ARTISTS AND ENTERTAINERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

"If you wanted readers to ask, 'Where's what's his name? Why was he omitted?,' you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams."
PEG DUNGAN
Clio, Iowa

Of course, the selection of the top 20 artists and entertainers of the century for TIME's 100 [June 8] was a harder choice than that of the top leaders and revolutionaries. There have been so many influential creative people in this amazing century. What is certain is that the 20 who did make your list, along with the runners-up, all left an indelible mark on our world.
GRAHAM TUCKER
Kiama, Australia

There was a fundamental flaw in your selection process. By beginning your search for the 100 with neat categories and subcategories, you oversimplified a complicated century and avoided the most interesting debates. For example, by allowing room for only one writer and one visual artist, you begged the questions, Are writers and artists equally influential? Is a TV host as important? Could there be a second writer whose influence outweighs, say, Bart Simpson, your choice as cartoon character? You effortlessly sidestepped these questions. And so, again, an interesting idea is dumbed down for an impatient society.
PETER MARTINO
Roxbury, Conn.

You made very biased and disputable choices. It seems that with few exceptions, only Anglo-Saxons counted.
PIERLUIGI SANGIOVANNI
Milan, Italy

Your selections were tilted toward the second half of the 20th century. Radio and its influence should have been given more prominence. It was one of the century's major sources of entertainment and reigned for 30 years. Without radio, there would have been no TV. Radio first brought to prominence Jack Benny, Amos and Andy, Ozzie and Harriet, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Lucille Ball and Edward R. Murrow--not to mention the creation of the soap opera, newscast, quiz show, talk show, domestic comedy and live sportscast. Not bad for one little medium.
GERALD NACHMAN
San Francisco

Why did you include that trite, tire some hoax of the nonexistent "versatile artist" Cranford Glimp? It was demeaning to the genuine achievers you profiled and insulting to your readers.
ROBERT BRIDGES
Houston

Your cover art says it all: the decline of the West.
GEORGE HAMILTON
North Vancouver, Canada

I was disappointed to see so little attention given to composer George Gershwin. It is no accident that some people call him the American Mozart. He, like Mozart, made high art out of a commonplace style of composing and performing music. Art that has staying power can, and often does, come from the most unlikely origins.
PETER KNUDSVIG
Hof, Germany

Steven Spielberg can be counted as perhaps the most popular movie maker of all time, but he is not necessarily the most influential. None of his movies has revolutionized the cinematic language as did the films of D.W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Federico Fellini and Jean-Luc Godard. Spielberg's influence has been detrimental, spawning a generation of movie makers who produce only high-tech, infantile retreads of old movies and TV shows.
JACINTO SOTTO
Makati City, the Philippines

BART SIMPSON!

I was shocked at the selection of Bart Simpson as the cartoon character of the century [June 8]. Though an unfortunately large number of people watch the TV show, his character is a parent's worst nightmare: no values, no respect for others, no manners. You should apologize for selecting this hideous character.
DAVID GREPE
Mexico City

I missed the cartoon characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Charles Schulz's creations, from their modest beginnings through their phenomenal growth and complexities, revolutionized the panel strip and changed forever the nature of what can be said with simple, funny squiggles. There would be no Bart Simpson if not for Charlie Brown.
ELAN FLEISHER
London

AND WHAT ABOUT...?

Where was J.D. Salinger on your list of the century's most influential writers [June 8]? Salinger is one of the few authors who have been able to connect with American teenagers from the 1950s to today. The Catcher in the Rye has been a rite of passage for every generation of the past 40 years. I was greatly disappointed by the omission.
CASEY SCHWARTZ, 15
New York City

What about giving full coverage to actresses Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman and Sigourney Weaver?
JULIE HARTY
San Francisco

In the jazz-musician group, your runners-up include Wynton Marsalis, but he can in no way match Dizzy Gillespie or Thelonious Monk, who were instrumental in changing the form of jazz during the 1940s.
BO FORSLIND
Stockholm

Of course it wouldn't be possible to enumerate all the big names in 20th century music, but isn't it a pity that great ones like Bela Bartok, Benjamin Britten, Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwangler and Eugene Ormandy were not even mentioned? Your choices were not impartial, and they were not complete.
THOMAS HORVATH
Buenos Aires

It is difficult to understand how you could leave out writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose influence on literature is surely more important than that of Ralph Ellison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who were both included as runners-up.
NICOLAS SZEKASY
Buenos Aires

CONFUSION OVER NUKES

It is surprising that India and Pakistan are not being punished for exploding their nuclear devices [June 8]. The threat of nuclear war is shaping up in South Asia without the international community's working together to try to prevent it. India's government is even winning applause at home from those who confuse military might with self-esteem.
MOHAMMED ABDULLAH
Lawrenceville, N.J.

India and Pakistan have joined the Big Five nuclear powers, and what a hypocritical uproar they have caused! Sanctions against these two countries? Why? They are merely showing the world that they have as few brains as the Big Five. The U.S. started all this testing its weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands in the process. Britain tested its weapons in Australia, but nobody enforced sanctions. Pressure must be put on India and Pakistan to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The best way would be for the Big Five to commence dismantling their own stockpiles and lead by example.
JOAN CROFTS
Sydney

Although I am a proud Indian, I congratulate Pakistan for following suit after India's nuclear test. India and the rest of the world are now aware of Pakistan's nuclear potential. But it is high time for both governments to cut the rhetoric and sit down, discuss and resolve the long-standing issues of nuclear threat and Kashmir. Maybe Pakistan should consider rejoining India? We Indians would welcome it. As the Indian Union, we would have the best cricket team, best hockey team, one of the best pools of scientists and engineers, and an unimaginable military power.
KRISHNAN R. SETLUR
Schwalbach, Germany

RUSSIA'S SHAKY ECONOMY

Before the U.S. grants any substantial economic relief to Russia [June 8], that country should be compelled to make political and economic peace with its neighbors. Its financial woes are due in large part to its refusal to cooperate with former satellites and republics as equal partners. Instead of trading with the satellites and republics on even terms, Russia is forever trying to force its will on them. It recklessly boycotts all those that don't comply, and the result is greater damage to the Russian economy than to the intended victims. A good example is the recent propaganda attack on Latvia and the accompanying boycott of Latvian goods. The real reason for the action was Russia's desire to control the oil pipeline passing through Latvia.
ANDREJS BAIDINS
Wilmington, Del.

MICROSOFT'S WOES

I thought the government should stay out of Microsoft's business. But after reading your article on the upcoming antitrust action [June 1], I agree that the Justice Department makes good points. I am thankful there is a dominant operating system for PCs. But to use that system to force me to use certain programs, as Microsoft is attempting to do, is wrong.
BENJAMIN F. HAFER
Hilo, Hawaii

HERE COMES THE BRIDE

Readers became weepy when they read Roger Rosenblatt's "Letter to a Bride-to-Be," which looked forward to his daughter's wedding [June 8]. Joe McGann of East Orleans, Mass., had been steeling himself not to cry at his daughter's nuptials. His resolve is weakening. He wrote, "Now it's going to be the bride, the mother and me all crying!" When Betty Francis of Beirut read the article, she recalled her dad's reaction to her wedding: "I saw my father and how he felt: the loss of a daughter, the sadness amid joy and the fact that I was still his five-year-old girl were all there." Greg Walsh of Newburgh, Ind., wrote, "This essay made me cry as I thought about my own three daughters (13, 10 and 8) and envisioned their weddings in a few short years. My wallet feels tearful too."