interested in expanding their worldview, in asking their own big, risk-taking philosophical questions about God, the good life, truth, etc., there is nothing like reading great literature.
     Art and literature are different mediums for expression, and where often one doesn’t do justice to a subject, the other handles matters admirably. Audiences of art should never forget that.
     I wouldn’t want to choose whether I could only have art or literature in life. A thoughtful person— including the artist, maker of images worthy of being called art— needs both.
Victoria C. Skelly
Wayne, Pa.
February 2, 2011

     Anne R. Fabbri replies: I agree with you and Peggy Payne. I wouldn’t want to live without art, music, literature and poetry. Dance seems to be the only art form that isn’t part of my life, but perhaps I soon will learn to add that to my roster.

David Mamet’s Race

     Re Dan Rottenberg’s review of David Mamet’s Race—
     That the abomination of slavery is coeval with human society is not the issue. American Exceptionalism as our “guiding” philosophy became more and more hypocritical as black slavery created our South. That thousands died in the Civil War is no more idealistic than the rich thousands who bought a pass from military service. America’s long collusion with the French counterrevolution in Haiti, in which former slaves had to pay France for their former owners’ property (they didn’t pay it all off until 1947!) is evidence we still support slavery.
Patrick D. Hazard
Weimar, Germany
January 28, 2011

     The play was tired, but rather due to Jordan Lage’s Hamlet-like performance. Furthermore you are absolutely incorrect: Chattel slavery in America was unique in its social exclusion and miscegenation laws. This once again is a diminishment of the trauma inflicted on a people by revisionist lack of knowledge. Read de Tocqueville and brush up on the Maafa and three-fifths laws.
Allan Branson
West Mount Airy/ Philadelphia,
January 29, 2011

     This is not about “race”. It is about money— the billions the federal government collects from workplace rape cases.
     I have been pleading the same serial rapist case for nearly five years. The rapist is at large, doing business as usual for a major corporation.
     It seems the government will do nothing about felony rape, if the rapist is a wealthy white male, working for a major corporation, other than count the money, for dismissing the rape of our poor.
     I do not understand why any woman would have to “litigate” the rape of her body in a federal court.
Beverly Prather
Bear, Del.
February 1, 2011

     Bravo, Dan. Thoughtful and insightful and constructive criticism. As I age, I become less tolerant of simplified approaches and amateurish theater.
Charlie Thomson
Center City/ Philadelphia
February 16, 2011

The Glass Menagerie

     Re Jim Rutter’s review of The Glass Menagerie at the Walnut’s Studio 3—
     One of the problems in dealing with The Glass Menagerie is that so many of us were forced to read it in high school, and most of us have seen tone-deaf amateur productions of it throughout our lives. It’s one of those plays we think we know— until we actually read it again, or see a production that actually realizes the play’s potential, which this production does to some extent.
     Jim Rutter’s surprise that Amanda is somewhat sympathetically portrayed in the Walnut production and that the focus of the play is not Tom but Laura is telling. It suggests to me that he has been conditioned by less-than-insightful encounters with the play, probably in his youth.
     I am of mixed feelings about this production. Nonetheless, the intensely enthusiastic audience response to the performance I saw shows that Williams’s play still has tremendous power for
contemporary audiences— even when inconsistently realized in production. It is a classic, and I think it will endure despite the misinterpretations of well-meaning English teachers and amateur producers.
Aaron Oster
Collingswood, N.J.
January 26, 2011

     Well reviewed. I came out of this production actually identifying with Amanda more than with any other character— an astonishment to me. Tom came off as a whining little prick, which made him more interesting than usual. Jim had a welcome suburban solidity. Laura was deeply unnerving.
David Millstone
East Falls/ Philadelphia
January 26, 2011

     A correction: Tom makes $65 a month, not $65 a week. (My grandfather was making $100 a month working for the Pennsylvania Railroad at the same time, and raising six kids to boot.)
Tim Dunleavy
Narberth, Pa.
January 27, 2011

Letter to Mayor Nutter

     SaraKay Smullens’s “Open letter to Mayor Nutter” is right on! The punitive approach to misdeeds is all well and good, in an atmosphere of love and respect. But if the only response to misdeed is punishment, the individual never learns a better way to behave. Many children (who grow into adults!) never experience non-punitive, directed behavior, and thus don’t know how it feels to be encouraged by support and, yes, love.
Smullens’s approach may sound “soft”, but in reality, it’s much “stronger.” The fact she is so qualified, wishes to work pro bono, and is available, makes the city’s reluctance incomprehensible.
Walter Herman
Merion Station, Pa.
January 26, 2011

     SaraKay Smullens is absolutely correct. Philadelphia needs more trained social workers. The numbers of families in need is too large for the numbers of trained people to work with them. I hope she can find a solution to our very urgent problem.
Adele Aron Greenspun
Center City/ Philadelphia
January 26, 2011

     As a former supervisor, years ago, of SaraKay Smullens, I am not at all surprised that she offered her professional help to the city. Hers has been a rich and successful life of advocacy, exploration, compassion and complete and skillful services given in behalf of those in need.
     I regret that the city’s contracting agency, for some reason, was unable to accept her offer of help at this time.
     I applaud SaraKay Smullens for the quality of excellence she has given to her work over the years. She has given insight to, fostered hope for and assisted many individuals in finding more wholesome and happy lives.
     It’s still obvious that she appreciates John F. Kennedy’s charge: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Bettie Bassett Roundtree
West Philadelphia
February 5, 2011

Dolce Suono

     Tom Purdom’s review of the Dolce Suono/organ concert was wonderful. He described the merits of each musician; he explained how the concert was assembled with the background help of a famous collaborator, Placido Domingo; he explained how the organ and flute joined so that one started a phrase and the other finished it. Finally, he ended with a humorous comment about our city and its music. You can’t ask for more than this in any review.
William L. Clovis
Center City/ Philadelphia
January 27, 2011

     Thank you, Tom Purdom, for a wonderful review of Dolce Suono (“New discoveries: An organist and a soprano”). The organist Alan Morison’s father and I, his mother, appreciate so very much Tom Purdom’s appreciation of his playing. Alan is sensitive, he is gifted, but most important, he works and, happily, he loves what he does. We were able to almost feel that we had attended the concert after reading your review.
Jeannine R. Morrison
Decatur, Ga.
February 3, 2011

Growing up at the Palestra

     Re “Growing up at the Palestra, 1958,” by Bob Levin (May 2009)—
     I stumbled upon this article and, to my surprise, saw my father’s name mentioned. He is Jerry Lipson, who passed away in 1972. I was six years old at the time.
     It’s through the stories of friends, family and acquaintances that I have to come to know my father. I’d love to contact Bob. Maybe he’s got a few I haven’t heard.
Dean Lipson
Blue Bell, Pa.
January 27, 2011