F ON HUTTON

I was astounded at the inaccuracies in the Betty Hutton item by Peter H. Brown and Jim Pinkston (Outtakes, Nov. 17).

Hutton first announced her retirement somewhat dramatically in 1954 (not ‘57) following the failure of her “spectacular,” “Satins and Spurs,” which was released as an album by Capitol, not RCA.

She has continued to work ever since then, however, and her Warner Bros. album “Betty Hutton at the Saints and Sinners Ball” (correct title) was issued in 1959. She was on Broadway in 1965 (“Fade Out, Fade In”) and 1981 (“Annie”), had a major segment on the PBS special “Juke Box Saturday Night” in 1984 and was at our own L.A. Stage Company West last season in a tribute to Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. She also had her own TV sitcom “Goldie,” back in the ‘60s.

The “Annie Get Your Gun” sound track, while being reissued on MCA along with the rest of the MGM movie sound-track album series, has been available for years in many forms, so buyers have not been without Hutton since 1954.

Two important points that were correct (record companies take note) were that yes, there is a market for Betty Hutton and other stars like her (or else the bootleggers wouldn’t exist), and that despite all the albums mentioned (both legal and illegal), Hutton herself (who has gone on record as being broke) doesn’t receive a penny from any of them.

ALAN EICHLER

Los Angeles