Regarding “Converting a Classic” [Jan. 14]: Can you imagine a remake of “Gone With the Wind” with Madonna as Scarlett and some “pretty face” as Rhett? Can you imagine “Casablanca” without Bogart or Bergman?
We just had “Bedazzled” redone even though Dudley Moore and the late Peter Cook are without peer. I can recall seeing their superb comic revue “Beyond the Fringe” in I think ’63 at the Studebaker on Michigan Avenue.
Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are terrific in the original “Producers” in part because they are Jewish.
Many if not most Broadway producers were and still are. Why deny reality? The original is a classic. I wouldn’t waste my time and money on a remake.
— Kenneth S. Sachs, Hopkins, Minn.
CELL PHONE AS SHIELD
In his Jan. 14 article “Call Waiting,” psychology professor Selwyn W. Becker may have been writing tongue in cheek about the cell phone as “a socially acceptable way to avoid” communication, but he really pinpointed one of the banes of our supposedly civilized society. Using his cell phone as a shield, Becker successfully avoided interaction with his wife, his children, his fellow commuters, his receptionist, his son’s soccer coach and his lunch companion. In other words, he managed to avoid communication, conflict resolution and/or closure with every person in his life who needed his attention, courtesy and concern.
In my opinion, the use of cell phones, like many gadgets, does not enhance communication between people but destroys it. Dysfunctional families, high divorce rates and isolationism in our schools, our neighborhoods and our businesses are the sad results.
— Victoria Everitt, Aurora
THE DINER AND COMMUNITY
Rick Kogan’s Jan. 21 “Sidewalks” article on the White Palace Grill [“How Do You Want Your Toast?”] and Charles Osgood’s picture were beautiful. It is important for America and especially Chicago to preserve the old diner-style eateries. This is important not just to link us to our historical roots, but also to maintain the social face-to-face connectedness that occurs at these “Third Places.”
We are living in a time of the most rapid technological change in the history of the world. It is easy to lose sight of who we are and our relationship to community. Diners, and places like them, promote democracy, bind us together and allow for cultural continuity to occur.
The food is good, for sure, but this is about more than the grits and Salisbury steak.
— Steve Balkin, Professor, Roosevelt University
‘LOVERS,’ NOT ‘HATERS’
Your “Midwest Portrait” picture and caption [“The Spirit Marches On,” Jan. 14] bore the unfortunate and misleading message that the people of Marquette Park in the ’60s were a pack of hood-wearing monsters and lynchers, akin to the Mississippi Klansmen of the ’30s. Perhaps rather than being viewed as “haters,” they should be looked upon as a group of people who “loved” their neighborhood and wished to preserve it, even if their methods were often misguided and violent.
— James Sundberg, Chicago.
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