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Sir: I write to compliment you on the Election Extra Issue. It's not that I liked the issue because it agreed with what I think. This is partly true; but, much more, you hit every good sidelight on the head, as well as describing the broad flow of the election itself. To do this as shrewdly and entertainingly as you did is one thing; to collect, edit, write, print and distribute the whole thing in little over a day is tremendous.
JOHN ROTCHFORD Jackson Heights, N.Y.
The Alamo
Sir: Having just seen John Wayne's The Alamo, I was amazed to read your hatchet job in your Nov. 7 issue. The review, which found fault with everything except the institution of John Wayne himself, was filled with distortions and evidenced a deliberately hostile reviewer ("the picture was as flat as Texas"). No mention was made that the picture has a patriotic theme showing how diverse and often feuding men banded together with the common purpose of fighting for liberty.
BEN E. PINGENOT Eagle Pass, Texas
Sir: Re your review of The Alamo: after a fairly steady diet of doom, declining prestige and farm income, dull candidates, duller debates, and disunited nations, may I offer my heartfelt thanks for the first genuine laugh in months.
MRS. JAN M. LAITOS Omaha
It's Only Art
Sir: Many of the features in your Art section have been far out in left field, but this one about Jean Dubuffet is the limit. He is simply a gangster who expresses his antisocial character and makeup in the medium of painting. Maybe I am old-fashioned in believing that art should have an esthetic appeal.
SVEND E. ANDERSEN Nutley, N.J.
Sir: Oh for the good old days when a painting was addressed to the eye instead of to the ear, when it spoke for itself and needed no explanation. Now vision is verbalized, and the honest artist is out of fashion—and out of luck. I might suggest that $30,000 for a mess of refuse from the town dump is a high price to pay for jargon. Happily, the wheel will turn.
DONALD C. GREASON Bernardston, Mass.
Sir: The critics, who once scorned Dubuffet, now, according to TIME, call him "the most important painter to come out of postwar France." But the public continues to scorn him, because he is ahead of his times and the public, as usual, is behind the times.
ROSALIND CONSTABLE New York City
Sir: Congratulations on your Dubuffet article. It is good to see a painter working fresh connections of mind and eye. More strong digestions like his are needed to assimilate the art of the past and give the impetus necessary to handle new facets of today's vision. His work is not cruel but intelligently kind.
ALFONSO OSSORIO East Hampton, N.Y.
<¶Painter-Collector Ossorio owns 45 Dubuffets.—ED.
The Fizz Kids
Sir: Re your Nov. 7 issue: Ted Bates & Co. is not the agency for "Miles Laboratories (Alka-Seltzer)."
FRANCIS E. SAMMONS JR. Ted Bates & Co. Inc. New York City
Sir: The item both upset our stomach and gave us a headache, we naturally dropped two Alka-Seltzer tablets in a glass of water. While they fizz, we will call to your attention the fact that we have been the agency of record for Miles Laboratories for 40 years.
ALBERT G. WADE II Wade Advertising Chicago