Calendar Letters: About that Anna March story ...

Regarding “Who Is Anna March?” [July 29] So you think it’s important to use four pages of the Sunday Arts and Books section to write about someone who has never published a book of her own, while at the same time you did not have the space for even one book review? Do you find that acceptable?

Mary Montes

West Hills

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The entrepreneurial histories, and respective failure rates, of March and Donald Trump are not dissimilar. She has earned as little right to literary acclaim as he has to political. The deciding difference, it seems, is simply that March’s million-dollar inheritance never came through.

Robert Price

San Clemente

A rebuttal from a playwright

I’m accustomed to getting all sorts of reviews, but I am not accustomed to blatantly sexist ones. In his review of my play “Cry It Out” [“Challenges of Motherhood Multiplied.” July 25], Philip Brandes trivializes and dismisses the experience of motherhood. Worse than that, he harshly judges the female characters, saying: “the moms seem more focused on their sacrifices [...] the most emotionally authentic exchange with one of the swaddled infants comes from Mitchell.”

Yes, Brandes extols the parenting ability of the play’s one male character, who has a single interaction with a sleeping baby in a stroller. Meanwhile, the female lead breastfeeds onstage. She sings, rocks, coos and snuggles. The play is about the love she has for her child.

Motherhood is a uniquely female experience, and like many things female, it’s often devalued and underrepresented. I wrote this play to refute the very insinuations Brandes makes in his review: that motherhood isn’t interesting, that it isn’t stageworthy, that women shouldn’t speak up about the hardships of maternity leave. With his final line (“...this may further a social critique about moms’ limited options, it also makes them less interesting”), Brandes proves exactly why this play was necessary for me to write.

Molly Smith Metzler

Los Angeles

An alternative to Getty ‘Style’

Thanks for the review of the Getty Museum’s “Icons of Style” exhibition [“Limits of a Certain ‘Style’,” July 29]. “Undernourished” is an apt description. The fashion exhibit at Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station is pretty great, and some of the prints, both black and white and color, are quite stunning.

Steve Bowerman

Westlake Village

All that, plus it’s funny too

Regarding “It’s an Eastside Story” [July 28]: As a fan of the TV show “Vida,” I was happy to read that it had been picked up for another season. I hope there will be more episodes this time. I was disappointed that your discussion didn’t emphasize just how funny this show is.

Every episode has at least two hilarious moments. Yes, it’s a drama, but “Vida” offers a lot of humor as well.

Greg Black

Redondo Beach

Two sides to this particular story

Regarding “Barr on Friendly Ground on Fox News” [July 28]: Let’s face it — Roseanne Barr’s admitted propensity for outrageous statements, such as that she “likes Trump because he is a solution,” is confusing at best, without merit and can’t be taken seriously.

Trying to manipulate her followers by making controversial statements appears to be a means for her to get media attention.

Bunny Landis

Oceanside

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I’m no fan of Barr or Sean Hannity, but I did watch the interview, and your assessment is typical of the paper’s agenda. What did you expect — Hannity to trash her? He asked the questions he should have asked. He was not an apologist for her. He didn’t pat her on the back. He’s a Trump supporter, just as all at CNN and The Times are not.

Poor reporting on your part.

Michael Garnet

Palm Desert

Does this year really hold up?

Regarding “How Is the Year So Far? Our Film Critics Assess” [July 29]: Compared to what year? Based on the standards of today, I would say average. Based on the standards of the ’60s, depressingly inferior filmmaking.

As an example, in 1962, we had “Lawrence of Arabia,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Lonely Are the Brave,” “Lolita,” “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Longest Day” and others.

This year, we have “Black Panther,” what Los Angeles Time film critic Kenneth Turan says qualifies as the “…cinematic event of the year,” but it’s a rather infantile-comic-book movie made for an infantilized society.

Giuseppe Mirelli

Los Angeles

Eager to help

Regarding “Horrors All Too Real” [July 27]: The case of Ana Fuentes and her daughters told in the documentary “The Bleeding Edge” really broke my heart. Is there a way to help her with a donation? I hope that there is and that something can be done so she can be with her daughters and have her life back.

Mossy Aguilar

San Diego

Is this a metaphor, or what?

The upcoming summer movie “Megalodon” (emphasis on the “don”) is about a giant creature with a massive girth, a big mouth and a small brain. Thought to be extinct, it is terrorizing Washington, D.C., and its surrounding coastal areas.

Kenneth L. Zimmerman

Huntington Beach

One ‘Rodeo’ he wishes he’d seen

Regarding “2 Ex-Byrds Return to ‘Rodeo’” [July 22]: I’m an older music fan and remember hearing “Mr. Tambourine Man” on AM radio in L.A. in the ’60s. It changed the music scene forever. I’m bummed that I was out of town and missed the shows in L.A. I hope to catch these guys later on down the line.

Earl Henderson

Oceanside

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