CRUISE CONTROL

Letters

Your June 1996 cover photograph is simply explosive! Tom Cruise is as strong, beautiful, and graceful as a dancer.

J. D. PATRICK Glen Cove, New York

Jennet Conant's interview ["The Professional," June] made it perfectly clear how Tom Cruise differs from the rest of Tinseltown: he may have the fame and fortune, but his soul overflows with a hard-work ethic, determination, and extreme love for his family. It just goes to show that, as much as some try to deny it, movie stars are still undoubtedly human.

NADIYA ALI Rochester, New York

Tom Cruise is no flavor of the month. He still entertains, enthralls, and excites me in a way no one has since Redford and Newman. Despite the corn factor of some of his movies, Tom's presence and ability to engage an audience are testament to his talent.

LISA EAGYE Chico, California

Let's see: he played a cocky young kid in Risky Business, a cocky naval pilot in Top Gun, a cocky racecar driver in Days of Thunder, a cocky brother in Rain Man, a cocky lawyer in The Firm, a cocky Irishman in Far and Away, a cocky vampire in Interview with the Vampire, and a cocky naval lawyer in A Few Good Men. Did I miss any? Tom is a professional cocky guy.

SHARON STEELHAMMER Clyde, California

I have always admired the quiet strength of a person who exudes confidence. How refreshing to see that Tom Cruise, with his well-deserved fame and struggle to cope with the downside that comes with it, hasn't lost that quality. His desire and ability to push himself further are an inspiration.

WESLEE PARKER Milford, New Jersey

Of all your hyper control led, info-free celebrity covers, the Tom Cruise "profile" is the worst yet. The much-vaunted "joint interview" was a brief visit to the table by Nicole Kidman. The endless fawning over Cruise seemed designed to avoid topics such as Scientology, and Jennet Conant glances over the subjects of Brian De Palma, Don Simpson, and Cruise's less successful roles without saying anything substantive. If a celebrity interview cannot have at least some critical thinking, it simply isn't worth doing.

CHRIS HEWITT Minneapolis, Minnesota

Your June issue, featuring Tom Cruise, was first-class all the way. Thank you for such an incredibly well-written story on one of the finest actors today.

PATRICIA WALDMAN Yorba Linda, California

What a couple of great people Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are—so down-to-earth. Great-looking too!

SANDRA L. VALENZUELA Renton, Washington

The Jury Is In

Thank you for a remarkable piece of investigative reporting by Dominick Dunne ["Three Faces of Evil," June].

MATT ENGEL Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Having come from a background similar to that of Lyle and Erik Menendez,

I understand how children become emotionally paralyzed young adults, unable to exercise "options" other than the one the Menendez brothers finally picked. It's suicide, homicide, or pass on the abuse to innocent children.

I won't shed a tear or lose a moment's sleep over the deaths of Jose and Kitty Menendez. They were monsters. And if Lyle and Erik have become monsters, I know how they got that way.

SUE ELLEN MARSTON Ventura, California

Thank you, Mr. Dunne. You wrote by far the most fascinating commentary during the horrific O. J. Simpson saga. Although I am a complete stranger to the event and the players, I am touched and hurt deeply by the apparent inequity, ineptness, and cowardice of our legal and social systems. I still wish justice for Nicole and Ron, but don't see it, and that is a damned shame.

JULIETTE HANDLEY Stowe, Vermont

There is something ghoulish about the fascination that murder trials hold for Dominick Dunne. He seems to feel that he is entitled to act as judge and jury when the outcome is not to his taste. Someone should explain to him that O. J. Simpson was acquitted by a jury, legally, and fair and square, whether Mr. Dunne agrees with the verdict or not.

CHRISTINE ROUSE San Francisco, California

Dominick Dunne's insightful reporting about O. J. Simpson in Vanity Fair over the last year has been a revelation. Money, influence, and celebrity are prizes devoutly sought in this society, and we now hold their truths to be more self-evident than that of being created equal under the law. That so many African-Americans believe that the acquittal of O. J. Simpson assuaged the police brutality leveled against Rodney King and untold others frankly astounds me. For 20 years, O. J. Simpson has enjoyed a lifestyle and celebrity unknown to the majority of Americans. He represents a tiny fraction of the population. He is a rich, famous man who got away with murder.

SHARON WALLACE WHEAT Oakland, California

Mouna-Struck

I've lived in Palm Beach and Beverly Hills, flown on private jets, hobnobbed with royalty, partied on mega-yachts, owned a Rolls-Royce Corniche, drunk Cristal, kept time with a Rolex, and traveled with Louis Vuitton carry-ons, yet until I read the article on Mouna AlRashid ["Full Mouna Rising," by Bob Colacello, June], I never realized that I could be so totally turned off by overthe-top excess and conspicuous consumption. Mouna Al-Rashid is obviously searching for something that she doesn't own and can't buy: a strong sense of self.

Excuse me while I dump my designer duds so that I can shimmy back into a nicely worn pair of Lee jeans and cowboy boots.

TAMARA JEANNE Palm Beach, Florida

I thought that such gross displays of decadence existed only in fiction and film. Separate rooms for winter Chanel? Summer Chanel? Chanel accessories? NonChanels? Of course, I have nothing against wealth and good fashion, but such an extreme lack of discretion is truly repulsive.

BRIAN FRANKLIN Rantoul, Illinois

Regarding Mouna Al-Rashid, three words come to mind: shallow, shallow, and, furthermore, shallow.

GEORGE A. BANOSLINDNER Houston, Texas

Irving Unveiled

Intellectual dishonesty pervades Christopher Hitchens's comments on the wellknown Holocaust denier and Nazi apologist David Irving ["Hitler's Ghost," June].

Evidence of Irving's anti-Semitism can be found not only in stray remarks but also in a pattern of bias and deceit which characterizes his career as a whole. Hitchens should consult the speeches Irving has made over the past 13 years for the Institute for Historical Review, the leading Holocaust-denial outfit in the world.

David Irving has every right to make outrageous statements, and Christopher Hitchens likewise has every right to defend him. But their readers also have a right to know the truth.

ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN National director Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith New York, New York

Christopher Hitchens has touched on a curious fear in the Goebbels-biography uproar which is paralleled in the concealment of Third Reich art. Even Hitler displayed the work of his cultural enemies, albeit in vicious degradation, at the Degenerate Art exhibition of 1937. It was the most popular exhibition during the Reich, but not for the Nazis' intended reasons. How can serious critics, historians, and publishers be so willing not to know? It is a totalitarian tactic to hide, debase, or destroy documentation because of the researcher's perceived political bent. Re-examination and debate are what define scholarship, and enlightenment can come from any source.

ROBERT VON DASSANOWSKY Colorado Springs, Colorado

Daniel Goldhagen's notion that German anti-Semitic prejudice was the sole enemy is demonstrably false, and both Raul Hilberg and Hitchens are reasonable in their judgment: "If these people want to speak, let them."

HANS ASKENASY Laguna Beach, California

A Familiar Tune

Reading Peter Duchin's "O Lucky Man" [June] was like bumping into old friends at a cocktail party.

JILL M. ISHKANIAN Santa Barbara, California

The Peters Principle

Your detailed article on the machinations behind the careers of Jon Peters and Peter Guber ["The Gold Diggers," by Kim Masters and Nancy Griffin, June] was compelling primarily in its ability to render its subjects thoroughly loathsome. Only in the "creative" nexus of Hollywood would marginally talented buffoons such as Peters and Guber be able to sustain the illusion for so long.

SHARON LANGWORTHY Chicago, Illinois

Jon Peters is the epitome of the seven deadly sins, and an extreme example of our skewed American value system, which places wealth and power above all else. Unfortunately, he hasn't learned that the only things of value in this life are intangible. They are things such as love, generosity, compassion, and spirituality. While I have none of his wealth or power, I am richer than Jon Peters will ever be.

CHRISTINE CARR Denver, Colorado

Hot Rodman

I was offended by the vulgar content of George Wayne's "interview" with Dennis Rodman in the June issue ["Dennis 2 Society"]. Language like that may be appropriate in a locker room, but not on the pages of a general-circulation magazine.

ROBERT RIGGINS Santa Fe, New Mexico

I usually enjoy the monthly "Vanities" interview, knowing full well its devil's advocate ploy. The interview George Wayne had with Dennis Rodman, however, was totally tasteless and insulting to its readers.

CYNTHIA RAYBURN Lake City, Florida

Next time you consider wallowing in the mud, you might remember this valuable advice: Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.

MARCY COGLIANESE Oshkosh, Wisconsin

High Fair

I'm from the old school, not the kind of person who passes compliments around gratuitously. Vanity Fair deserves accolades and big applause. It is flying high with the eagles.

SAMUEL KOMOROFF Brooklyn, New York

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.