... Nothing to be said about 'amateurs' SIR,--Your front page headline Amateurs move into West End (November 5) is plain silly and misleading. According to the Shorter I Oxford, the theatrical term supernumerary (super) has been in existence since at least 1836 and means a person employed in addition to the regu lar company, who appears on the stage but does not speak. The supers in The ...

... Blinkered Eurovision SIR, Why does Which Witch producer Ole Sorli complain that critics keep referring to the Eurovision Song Contest? In the show programme two of his leading players draw our attention to their involvement and Norway's failure at that event. He probably thought it was a jokey thing to say before the show had opened and he knows how we all love a good joke. If the audiences ...

... Sound financial advice for Equity SIR 1 am a member of Equity but I am not surprised at its financial demise considering the thousands of potential members who, because of Equity's ridiculous exclusivity have difficulty in acquiring a card. This poli cy works in the theatre and television side and has improved conditions and pay for actors over the years. However it works against the club acts ...

... Kissing Day's bottom SIR I haven't read the latest Doris Day biography but I think, contrary to your reviewer's opinion, that the lady concerned is worth more than to be damned with the faint praise of 'a very good singer indeed I am no bobby-soxed idolater of Ms Day but at the same time have to consider her as extravagantly talented as Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jnr., Gene Kelly ...

... Deadly familiar SIR I was surprised at Adrian Mourby ticking off London BBC for treating Wales as a one poet nation (February 20) and for commissioning yet more stuff on Wales's greatest NODM, Number One Dead Man, Dylan Thomas. (Number Two of course being Richard Burton). In Mourby 's own film The Old Devils set in Swansea, only one of the leading characters is played by a Welshman and he's ...

... Is the future of the arts any brighter under this government? I SIR You state in your leader (April 16) that I it is the inclination and duty of die theatre to I oppose and expose extremism and social I injustice. Indeed, it is. That is why many I theatre artists cannot support the present gov- I emment in the extreme and socially unjust I policies which have succeeded in restoring the I gap ...

... A call for a return to traditional panto values SIR I heartily agree with Dawn Whetson of Solihull and her views regarding traditional pantomime (January 30). Some of the best pantomimes are those which have no star names and the success has been purely on the subject matter. After all, panto is for the kiddies and most of them could not care less who is in it. I strongly suspect that it is ...

... Where's the opportunity for all these new faces SIR-In last week's issue of The Stage and Television Today Angus Towler's article, Variety acts call for more TV time, highlighted feelings and comments throughout the entertainment industry-the need for new, original talent to be given a chance on television. Throughout the years there have been outlets in entertainment through the likes of ...

... SIR, 1 am at present building a 4mm scale exhibition layout tailed 'Elstree Fantasy Land, that shows the pro posed Ij>ndon Transport Tramway Extension service 52 to Elstree and Potters Bar, which would have been built in the late fifties to cater for the I-ondon housing overspill. The layout will feature the ABPC Studios, the various shops in the main high street leading to Elstrec Station. I ...

... SIR, The article by Martin Houghton on regional theatre (The Stage, July 23) was excellent. He and Nettie Kdwards gave us two fine productions of Russian plays, but he did not mention the extension of the Anglo-Russian season in the studio Richardson theatre. The liveryman Youth Theatre company has had a connection with the Sochi Youth Co and fol lowing the Cheltenham visit to Russia last year ...

... News of Larry Brennan SIR Re Larry Brennan Appeal Stage Aug 20 1992. In reply to Mr DE Wilkins, of Worthing, who inquired about Larry Brennan whose band played regularly at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool in the 1930s, my good friend Charlie Barlow, of Blackpool, reliably informs me that Larry Brennan passed away just before the war. Tommy Jones took over the Brennan Orchestra for about three ...

... Bop's not a black and white issue SIR,--Your front page report (May 21) on televison programme sales to South Africa and Bophuthatswana made interesting reading, though I fear certain people you quoted have got their facts rather muddled. May I be allowed to put the record straight? I cannot speak for the Bophu thatswana Broadcasting Corporation, which is a parastatal organisation (or a quango ...