READERS BITE BACK

Letters

Killing Fields Revisited

On a second reading of T. D. Allman's "Sihanouk's Sideshow" [April], I was frightened—frightened by Allman's conclusions. To discount the threat of the Khmer Rouge because the Cambodians have determined this time not to be complacent victims is to give the wrong message both to Cambodians and to those who could influence events there. The truth is, the Khmer Rouge have made significant military advances since the Vietnamese withdrew. It is questionable whether civilian resistance could stop them should the Hun Sen government be overwhelmed.

LAURIE M. JOHNSON De Kalb, Illinois

Allman's compassionate and revealing article offers a glimpse of a once peaceful country making its way back from a nightmare that lasted over a decade. More than a million Cambodians died during the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge. Why, then, does the U.S. government continue to give aid to the genocidal Khmer Rouge as the legitimate government of "democratic" Kampuchea when their return to power could lead to a repeat of the horrors of the killing fields?

E. S. HOUGHTON Toronto, Ontario

Bella Madonna

Thank you for Kevin Sessums' article on Madonna ["White Heat," April]. She has proved that she is not a passing fad. She is an artist, endlessly intriguing and surprisingly human. Congratulations, too, to Helmut Newton.

JOHN LEE Westbury, New York

The best that can be said for Madonna is that she's bought some good art (the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera paintings) and she's a genius at crass self-marketing. But I wish someone would beg her not to desecrate the memory of Frida Kahlo by making a "Reds-like film" about the life of the artist. I can't think of anyone more ill-suited to portray the marvelously talented and idealistic Kahlo than the Material Girl, the boy-toy icon of the Reagan years.

NINA LENART

Los Angeles, California

For all her talent, Madonna comes across as a sewer-mouthed brat. She might say her attitude is covering up a hurt psyche; I say she has no respect for herself.

LINDA A. PEARL Stoughton, Massachusetts

In about twenty minutes I'm getting a tattoo of Madonna. This morning I was scared shitless, but I just read your article and I feel better.

LOUIS CANNIZZARO Hollywood, California

The rise of a personality such as this is indicative of this tasteless age. Vulgar, sacrilegious, minimally talented, unattractive, and a $90 million money-maker! What more can I say?

PATRICIA G. BEAGLE Glen Allen, Virginia

The key to understanding Madonna is her sense of humor. It's for that—in addition to her talent, charm, style, and beauty— that we, her fans, love her so much.

STACY WHISENANT Aurora, Colorado

Ever since Madonna burst onto the scene and my nine-year-old daughter went Madonna-crazy, I have wondered what all the fuss was about. White heat? You bet. Way too hot for me. As for her philanthropy, I wonder how much time and money she donated to any cause before she became Madonna.

SUSAN NYE Mundelein, Illinois

I think Kevin Sessums really captured Madonna. Over the years, I've heard from people who think she used them, and others so jealous they appeared physically ill when speaking of her. I saw her rise through the East Village scene in the early eighties. She was the scruffy little blonde with the big squawk. Even then, she acted like Queen of the Planet. I thought it was cute, but I wasn't competing with her.

In 1986 a mutual friend was diagnosed as having AIDS. An East Village artist, he was only twenty-four, working as a bartender at the Pyramid Club, living in a squalid dump, with no money or health insurance. A loyal friend, Madonna took care of all his expenses, even getting him a clean studio apartment across the street from St. Vincent's Hospital. The last time I saw him, he was in his opened-up sofa bed, hugging a big pillow to ease the pain from the Kaposi's sarcoma lesions in his stomach. Curled up next to him was Madonna, playfully singing opera to cheer him up. Despite the pain, he was smiling, and Madonna's aria didn't sound half bad. A lot has been written about her large-scale benefits for AIDS. Those are wonderful, but I wanted you to know of something she did for a friend.

JOHN READ New York, New York

Waxing Roth

As a result of reading Stephen Schiff's "Rothballs" [April], based primarily on the fact that Philip Roth compared his work with that of Tom Wolfe and felt he should be compensated accordingly, I decided to give Mr. Roth another try. How anyone, in his wildest imagination, could remotely feel Deception worthy of comparison or payment equal to The Bonfire of the Vanities totally baffles me. There is a vast difference between chicken salad and chicken shit.

HARLAN STEPHENS Bridgewater, Connecticut

Women on the Re-Verge

I read with dismay in Ben Brantley's "Spain's Bad Boy Grows Up" [April] that Jane Fonda and Tri-Star Pictures have acquired the rights to Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and plan to remake it. It's unfortunate that the movie industry views such a fully realized film as nothing but a property, ripe for acquisition and strip-mining. Much of the charm of Women on the Verge is due to its freshness and to its robust unpredictability. How can you re-create these qualities in a retread? If a European director were to announce plans to remake Citizen Kane or The Wizard of Oz, we'd laugh at his arrogance. But Hollywood seems to feel any film not produced in the U.S.A. is somehow second-drawer.

DAVID ENGLISH Somerville, Massachusetts

Oscars Wild

With regard to Leslie Bennetts's "Oscar Mire" [April], let's stop the Carrbashing once and for all. Allan Carr has brought so much joy to the public that it seems to me that he, not the socalled Old Guard of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has a real feeling for what the public wants. Let's face it, the bottom line in Hollywood is selling tickets, and this man sells tickets. The sixty-first Oscar telecast was the highest-rated of the five most recent Oscar shows, so why all the vitriol?

ROBERT L. SAMUELS Beverly Hills, California

In her list of complaints about last year's Academy Awards ceremony, Leslie Bennetts cites "the embalmed-looking parade of ancient luminaries that included Dorothy Lamour, Alice Faye, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans." What's the point here? That getting old is shameful enough, but getting old and appearing in public is inexcusable?

BARRY OWEN San Francisco, California

Madame X

This is a request for clarification regarding my photo of Frank Sinatra, President Kennedy, and Gloria Cahn used in Gerri Hirshey's "The Last Act of Judith Exner" [April]. Your caption gives the impression that the lady next to J.F.K. is Judith Exner, when in fact it is Gloria Cahn, then wife of songwriter Sammy Cahn.

PHIL STERN Los Angeles, California

Letters to the editor should he sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number to: The Editor, Vanity Fair, 350 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017. The letters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity.