Letters: Jun. 4, 1984

Still Nifty at 50

To the Editors:

Shirley MacLaine [SHOW BUSINESS, May 14] is a bright star with lots of twinkle. She has everything together—her body, mind and soul.

Mary Shapiro Georgetown, Mass.

Hooray! A dazzling tribute to a dazzling woman.

Catherine Stroud Vodrey East Liverpool, Ohio

Shirley is an inspiration to all women approaching 50, and to those who have already reached and passed the Big Five-O. Judith Furman Washington, D.C.

It sounds as though Shirley gets her biggest kick in front of the mirror singing I Get a Kick out of You.

Barbara Armentano Manchester, Conn.

I appreciate Shirley MacLaine's quest to know herself and the meaning of life. There are few people who are willing to pursue the answer to the question of what happens when the curtain falls for the final tune. If Shirley has lived before, we can probably expect her back again. Her next incarnation: the encore.

Stephen M. Bartos Silver Spring, Md.

Ah, those gorgeous gams! At 50 she's still nifty.

Bob Blackall Horseheads, N. Y.

What the world does not need is a middle-aged elf. For ten years Shirley MacLaine has been complaining that writers cannot provide good roles for women, while Meryl Streep, Ellen Burstyn and Diane Keaton have been acting in terrific pictures.

Paul Burkhart Los Angeles

When Pete Hamill labels Shirley MacLaine's spiritual beliefs "intellectually ridiculous," he is correct. But the same words would have to be applied to love, dreams and what most of us experience as beauty. My thanks to Shirley for the reminder that a life governed by intellect alone is an impoverished one indeed.

Carla Scheidlinger San Diego

Innocent Abroad

Your article on Reagan's trip to China [NATION, May 14] reads more like a section from Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad than a description of what could have been an important meeting between two world powers. Only Reagan can make diplomacy look like a family vacation.

John D. Miller Berea, Ohio

In spite of all the pomp and pseudofriendly chitchat, President Reagan's visit shows that what China wants from the West is goods and expertise and the money to pay for them without an alliance against the Soviet Union. The Chinese Communist Party knows that its strength is international Communism, which is centered in the U.S.S.R.

Jacques Lagace Sainte-Foy, Que.

In America's history Ronald Reagan is the only President who is old enough to cope with the gerontocracy of Chinese Communists.

Chu Chen-hua, Dean

Graduate School of Foreign Language

Fu Hsing Rang College

Taipei

Love That Misery

Of all the delicious and malevolent self-inflicted agonies you describe in "The Appeal of Ordeal" [ESSAY, May 14], only marathon dancing is wholly understandable. It was done during the Depression in order to have a place to eat and sleep, standing up.

Sylvia Terrell Los Angeles

One must wonder how Charles Krauthammer can call watching the cinematic wonder of Napoleon an ordeal, let alone liken it to running 100 miles over the Sierra Nevada.