PLAY GODS

Letters

The variety of Snowdon's photographs in your celebration of British theater ["Empire of the Stage," November] was superb and caught the characters perfectly. This was the finest piece of photojournalism I've seen in years.

ROGER TAPLIN Weymouth, England

Jolly good job, chaps (as they would say in my native England). John Heilpern's words and Snowdon's photographs (he just keeps getting better and better) combined to produce a fascinating look into the English enchantment with the theater.

EMMA ZEMKO Boulder, Colorado

Your article on the British stage was wonderful. The sadness is that you can't do the same for American theater.

STANLEY SOBLE Los Angeles, California

There is no argument that the British have a cultural dominion of the stage. They have had hundreds of years to bring it into being, while in the United States we have had just a little more than 200 years to develop our idea of entertainment for the world.

T. A. KUMMEROW Menifee, California

Although all of Snowdon's photos are wonderful, there are a few that one wishes to clip out and pin up. One such snap is that of Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole—parts of the backbone of British storytelling, both on and off the stage.

SUNIL NAYAR New York, New York

That photograph of Helen Mirren was worth the price of a year's subscription.

GARY REAMS Fort Worth, Texas

I was thrilled to see Nicholas Hytner included in your piece about the British theater. I was an extra in his current project, a film version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Hytner treated everyone as a professional and expressed disdain for the term "extra," insisting that in England we are considered an integral part of the film and should be referred to as actors. I would willingly wear 30 pounds of wool and uncomfortable shoes for 16-hour days at below minimum wage for a chance to work with Nicholas Hytner again.

ALLISON M. STATON Cambridge, Massachusetts

I have spent many happy hours in the stalls watching those talented Brits ply their craft. I particularly admire Sir Ian McKellen and have followed his career for years. But then, who couldn't pick a favorite out of that bunch?

KATHY HARTER North Hollywood, California

Saigon Not Forgotten

The excerpt from William Prochnau's book Once upon a Distant War ["The Boys of Saigon," November] ensures that I will read it in its entirety now that it is published.

My brother was in the DMZ and involved in the Tet offensive. My ex-husband, also a Marine, labored in headquarters company in Da Nang. In the beginning I believed what the American public was being sold. In the end I knew enough to question and doubt and disbelieve. In 1988, I tentatively picked up Neil Sheehan's book A Bright Shining Lie, unsure what version of reality lay between the covers. I read, I was educated—finally the truth! Thanks to these brave, articulate journalists, may we never forget.

KAREN REID South Yarmouth, Massachusetts

It has been more than 30 years, but "the Boys of Saigon" still leave a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who fought there. In my view, these journalists were there not for the truth but rather for the byline. They cost us a lot of American casualties.

I. THOMAS SHEPPARD Bainbridge Island, Washington

If I understand Charles Fleming's reporting correctly ["The Young and the Ovitzless," November], then I am to feel sympathy for Jay Moloney and David O'Connor, two supposed "Auschwitz survivors" who busily amassed a fortune in Michael Ovitz's "torture chamber." The suggestion is appalling.

Anyone interested in lives of authentic consequence should read William Prochnau's article "The Boys of Saigon"— there were a few young men who did something meaningful.

ROBERT MILLER Berkeley, California

Ralph and Rapine

Leslie Bennetts may find Ralph Fiennes "supercilious and impenetrable" ["A Fiennes Madness," November], but there are those of us in the audience who find Fiennes the most sensitive, beautiful, and haunting ly fine actor since Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando broke our collective hearts in the 50s.

PEGGY M. JOHNSON Chula Vista, California

Was that Ralph Fiennes on your November cover, or Tina Turner?

CLARE HIGGINS Hastings, New York

Thanks for the divine cover of Ralph Fiennes looking utterly gorgeous.

GRACE LA MELL Boston, Massachusetts

Loyal to Mohamed

Your article "Holy War at Harrods" [by Maureen Orth, September] purports that I am the author of a particularly unpleasant and condescending reference to Mr. Mohamed A1 Fayed. I dispute this absolutely. Indeed, during an interview I gave your writer I made it clear I have both admiration and the highest regard for Mr. A1 Fayed, especially for his frequent and generous donations to charity. Instead I find I am used to support as nasty a piece of attempted character assassination as I have come across in 30 years as a journalist. The move to discredit Mr. A1 Fayed and his brothers was started by the now morally bankrupt and terminally damaged British government. It is a pity that a magazine as distinguished as yours should jump aboard this busted bandwagon, and so late in the day. Fortunately, I suspect, your readers are capable of much better judgment.

ALAN FRAME London, England

MAUREEN ORTH REPLIES: On the afternoon of November 15,1994,1 interviewed. Alan Frame on the record at his then office at the Daily Express. My story included Mr. Frame's comments about Mohamed Fayed verbatim from my contemporaneous notes of our conversation. The article referred to Mr. Frame as a friend of Mr. Fayed's. After our interview, in fact, Mr. Frame was prominently mentioned as the intended editor of Today, a newspaper Mr. Fayed was negotiating to buy. (The deal fell through.) It's also interesting to note that Mr. Frame's letter to Vanity Fair was sent from 55 Park Lane in London, a building owned by Mr. Fayed.

A Question of Zimbalists

With reference to the question Christopher Hitchens posed to Gore Vidal regarding Charlton Heston and Ben Hur ["La Dolce Vidal," November]: if cinema history serves me right, it was to producer Sam Zimbalist, not Efrem Zimbalist Jr., that "poor old Chuck" was reading at Cinecitta during the filming of Ben Hur in 1959.

BERNADETTE M. CLANCY Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Hollywood Shuffle

David McClintick's article on David Begelman ["Final Exposure," November] states that "the poker group was perhaps the most important social nexus of Begelman's life and dated back decades. It included Walter Matthau, the director Stanley Donen," et al. I was not a member of that or any poker game. I do not play cards.

STANLEY DONEN Los Angeles, California

CORRECTION: In Charles Fleming's article on CAA ("The Young and the Ovitzless," November), Richard Lovett was incorrectly identified as Robert De Niro's agent. Mr. De Niro's agent is Fred Specktor.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Fuchs, former chairman of HBO, Larry King and Dick Wolf, producer of Law & Order,were inadvertently omittedfrom the TV Hall of Fame list in the December issue.

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