I salute you for your tribute to television's best, Michael Learned and all of the Waltons (PEOPLE, Jan. 29). For seven years both the lady and the show have overwhelmed me with their creative excellence and integrity in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties.
Amy L. Mowrey
Baltimore
What? Only one small mention of David Harper who plays Jim-Bob? This endearing actor has more charm in his little finger and gives a more believable performance than all those Walton children put together.
Connie Hundertmark
Kew Gardens Hills, N.Y.
That courageous actress, Ellen Corby, has given us all a lesson in living.
Lynn Felton
Portsmouth, Va.
Power to The Waltons. Too bad it's getting beaten by a man from outer space who says silly things like "na-no, na-no" and acts like a 3-year-old.
Mark Bosselman
Evanston, Ill.
City Sidewalks
How fascinating and encouraging that two of the successfully married couples featured in this issue met while walking their dogs in big cities: the Flaxenburgs in Philadelphia and the Berkses in New York City. A nice change from all the bad press our "best friends" have been receiving in cities of late.
Sheila Smith
Milroy, Pa.
Robert Berks
If Robert Berks really wants to pay tribute to Albert Einstein, he would add a big charge of TNT to his monument. I'm not an authority on beauty, but I do know something about "ugly." BOOM!!
Heidi Swan
Cambridge, Mass.
I would give my right arm to see Berks' new masterpiece in person. Just viewing your picture of his Einstein bronze, I see beyond the genius to the gentle soul of the lover of the violin and Mozart. Berks has for me captured the true essence of the physicist.
Linda Van Elsen
Newton, Iowa
Lillian Rogers Parks
Mrs. Calvin Coolidge was much taller than 4'10", so how could White House seamstress Mrs. Parks possibly fit into her castoffs?
Diane Swanson
Arlington, Mass.
"I just hemmed them up," says Mrs. Parks. Her favorite castoff was the red dress worn by Mrs. Coolidge in the famous portrait [left] by Howard Chandler Christy, which hangs in the White House.—ED.
Lauren Bacall
After reading Lauren Bacall's Own Words, I wanted to say something profound, but the only word I can come up with is "marvelous." What a marvelous attitude. What a marvelous lady.
Evan Daniels
Tulsa
Wallace & Klein
"Marjie's no Beverly Hills Jewish princess who would be home sick for nine months," says Michael Klein regarding his wife's pregnancy. Mr. Klein, it's "Jewish Portnoys" like you who give us Jewish girls a bad name.
Karen Cotton
Toronto
Michael Klein's poor "Midwestern goy" lives in a Brentwood estate with a Mercedes, Rolls and Porsche, a masseur twice weekly and the luxury of not working full-time. But she "sure can carry." You better believe he didn't marry a Jewish princess. He hitched himself to a gentile American queen!
Patricia Liebman
Weston, Mass.
Picks & Pans
In your nasty little review of The Coup (Jan. 8), you assert there is something wrong about my allusion to the 1963 Togo coup. My sentence (page 288) reads, "In Togo, the clever Sylvanus Olympio was inelegantly gunned down by the hand of his successor, Colonel Eyadema." I fail to see where my sentence is in any particular incorrect, and I would be grateful to hear if I am wrong.
John Updike
Georgetown, Mass.
President Olympio's immediate successor was his brother-in-law and ex-premier, Nicolas Grunitzky. Grunitzky was forced out in yet another coup and Eyadema took over as president in 1967.—ED.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
