... Luck plays as big a part as talent Dear Sir, I think it's time that somebody pointed out to producers, even if they were once actors (or actresses) that to generalise about actors can be extremely unfair and possibly help to prevent them from earning a reasonable living. I can understand the public and some inexperienced casting directors, using glib phrases about actors, such as categoris ing ...

... SIR With regard to th shortage of the big musical shows for the provinces, may I say that there are 13 cities and towns outside London with populations of over a quarter of a million, and six with well over half a million. None of these towns has even seen such long-running shows as Oliver! or The Sound of Music. With so many artists out of em ployment, surely adequate com panies in these ...

... After 300 Years.. SIR,- -I have read in the press, seen en television and heard on the radio that the public is crying out more and more for the arts. I wish 1 could discover some prac tical proof of this. As the manager of a small, high standard repertory company I am finding it increas ingly difficult to keep going, firstly from lack of audiences and now from lack of theatres. Up to five ...

... The Tiger' and 'The Typists' SIR,-- I nan item in ihe si age last week, you refer to the British premiire of The Tiger and The Typists as taking place at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. This is an erroneous statement as the British prcnucre of both these plays took place at In-Stage in November I960. The plays were part of a triple-bill called Schrecks, directed by Charles Ma row it z. ...

... Anonymous Critic Dear Sir, I was very interested to learn from George F. Kerr's letter last week that my understanding of The Pretty English Girls was as accurate as I had believed it was I didn't find this play at all difficult, but I did have to make a mental ment after about ten minutes when I realised it was not going to be a straightforward Who dunit. Mr. Kerr's letter offset the ...

... Watching too much Dear Sir, Now that the perennial controversy about breaking into television writing has reappeared in your columns it is as well to get one or two things straight. Most established writers are just as concerned as anyone else that new authors are finding it peratingly hard to break in. It is quite obvious to everyone in the industry that unless new writers can be found, ...

... Theatre Newspapers a a SIR. In the interesting article on Flourish, the newspaper of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Club, it is stated that Repertoire, published by Sadler's Wells, was first on the scene, and adds that the Old Vic had no money to launch such a paper, even if there had been the initiative and enthusiasm. Actually, of course, the initiative and enthusiasm of the Old Vic ...

... SIR,-- Is there any significance, I wonder, in the fact that theatre plays are censored before, and films after their production? Television, of course, is only liable to a sort of running censor ship, consisting of members of the public who ring up the television companies at various pre-arranged moments, demanding the suppres sion of an offending piece of script that has just appeared on ...

... CIR,-- Bill Watls's letter in which he speaks of the great interest shown by the public in the current tour of The Maid of the Moun tains gives ample proof that there is a demand for the evergreen musicals, and should give the go- ahead for reviving more old musicals. Indeed, the time is ripe for re viving Careless Rapture Glam orous Night, The Lilac Domino, The Quaker Girl, The Ar ...

... The public decides Dear Sir, What a peculiar parting shot from June Monkhouse: I'm off to France. They know how to write for women there. Does Miss Monkhouse imagine that it is the writers who decide that all women portrayed in British films shall be sexy blondes for laughs? It is the pro ducers and distributors who decide what sort of films shall be written and made if any. And to be fair ...

... Bristol Roval CIR, The Theatre Royal, Bristol, t-' celebrate^ the bicentenary of its opening in two years' time, and the Bristol Branch of the Historical Association have asked me to write a pamphlet on the later history of the Theatre, from I9.U lo m.1. Ver little material on the years from ISW onwards seems to have been kept m public collections j probably because of the rather doubtful ...

... 'Late Joys' R. B. Marriott's article gave the impression that the new Decca recording of the Late Joys is the first to be Issued. I have an album of four records issued by Columbia m under the title. Ridgeway's Late Joys. The recording was made at an actual perform;) nee under the chairmanship of Leonard Sachs, with Bernard Miles. Megs Jenkins i Archie Karradine. The Sisters Gelatine. ...