Gatsby in Hollywood

Sir / Your coverage of The Great Gatsby [March 18] omitted a great irony in the production of the movie. In his novel, F.S. Fitzgerald removes the facade of wealth by portraying how it can corrupt morals, foster waste and breed human carelessness. Absurd how his admonishment to "beware the American dream" is so carelessly discarded by the makers of this extravaganza. I question if they did indeed read the book.

(MRS.) MARIE M. COLLINS

Colts Neck, N.J.

Sir / With or without a supersell, Fitzgerald's Gatsby is a masterpiece. I for one expect to see a masterpiece, not because "Ballantine's was there," but because Scott was. If Yablans, Evans, et al., have remained true to Fitzgerald's Gatsby, Paramount will have its blockbuster; if not, no amount of visual beauty can save it.

GREGORY A. BONOVETZ

Minneapolis

Sir / The anticipation of seeing Robert Redford as Gatsby, his dream of being reunited with Daisy about to be realized, has my emotions gripped sufficiently to make me want to rush to see the film. The spin-offs have nothing to do with my reason for wanting to go. I just want to see Redford play that scene and enjoy it as I feel my heart go pitter-pat!

MRS. DAVID R. WALKER

Stockton, Calif.

Sir / Choosing Mia Farrow to play Daisy Buchanan is like casting Mickey Rooney as Albert Einstein.

LEONARD D. HART

Billerica, Mass.

Gruesome Places

Sir / The article "Invoking the Gods" [March 18] was certainly interesting and, to a classicist struggling to bring about a regeneration of interest in classical literature and culture, might at first appear to be a sign of unimagined success. But alas, from the tenor of your report it would appear that Theologian Miller has little understanding of the nature of the Greek gods. Ancient Greek culture was awash in divine identifications that had to do with what, to us, are secular realities, for example Euripides' beautiful line, "Recognizing one's friends is also a god." The Greek mind saw divinity everywhere, which may be what modern fans are responding to, but that included a lot of gruesome places. It may well be that polytheism harmonizes more accurately with the ways of the actual human psyche, but it is a tawdry oversimplification to view it as a cure for all that ails men's hearts and souls.

DOUGLAS J. STEWART

Waltham, Mass.

Sir / Polytheism is the answer. After all, in this age of specialization, what professional specialist wants to entrust his destiny to a monotheistic jack of all trades?

J. WARNER MILLS III

Alexandria, Va.

Broader Jury Needed?

Sir / It appears that eleven of the 23 Watergate grand jurors are Federal Government employees, and that 17 of the 23 are blacks [March 11]. Should not these District of Columbia grand juries, dealing as they do with national matters, be selected to provide a more representative cross section of the American people?

RICHARD A. DIERCKS

Mound, Minn.

What Daughters Do

Sir / In your article on Prosecutor Jaworski [March 11] you state: "Their son Joe is a lawyer in Houston; their daughters Joanie and Claire are both married." Some time it would be refreshing to see a statement like "What does she do? She sculpts and reads Dostoevsky. Her brother is married."

MARCIA A. SCOTT

St. Louis Park, Minn.

P: Daughter Joanie Worrell is a housewife who raises quarter horses and thoroughbreds with her husband. She is also a volunteer in a Houston hospital. Daughter Claire Draper is a housewife who works with a church group to improve conditions in a Houston jail. Joe Jaworski is married.

Fenced In

Sir / Your story about the residents of Leisure Village who built a fence around their community [March 11] reminds me of how Greeley, Colo., built a fence around the city in 1871. It was built to protect the city gardens and crops from the livestock of neighbors and farmers outside, and it was necessary for the Colorado legislature to act favorably before the townspeople were allowed to close the gates to the new city at night. The fence lasted until 1874, when it was sold.

STOW L. WITWER

Greeley, Colo.

Profile Author

Sir / "The Politics of Terror" [March 4] attributes to me the celebrated "skyjacker profile." In fact, I have been a serious critic of efforts to employ such methods. The profile is rightfully attributed to Psychologist John Dailey of the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington.

DAVID G. HUBBARD, M.D.

Dallas

Kidnap Insurance

Sir / It gave me a shock of recognition when I read that Lloyd's of London is issuing kidnap-insurance policies [March 18].

As I noted in my book Kidnap: The Story of the Lindbergh Case, in 1933, when a wave of kidnapings followed the abduction of the Lindbergh baby, many wealthy Americans requested Lloyd's to provide them with a hedge against possible abductions by introducing kidnap-insurance policies, and Lloyd's obliged them. The maximum protection Lloyd's offered an adult at that time was $100,000; the maximum for a child was the sum paid for the Lindbergh baby, recovered dead: $50,000. Thus kidnap insurance was not "all but unheard of a few years ago."

GEORGE WALLER

New York City

Pluses at Wilson High

Sir / As a teacher at Wilson High School in San Francisco, I am very angry at the view of Wilson presented in your article "Fogbound Schools" [Feb. 25]. While it is true that there are many serious problems at Wilson, it is equally true that there are positive and exciting things happening. To choose only the negative aspects of the school and to ignore the very real positive aspects does a gross disservice to the students, who are fighting to succeed in a society which, they fear, is reluctant to recognize their efforts and their success. TIME'S reporter interviewed science teachers about reading but never interviewed the reading teachers, and you publish a picture of students who excel and imply by the caption that they read at the fifth-grade level.

ANN JORGENSEN

San Francisco

P: The second line of a TIME caption attempts to link the picture with the accompanying story. TIME did not intend, and apologizes for, any implication that the students depicted had impaired reading skills.

The Press and Nixon

Sir / Harry Reasoner recently took TIME to task on ABC-TV for certain instances of its obsessional and below-the-belt reporting on Watergate, which he said had betrayed the canons of both objective and ethical journalism.

It was predictable that sooner or later TIME would begin to pay the price for its editorial overinvestment in the destruction of the President. That price, as Reasoner noted, is the loss of journalistic prestige and credibility. How ironic, and how fitting, that a distinguished media colleague and certified Nixon critic like Reasoner should blow the whistle on TIME for its phobic Watergate reporting!

No President of the U.S. except Lincoln (in retrospect, now to be considered another impeachable character) has ever been more savaged by the press than Nixon. For one solid year the press has been beating on him mercilessly. And he has shown that he can take it and take it and take it, with cool and courage. But few journalists--none on TIME--have had even the sportsmanship, no less the journalistic objectivity, to report that whatever Nixon is or is not, he is one helluva gutsy fighter. To be sure, the capacity to take punishment as well as dish it out is not widely associated with journalists, which is no doubt why they do not recognize it as a virtue in Nixon.

Pity. Because when, or if, the New York and Washington press succeeds in knocking out Nixon, the country is going to need an even tougher President, for America's economy and world prestige are bound to take the count along with him.

CLARE BOOTHE LUCE

Honolulu

Every End in Sight

Sir / In your article on the current streaking fad [March 18], you say that "no end seems in sight." On the contrary. They are all in sight.

ROBERT K. FESSLER

Pittsburgh

Sir / I thought the U.S. had laws punishing indecent exposure and immorality. Apparently there are none or nobody cares to enforce them. How corrupt American society is becoming!

ALFRED BARNES YORDAN

Ponce, Puerto Rico

Sir / Why is it that all males streak away from the camera while females seem to streak toward the lens?

I have to wonder if there is something you're trying to cover up.

(MRS.) CAROL BIDWELL

Reston, Va.

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