READERS BITE BACK

Letters

Salisbury's Take

The December issue just possibly is the best single issue of any magazine, period. Marietta ["Marietta Tree: Serious Money," by Marie Brenner] is brilliant beyond belief, Peter Matthiessen ["Higher Matthiessen," by Michael Shnayerson] almost as good. I don't care for Bette Midler, but "La Belle Bette," by Kevin Sessums, is a splendid piece of work. Annie Leibovitz's portfolio ["V.F.'s 1991 Hall of Fame"] excels it all. Plus Gail Sheehy ["Red Star Falling"] and the ever odd-focus Roxane Witke ["The Last Days of Madame Mao"]. Quite honestly, such fireworks should be forbidden by law.

HARRISON SALISBURY Taconic, Connecticut

Bennetts has blown the lid off the biggest cover-up since Watergate. I am not a Catholic, but when I hear Holy Mother the Church's high-and-mighty rhetoric against pro-choice, my stomach turns. By condemning abortion as a sin against the unborn while it discreetly recycles child-molesters, the church has sunk to a new low. No wonder most of the Catholics I know are ex.

LINDA MEIERHOFFER Leawood, Kansas

As a fellow Catholic, I would like to say that New Orleans district attorney Harry Connick Sr. should have consulted the guardians of the church regarding the distinctions between sin and crime, as well as the earthly penance that would be paid for the sins of Father Cinel.

HELEN GRANBERRY LEWIS

Gulfport, Mississippi

Unholy Acts

Thank you for publishing Leslie Bennetts's "Unholy Alliances" [December]. Although, as I point out in my book, Abused Boys (Fawcett), more than 90,000 boys under the age of thirteen are sexually abused each year in America, very little has been written on the subject. Most people like to believe that childabusers are dirty old men in filthy raincoats who snatch children from playgrounds. Unfortunately, a child is three times more likely to be sexually abused by a family member or some trusted adult such as a teacher, a baby-sitter, or a clergyman. Childhood sexual abuse is so common in this country that if you know ten people, you know at least one victim.

MIC HUNTER, Therapist and Psychologist St. Paul, Minnesota

I don't know who is more despicable, Father Cinel, the local archdiocese, or Cinel's lawyer, Arthur "Buddy" Lemann. If the gay community backs the issues Lemann intends to pursue, it will lose much of what it has strived for—shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

MRS. D. MURILLO Beckenham, Kent, England

Leslie Bennetts takes an unjustified liberty in describing incidents of sexual abuse by clergy as Canada's "epidemic of priest pedophilia." Without taking anything away from the horridness' of the crimes, we must put such cases in perspective. Reportedly, about 40 of the 14,345 Catholic priests and brothers in the dominion have been charged with or convicted of such crimes, which works out to .3 percent, or fewer than 1 in 360. That does not make the forty cases any less disgusting, but neither does it signal an epidemic.

DAVID PAOLINI Toronto, Ontario

I commend you for running the story on the Catholic hierarchy's problem with clerical pedophilia. This is the same hierarchy that is campaigning vigorously to get tax support for its sectarian schools, to outlaw freedom of conscience on abortion, and to block efforts to deal intelligently with the worldwide population problem. It is disgusting that so many politicians are willing to be seduced by these guys.

ALEC RANDALL Aspen Hill, Maryland

Your article reminds us that our society must find effective ways of reaching out compassionately to people with sexual problems—be they clergy, counselors, Scout leaders, or others. The Franciscans at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City recognize the value of selfhelp groups such as Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (S.L.A.A.) and Survivors of Incest Anonymous (S.I.A.). Space at St. Francis's premises is provided throughout the week for their meetings, as well as for a wide base of ecumenical groups. Confessors and spiritual directors are available at the church for those who seek such assistance. Recourse to a higher power is a valid option for all who seek a better understanding of how to handle their sexual needs.

FATHER CASSIAN A. MILES, O.F.M.

New York, New York

There'd be less unholy clerical sex were celibacy optional again.

JULIA BUONOCORE New York, New York

"Suffer the little children to come unto me" takes on a whole new meaning when applied to Dino Cinel. It's mindboggling that for all its pompous preaching about being the consummate authority on what's right and wrong with the world, the Catholic Church isn't tripping over itself to condemn criminal priests. Instead of using its formidable power to bring to light the most heinous among us—the child-molesters—it chooses to bury its head in the sand while lives are being ruined.

DIANNE L. GALLAGHER Bedford, Massachusetts

Doughty Marietta

I thought Marie Brenner's article "Marietta Tree: Serious Money" [December] was absolutely wonderful. Marietta was an extraordinary woman, as beautiful inside as she was outside, because she had a spirit that really made her light up and give out. She will be very much missed.

BROOKE ASTOR New York, New York

I am the person to whom Marietta wrote just days before her death that she was unwell but expected to be on her feet by Labor Day. She was a woman of immense charm and boundless energy who saw herself as a citizen of the world. She visited Australia twice a year for about ten years, and for a long time was the only female director of an Australian public company, Lend Lease. Marietta was also president of the American Friends of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, and in this capacity arranged several large gifts. She concentrated on the positive and diminished the negative. She taught us that by getting up a bit earlier each day one could achieve a great deal more. Brenner's article captured well the spirit of a rare person. We shall not see her likes again.

HENRY GILLESPIE South Yarra, Australia

Marie Brenner's article on Marietta Tree is extraordinary. I first met Marietta in the late sixties. I was a graduate student and took a summer job at the 1967 New York State Constitutional Convention. As an intern, I sat on a stool waiting for a delegate to give me an errand. I sat next to Marietta. From that summer on, she was enormously kind to me personally and very helpful professionally. It was Marietta who urged me to take the opportunity to lead Wisconsin. "You'll get more invitations and be taken more seriously if you lead a great university," she told me. "Go. New York will always be here if you want to return." She was something.

DONNA SHALALA, Chancellor University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin

Marie Brenner caught Marietta Tree perfectly. Marietta was in the room when I was reading the piece. The last timeI saw Marietta was when we went together to Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s wedding on May 30. He is my godfather. Marietta wore a great hat that she said she hadn't worn in more than fifteen years. She strode down Fifth Avenue with a flirtatious look in her eye—and legs to match. I remarked how nice it was that Douglas's three daughters had accepted the marriage. "Not at all," she replied. "They have obviously settled the money issue. It always comes down to that, Jamie." How wonderful to have known her almost all my life, and how great to read about her in such a truly lovely piece.

JAMES G. NIVEN New York, New York

Safe Bette

Kevin Sessums' brilliant story on Bette Midler ["La Belle Bette," December] is the first to cut straight to the bone of just exactly who Bette von Haselberg truly is. Midler's spirited yet poignant advice to those who have closed their eyes to the AIDS crisis (which, much to my regret, was not pointed out by our grande dame as being something other than a gay disease) told all of us that underneath that vivacious and tenacious exterior lies a truly comforting individual. Anyone who can accomplish what Bette Midler has in her extraordinary life, and still manage to gaze in girlish awe at Mercedes Bass's glamour, deserves the most fragrant and colorful garden of plaudits. What a world!

BENJAMIN A. SIMON Laguna Beach, California

I'm sure I'm not the only person who's been a Midler fan from the beginning, and I'm still here. She gets better and better with each project she takes on.

MICHAEL MILITELLO Lakewood, Ohio

I would like to add a few details about the evening Ahmet Ertegun saw Bette Midler for the first time and signed her to an Atlantic Records contract. Friends had told me about this singer I must see. But Bette was the only woman allowed into the baths, so I waited until she appeared at Upstairs at the Downstairs. During her entire engagement, I had the front-row-center table. The night before Ahmet came to the club, I invited a friend who was in from L.A. She fell instantly under the spell of the diva, and told me that another friend of ours, a C.M.A. agent based in Mexico City, was also visiting New York and, furthermore, was a friend of Ertegun's. We called the agent, and the date was set with Ahmet for the next night. When he saw Bette, he made up his mind on the spot. So for the sake of my grown children and my ego, I must grab some credit here.

JUDITH LEIGHTON New York, New York

I was angered by the statement made by "one Midler scriptwriter" that "highlevel production executives" at Disney "comment on her appearance... and how nobody wants to see her in a romance." This kind of thinking doesn't surprise me (it's what put Michelle Pfeiffer in Kathy Bates's role in Frankie and Johnny and ruined the movie, in my opinion), but as one of the legions of filmgoing women who do not resemble angular Nordic goddesses, I find it highly offensive.

SHARON GOODMAN New York, New York

The article by Kevin Sessums is quite possibly the most original and insightful piece about Bette Midler that I have read in eighteen years. I am saving this one.

ROBERTO GUERRERO Key Biscayne, Florida

Three cheers—no, ten cheers for Bette! She never fails to show her true colors—sometimes deep blue, other times hot pink, but always as vibrant and proud as a peacock. Strut on, Bette, strut on.

PERRY TRITTO New York, New York

Conspiracy Theory

Thank you and Ron Rosenbaum for "The Strange Death of Danny Casolaro" [December]. I recently read that Jon Peters will soon be starting shooting on October Surprise, based on exNational Security Council specialist Gary Sick's book. Whether the general public accepts the work of Dan Casolaro or not, it seems to me that there are enough characters involved in this investigation for Peters to make several motion pictures.

PAUL J. HANSON San Gabriel, California

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. The letters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity.