Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘Longing for Robert Moses’
Re: “Longing for Robert Moses,” Francis Morrone, Page 1, August 22, 2005. Maybe H.G. Wells in “The New Machiavelli” said it best, “The days of the Prince who planned and directed and was the source and centre of all power are ended. We are in a condition of affairs infinitely more complex, in which every prince and statesman is something of a servant and every intelligent human being something of a Prince. … No King, no council, can seize and torture me; no Church, no nation silence me. Such powers of ruthless and complete suppression have vanished. But that is not because power has diminished, but because it has increased and become multitudinous, because it has dispersed itself and specialised. This age, far beyond all previous ages, is full of powerful men, men who might, if they had the will for it, achieve stupendous things … think of the progress of physical and mechanical science, of medicine and sanitation during the last century, when I measure the increase in general education and average efficiency, the power now available for human service, the merely physical increment, and compare it with anything that has ever been at man’s disposal before, and when I think of what a little straggling, incidental, undisciplined and uncoordinated minority of inventors, experimenters, educators, writers and organizers has achieved this development of human possibilities, achieved it in spite of the disregard and aimlessness of the huge majority, and the passionate resistance of the active dull, imaginations grow giddy with dazzling intimations of the human splendors the justly organized state may yet attain.”
QUESHAUN SUDBURY
Long Island City, N.Y.
‘What’s On, Doc?’
The New York Sun’s Arts + Weekend Edition has done it again! Music maven Will Friedwald’s entertaining and informative essay on the series “I Love To Singa: Cartoon Musicals” [“What’s On, Doc?” Arts & Letters, August 19, 2005], being shown at the Walter Reade Theater, brought back pleasant memories of going to the Saturday matinee at our local theater. We were treated to the great Warner Bros, MGM, and Columbia cartoons that featured caricatures of Sinatra, Crosby, Jolson, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Kay Kyser, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa, to name just a few. My personal favorites were Tex Avery’s “Little Tinker,” where a skunk dons a Sinatra suit thinking he can get the girls to go after him and forget he’s a skunk. Then there’s the “Tom & Jerry” cartoon where Tom puts on a zoot suit and serenades his gal pal with “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?”
Another classic is the “Sniffles” cartoon where he’s caught in a maze of books featuring Harry James, Dorsey, and a slew of famous bandleaders on the cover of each book. Best of all, there’s the farmer Porky Pig cartoon where he’s recruiting Crosby and Sinatra to croon to the hens to see who lays the most eggs. Ah, yes. Those were the days when talent meant everything, as opposed to today, when violence is acceptable in so-called cartoons and movies and literature. Nothing makes sense in the entertainment industry today, but I thank Will Friedwald for his ability to rouse the little boy in me and make me want to head on over to the Walter Reade Theater. One thing, Mr. Friedwald – just where is the Walter Reade Theater located?
HERB STARK
Massapequa, N.Y.
Editor’s Note: The Walter Reade Theater is located at Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street.
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