GIBSON'S BIBLE

A passionate debate; Bonnie Fuller fights back; never forget The Best; Indiana Jones-ing; Dominick Dunne opens up; Irene Dunne remembered: a list that resonates

Why this obsession with who killed Christ ["The Gospel According to Mel," by Christopher Hitchens, March]? I can't help feeling that those who share Mel Gibson's intense interest in this question, aside from a few academics whose specialty embraces the arcane, are members of a group whose motives are more sinister than scholarly.

I suggest that assignment of guilt for the death of Christ is a campaign waged by those eager to add to their arsenal any weapon that will give them an advantage in the fruitless war of "My God is better than your God." It's a ludicrous, shameless war that has cost the lives of so many millions over so many millennia. It's fought by self-anointed true believers on both sides who wrap themselves in a mantle of selfrighteousness as they ignore the teachings of those whose names they invoke—words of tolerance and the brotherhood of man.

BRECKENRIDGE McKINLEY Northridge, California

HOW WONDERFUL it was for me to read something I've wondered about since I saw my first Jesus movie. How can anyone be blamed for his death if he knew the betrayals and Crucifixion were in the cards and nothing could be done about it?

NANCY G. PETERS Denver, Colorado

INSTEAD OF STATING that "the Gospels were composed a long time afterward, by many hands," Hitchens should have spent a modicum of time researching the truth about the Gospels. He could have consulted such noted scholars as Dr. Craig Blomberg, Dr. Bruce Metzger, Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, Dr. John McRay, Dr. Gregory Boyd, and Dr. Paul Maier for assistance. He would have found that the Gospels compare very favorably with other generally accepted ancient documents such as Tacitus's Annals of Imperial Rome, Josephus's The Jewish War, and Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars in terms of authenticity, accuracy, and reliability. Either Hitchens disbelieves all generally accepted ancient documents or he has a selective prejudice against the Gospels.

Equally fallacious was the implication of his statement that Christian authorities used the whip, the pyre, the rack, and the wheel on millions of non-Christians and heretical Christians in the Inquisition. The implication was that without Christianity the world would be less dangerous and better. The high-end estimate of people tragically killed by those who perverted the teachings of Jesus and failed to act like Christians in 20 centuries of Christian history is about 17 million peopie (which is 17 million too many). Comparing it to the roughly 127 million people killed by the secularists Hitler, Mao, and Stalin in the 20th century alone points out that the real danger lies in the secular humanism espoused by Hitchens.

PHILLIP R. LINGAFELT Roanoke, Virginia

DOES MEL GIBSON really believe that the average moviegoer is educated enough to research the facts on his own in order to check the validity of Gibson's claims? This is America. Many of the people who might be interested in seeing this movie would probably run home to catch the next American Idol, and simply accept what they see on-screen as the reality of Jesus's Crucifixion.

DIANE SENDER Brooklyn, New York

I WAS BORN AND RAISED in Chile, and spent 17 years of my life under the dictatorship of General Pinochet, so I humbly believe that I have experienced a lack of freedom of speech and censorship of the arts. It's an experience that I do not recommend. I am a New Yorker now.

Any lover of free expression and the arts should go to see this film. We should welcome Mr. Gibson's attempt to make us feel immersed for those two hours in a personal journey of universal themes. To speculate as to whether this is a fantasy or the most accurate depiction of the passion of Jesus misses the point.

PATRICIO LYNCH New York, New York

I OBJECT TO HITCHENS'S bringing Mel Gibson's father into the issue. Diane Sawyer tried the same thing in her interview and it didn't work. Mr. Gibson refused to dishonor his father, and I say good for him. That's as it should be, especially in a world where we're constantly hearing about celebrity-family arguments, breakups, and lawsuits.

NANCY HASIMOTO Sautee, Georgia

GIBSON DOES NOT SEEM to understand that no Gospel writer witnessed the events that he chronicles. From looking at the picture of James Caviezel as Jesus, on page 202, I'd say that Gibson's film is the Gospel According to Hollywood. Jesus has highlights in his hair!

NATALIE KRAUSS BIVAS Palo Alto, California

MARTIN SCORSESE made a film that offended a great number of Christians of all denominations, but somehow it was O.K. to offend all these believers' sensitivities. I remember the arguments when The Last Temptation of Christ came out: It's only a movie. And the director has the right to film his interpretation of the novelist's take on the Gospels; it doesn't matter that nowhere in the Gospels is it written that Jesus even thought about having sex with Mary Magdalene. We were told that most conservative Christians were judging the film without even seeing it! But now, of course, the shoe is on the other foot. Now it's liberals and Jews and atheists who are criticizing the film without even having seen it.

NORA PORBEN Miami, Florida

MAY I COMPLIMENT Christopher Hitchens on an extremely intelligent, complex, honest, and brave article. I hope Mel Gibson reads it.

MICHEL SOVA New York, New York

THAT FULLER WOMAN

WHILE THERE ARE certainly things I take issue with in the lengthy profile you have done on me, I feel I have to address one of the anecdotes that Judith Newman reported in her story ["Bonnie Fuller's Fear Factor," March].

It involves her totally incorrect version of my family's trip to Hawaii through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. First, and most important, the outrage I allegedly displayed when informed that our travel would be limited to coach never happened. As I'm sure you are aware, my daughter, Leilah, was diagnosed with leukemia almost two years ago. We were approached by the Make-a-Wish organization like any other parents of a very seriously ill child. The organization does wonderful work visiting ill children and their families, keeping their spirits up, and helping them focus on something other than the seriousness of the disease or their treatments. As is Make-aWish's way, the foundation offered to make Leilah's wish come true. This, as I'm sure you can imagine, is an incredibly exciting thing for a sick child to focus on.

Leilah's wish was for our family to go to Hawaii. The foundation started making plans immediately to fulfill that wish even though she would not be well enough to travel for a year. Knowing the financial restraints that charities face, I fully understood that it would be handling the airfare at the coach fare. As a mother who is used to traveling with my husband and four children, I'm a pragmatist who knows the reality of family travel. Since I am fortunately in a position to cover the costs of upgrading to business class for a 12-hour trip, I simply proactively took care of that upgrade immediately. There were absolutely no temper tantrums to Make-a-Wish, which I revere and actively support. No power plays.

In this respect, I must ask for this to be corrected. People accuse me of many things, of which many are inaccurate. But when my family's integrity is questioned, especially when it involves managing our daughter's illness, I as a mother and as a fellow editor can't understand why this even made it into the article.

BONNIE FULLER New York, New York

I FELT SOMEWHAT more sympathetic toward Bonnie Fuller after reading Newman's piece. I think Fuller delves into her work with such zeal in part because she's a workaholic and takes pride in her craft, in part as a way to work through some of the harsh realities she's been dealt, such as her daughter's leukemia.

LINDA SHERIDAN Forest Hills, New York

FULLER SLEAZES UP every magazine she touches. I used to enjoyGlamour,until she took over and turned it into something truly distasteful.

ORYSIA TRACZ Winnipeg, Manitoba

I WORKED FOR BONNIE FULLER as an entertainment editor on and off for nearly 12 years atYM, Marie Claire, Glamour,andCosmopolitanmagazines. Although I was often confounded and astounded by her decision-making processes and editorial sensibilities, rarely did a day go by when I didn't learn about the value of tapping into the consciousness of mainstream American women and putting the needs and desires of the reader first. Bonnie may indeed be every editor's biggest nightmare, but if you've got the desire to learn, the guts to put up with her, the inner strength to pick your battles, and the wisdom to listen closely to her editorial tirades and tantrums, it can be the most valuable editorial experience of a lifetime.

LORI BERGER Entertainment director RedbookandCosmoGirlmagazines Santa Monica, California

WHAT WOMEN WANTED

HOW DELIGHTFUL IT WAS to read about one of my favorite three-girl films of all time, The Best of Everything ["The Lipstick Jungle," by Laura Jacobs, March]. As an up-and-coming film-and-television makeup artist in Los Angeles, I am often so frustrated by the lack of film-history background some of our younger and even middle-aged stars have. It's difficult to try to refer to an old film as inspiration for my work when half the time most of the cast and crew have no idea what film I'm talking about.

I'll never forget Joan Crawford as the bitchy publishing executive. That character has been reincarnated for me many times in this industry. I always try to remember how Caroline Bender worked her way up to the top and still remained polite, considerate of her co-workers, and stylish—even when she got drunk and passed out on Stephen Boyd's couch.

ELLEN VIEIRA Los Angeles, California

ONE REASON FOR THE SUCCESS of my brother Jerry Wald, who produced The Best of Everything, was his willingness to accept ideas from any source.

In 1936, I was a reporter on a small New York newspaper. My editor told me a story which the papers couldn't print. The German-American Bund held proHitler street-corner rallies, which the police could not stop because of the First Amendment. A group of Jewish gangsters solved this impasse by beating the daylights out of the Nazi sympathizers while the police looked the other way. I sent this idea to Jerry, who commissioned Leonard Spigelgass to develop my story into the 1942 Humphrey Bogart hit All Through the Night.

In 1952, I came across a casebook by psychiatrist Robert Lindner, Rebel Without a Cause. I suggested that Jerry buy the book for its intriguing title alone. He did so and passed it on to director Nicholas Ray, who wrote a treatment which was developed into a classic screenplay by Stewart Stern, resulting in the James Dean-Sal Mineo-Natalie Wood hit.

MALVIN WALD Los Angeles, California

YOUR ARTICLE on The Best of Everything brought back wonderful memories of my youth. I went to see the film 12 times in two weeks at our old Strand Theatre, downtown. First, the Twentieth Century Fox searchlight logo, with the unusually dramatic wisp of music accompanying it, then the credits rolling over the New York skyline. New York never looked better!

I visited the Seagram Building a few years ago. It was a little past its prime but still had the familiar marble lobby and the facade of the Four Seasons restaurant. The remembered magic of the film engulfed me as I stood in that place.

The song from the film can be heard in every elevator in the world a hundred times a day. I gave a recording of it to the musidans at my daughter's wedding in 1997. They played it beautifully as she came down the stairs with me on her arm.

CHARLIE LAMBERT Memphis, Tennessee

BACKYARD BLOCKBUSTER

JIM WINDOLF'S STORY of the shot-byshot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark by two boys in Mississippi was absolutely fascinating ["Raiders of the Lost Backyard," March]. My two sons, ages six and eight, whose love of reading, fantasy, and adventure is very similar to that of Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos, are blown away by the story and are begging to see it. They are full of questions about how many scenes from the movie were re-created. Since Mom can't answer them, I think they need to see for themselves. Please let me know how to go about purchasing a copy of the video. I think it is a lovely story of perseverance.

DENISE COULING

South Lyon, Michigan

EDITOR'S NOTE: Alas, the video of the movie isn't for sale, not even as a bootleg. It's shown very occasionally at private screenings set up by the fellows who made it.

REQUIEM FOR A BROTHER

DOMINICK DUNNE'S PIECE in the March issue ["A Death in the Family"] was heartwrenching and brutally honest. His description of receiving the phone call about his brother's death brought back a flood of emotions for me, having lost my father when he was only 41. I commend Mr. Dunne on his openheartedness in providing details of his life, which is not easy to do in any public forum.

THOMAS D. SELLARO Ledgewood, New Jersey

MY FAVORITE IRENE

THANKS TO WILLIAM FRYE for reminding readers of the special beauty, intelligence, and charm of the supremely talented Irene Dunne ["Everyone Loved Irene," March]. She was a class act in all movie genres—drama, musicals, comedy, and even Westerns—and she made it all look flawless. Cary Grant certainly said it correctly when he called her the supreme scene-stealer. Her personal life seemed flawless as well, and she is probably the one Hollywood star of her era who escaped any unflattering publicity. It was a pleasure to read about her again and to hear from Mr. Frye one of the naughty stories she was fond of telling. It's high time her life story was told in more detail. She certainly could teach a lesson or two to the ladies gracing the cover.

CARYLIE FORTE Montgomery, Illinois

IN MR. FRYE'S DELIGHTFUL reminiscence of his great friend Irene Dunne, his recounting of the 1985 Kennedy Center Honors is somewhat incorrect. Miss Dunne did, indeed, attend the State Department dinner, at which she received her medal, and it was there that the famous photograph he referred to was taken. However, it was then that she was taken ill and hospitalized. She did not attend the Kennedy Center Gala the following night, much to the great disappointment of those who eagerly attended. She is, to date, the only Kennedy Center honoree not to have attended the big evening.

TERRENCE M. W. ELLSWORTH Chicago, Illinois

REMEMBERING THE DEAD

GRAYDON CARTER is absolutely right to remind us of the unnecessary deaths of our servicemen and women that have occurred because George Bush wanted a war in Iraq ["Symphony for the Dead," March]. The three black pages filled with the names of those who died will stay with me for a long, long time. He lied and they died. Every American voter should remember this and make sure that this dangerous man is removed from the Oval Office.

ELAINE HENDRIE Bellport, New York

I AM a retired combat engineer. Two names on the list are of people I knew (or can remember). Notice how many of the names are not of young people, but rather men in their mid-30s to their mid-40s. Staff sergeants, sergeants first class, master sergeants, sergeants major, captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels are rarely young men. I am not a fan of many of your editorials, but occasionally you resonate with this old independent reader.

WILLIAM H. DAVIS Ketchikan, Alaska

Letters to the editor should be sent electronically with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number to letters@vf.com. Letters to the editor will also be accepted via fax at 212-286-4324. All requests for back issues should be sent to FAIR@neodata.com. All other queries should be sent to vfmail@vf.com. The magazine reserves the right to edit submissions, which may be published or otherwise used in any medium. All submissions become the property ofVanity Fair.