Letters, Sep. 10, 1956

(3 of 4)

Concerning your article on the New York-Florida award to Northeast [Aug. 20]: For the past couple of years we have been pretty generally laughed at, with many people telling us we could never win because we were weak, too small, and other less complimentary reasons. Having done what some claim to be the impossible, it is a little discouraging to find TIME publishing an article that is a little hard to accept by the people to whom your top executives trust their lives as they commute in Northeast's "aging and early model airplanes."

ROBERT L. TURNER Northeast Airlines, Inc. Boston

The Duke

Sir:

A great accolade to you for Peter Kurd's portrait of Duke Ellington on your Aug. 20 cover. The accompanying article was a great tribute to a fine gentleman, musician and composer. He will be remembered as one of the alltime greats of jazz music in America.

HORACE B. FINDER New York City

Sir:

Let us have more by Peter Hurd. His interpretation of Ellington is excellent.

JOHN F. MANNING

Greenfield, Mass.

Sir:

If Ellington had contributed something valuable to all mankind—like George Washington Carver—your selection would have been unassailable. But you have a great responsibility to the vast readership you reach. Just because Ellington and Armstrong and our rock 'n' roll nitwits have a following among people who are moved by the noises of blah-blah and nothingness, there is no reason why you should publicize their worthless causes.

ALEX M. WORTH Durham, N.C.

Sir:

Your article on Ellington was a most welcome diversion from the news of the Nile and the Democratic circus in Chicago. Only one criticism: the shot of the Cotton Club shows the highness of hi-de-ho, Cab Galloway, with the chicks, and not the Duke. Of course Cab spent many moons at that bistro. But please let this not discourage you from printing a shot of Duke at the Cotton Club.

GREN MARSH Regina, Sask.

(& Reader Marsh is right. Says Photographer Max Haas: "I took that picture in the Cotton Club some 25 years ago, thought it was Ellington. The picture has run in publications in the U.S. and all over the world. Until now, no questions were raised." For a picture of the Duke, celebrating his 3Qth birthday at the Cotton Club in 1938, see cut.—ED.

The Mediterranean

Sir:

Enjoyed the marvelous Aug. 20 pages on the Mediterranean, and the article as well. It was an excellent picture of that area of the world, and may make a few people realize that what seems an insurmountable problem has existed many times before, and has somehow settled itself.

HAROLD G. BEGLEY

Kinross, Mich.

Sir:

Why did not my history teachers have your cartographer's brains?

GERALD A. ELLIS

Hampstead, London

Of Human Brundage

Sir: