"Off a Duck's Back"
Sirs:
Your article on Cezanne did not relieve Mr. Widener's headache nor did it diminish the accuracy of the label which I pinned on him. . . .
The reason Mr. Widener speaks only through his butler and the picture salesman* whom you refer to as an authority, is that 95% of the enlightened local population have verified my statement that Philadelphia has been '"stung" with an inferior painting. The Artists' Union tops that record with a 100% verdict that it is a "bad Cezanne" (a quotation from its official spokesman).
Helpful to attaining this practical unanimity of opinion has been the poor Cezanne sketch itself, hanging daily in the Museum, and proving to observers that Mr. Widener guessed wrong and spoke out of turn in telling the public that the painting is a "masterpiece." Fortunately, the racetrack operator's blunder rolled off Cezanne's great reputation like water off a duck's back: public opinion says Mr. Widener and the Museum are "all wet" in mistaking a masterly artist's murmurs for his full-bodied voice. ALBERT C. BARNES
Merion, Pa.
Swank, Swank, Swank
Sirs:
What swank TIME editor slept at the switch long enough to allow the word "swank" to appear four times within as many pages of your swank Nov. 29 issue?
Maybe you think swank Marshall's Orchestra, swank Brown's Hotel, swank St. Peter's Church (the saint or the church?), and swank racetracks come under the head of curtness, but I'd call it an indication of a rather meagre editorial vocabulary.
W. G. SMITH
Ann Arbor, Mich.
TIME meant the church.--ED.
"British Warm"
Sirs:
. . . Your description of His Majesty King George's coat in the Nov. 22 issue, as a "field-marshal's khaki-colored greatcoat,'' should read, "British Warm."
This snappy, abbreviated piece of uniform equipment is just one of an ensemble that has long made the British officer the world's best-dressed and could well be copied by style-conscious clothing makers in this country for civilian wear.
There is little if any warmth to that part of an overcoat that dangles ungracefully below the knees. . . . Greatcoats are seldom worn by English officers and even the late George V was partial to his good looking and comfortable "Warm." J. K. MACNEILL
Medforti Hillside, Mass.
No Yanker
Sirs:
Let TIME mind its manners and its language else it may have its appendix "chopped out" or its abdomen "ripped open" in the manner of President Roosevelt's tooth as TIME states the matter.
Having practiced Dentistry and Oral Surgery these many years and knowing both personally, and by reputation many Navy dentists, I can hardly believe that Commander Yando, "yanked out" (TIME'S statement, Nov. 29) any tooth, even the President's. . . .
T. R. PALMER, D.D.S.
Greystone Park, N. J.
"Unwarranted Hopes"
Sirs:
Your account of Oxford Limited in the issue of Nov. 15, I fear, may arouse unwarranted hopes in those legions of American college playboys whose misled vision may lead them to the halls of this ancient university in search of the Bacchanalian revelry therein depicted. Although my acquaintance with Oxford began only some six weeks ago my observations to date reveal the following facts in the categories which you have quoted from Keith Briant's book:
Sex: The Oxford undergraduette (horned-rimmed glasses and cotton stockings) has been aptly described by an English journalist as "those English women whose physical attributes are such that their only hope for social recognition is in the development of the brain." They are generally disdained by Oxonians who have to be back in college by 12:00 anyway and who, in comparison with American undergraduates, are comparatively virginal and completely innocent.
Drinking: Oxford undergraduates drink nothing stronger than beer or sherry and a "Freshmen's blind" is like a Sunday school picnic compared with a lively round of football cocktail parties, proms or houseparties in any of the American universities which I have seen. No one would even consider drinking at an athletic contest and what drinking occurs is discreetly confined to the privacy of college rooms.
Rowdyism: Guy Fawkes' night has completely flopped as an occasion for Oxford undergraduate rioting and I have seen nothing yet that vaguely approximates a good scrap around the goal posts or inter-class rushes--those great institutions of American college life.
Physical Education: The average of undergraduate participation in athletics is 100% higher under Oxford's college system than under any other system in vogue in the U. S.
Study: Oxford leaves the undergraduate to his own resources but his degree upon graduation is carefully marked first class, second class, etc. in contrast to the average American sheepskin which may envelope not only the sheep but also the goats under the same ambiguity of Latin phraseology.
Having thus performed the most un-American task of defending the English, I will end the day with a spot of exercise, a gobbled dinner and an evening at the movies precisely as I did for four years at Princeton. PENN T. KIMBALL
Balliol College Oxford, England
TIME would like to hear further from neophyte Oxonian Kimball after he has weathered a few terms.--ED.
Condemnation Condemned
Sirs:
I don't suppose you need any assurance that a good many of your Catholic readers felt an acute pain in the neck when reading in TIME, Dec. 6, the letters about the "3,000 students" in Southern California who will boycott TIME as ''anti-Catholic, Communistic, and obscene." I can speak for only one Catholic layman directly, but as a reader of TIME since 1924 I have found its coverage of religious news as fair and impartial to Catholicism as it is to Protestantism and Judaism, and Buddhism for that matter. . . .
ALBERT J. LYND
Stanford University, Calif.
Sirs:
... All my schooling was in the convent with Catholic nuns and I am a practical, not too broad-minded Catholic and also a weekly reader of TIME from cover to cover, and have yet to feel you have in any way 'criticized the Church in such a cowardly way."
Perhaps I should not disagree with the 3,000 Catholic students, but I would like to see in print just what they have found in the pages of TIME to make them take such an attitude. Won't they please enlighten me? . . .
MARIE LUCIER McQuAID
Vincennes, Ind.
Sirs:
I am amazed at the dictatorial effrontery of Readers Hampton and Phillips, surprised at their puerile expectations, pleased with TIME'S retort. . . .
ROBERT E. TROPEA
Philadelphia, Pa.
Sirs:
Your spirited retort reminds me of Luther's doughty stand at Worms--"Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen." . . .
MAX PECKLER
Los Angeles, Calif.
Sirs:
. . . May TIME continue to maintain its intelligence and conscience. . . .
L. G. ROBERTS
Chicago, Ill.
Of the two score and twelve letters-to-TiME received on the subject by last week's end--one-third of them from readers who mentioned that they are Roman Catholics--not one voiced agreement with Readers Hampton's and Phillips' accusations; and only one --a Sioux Falls, S. Dak. physician-maintained that TIME as a corporation had neither conscience nor intelligence --ED.
Marsh & Big Apple
Sirs:
As one of its constant and enthusiastic readers, I had come to look upon TIME as a sporting and authoritative magazine. My faith, however, was severely shaken when I read in TIME, Nov. 8, under Cinema the following:
"[Wilcox] hired Dance Historian Lucile Marsh to puff in advance notices that the film's 19th Century dances were not only authentic but were direct ancestors of the Big Apple." . . .
Needless to say, I was not hired by Mr. Wilcox or anyone else to report the obvious historical fact, that the Big Apple is the square dance of today, just as the quadrille might be called the Big Apple of yesterday. . . .
LUCILE MARSH Director
National Dance League New York City
Invitation
Sirs:
THE LOS ANGELES ART ASSOCIATION JUST TELEPHONED THE PUTZEL GALLERY IN HOLLYWOOD WHICH HAS AN EXHIBITION OF TOULOUSE-LAUTREC LITHOGRAPHS, EXTENDING AN INVITATION FOR LAUTREC TO ATTEND THEIR NEXT NOON LUNCHEON. THEY WERE DISAPPOINTED TO HEAR THAT LAUTREC HAS BEEN DEAD THESE 36 YEARS [TIME, Nov. 29].
HOWARD PUTZEL
Los Angeles, Calif.
*Scholar-Critic Lionello Venturi.--ED.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.