(4 of 4)
MEL BERK New York City
>The snake, a small boa constrictor, was not eaten raw but skinned and cooked over a charcoal fire. It tasted fine, although a bit gamy. The snake's head was bitten off to demonstrate that a soldier can live off the land if necessary without the aid of knives or guns.—ED.
Jewish Senecas
Sir:
In your "Resorts" story of May 24, about Paleface Sam Banowit's Palm Springs springs, one of the Agua Caliente Indians stated that Mr. Banowit was "the first Jewish Indian in the country."
I know two who preceded him: my husband, Ray Evans (lyric writer), and his collaborator, Jay Livingston (composer), who wrote such un-Indian songs as Mona Lisa, Buttons and Bows, Tammy, and Que Sera Sera. Lined up with their three Oscars are two peace pipes which they smoke after they argue about their pentameters and their pianissimos. They were taken into the Seneca Tribe of New York State about twelve years ago as Chief Words-Come-Easy and Chief Flowing Rhythm.
SQUAW WYN EVANS Beverly Hills, Calif.
Fancy Cussin'
Sir:
In your Cinema review "God's Great Outdoors" [May 24], you mention "fancy cussin'"; but the form quoted is not the same one I was taught years ago by an authority on the subject. For your information, here is my version, which rhymes, incidentally, and has real movement and Anglo-Saxon alliterative coloring:
Damn, damn, double-damn, triple-damn, bang I
Gee whiz! Golly I Gosh! The deuce! The Devil! 0 hell! Hang!
WILLIAM BOYCE WHITE JR. Rock Hill, S.C.
Stan the Man
Sir:
Amen to your belated recognition of baseball's Mister Most, Stan Musial [May 17]. But what mortal (even Grandpa Musial) could have played in 23 All-Star games after only 21 major-league seasons, unless he happened to be the incomparable, switch-hitting George Herman Ruth Mickey Mantle Mays Ty Cobb Gehrig?
BOB MAYER Riverdale, N.Y.
For the past four years there have been two All-Star games per season, making 24 All-Star games during Musial's 21 major-league seasons.—ED.