<i> ET TU</i> , LITTLE BEAST

Like cattle, Americans flocked to the theaters, and for a few months made 4 pounds of polyurethane a driving force in their lives.

Now, Universal will be passing E.T. around again, like a plate of Wonder bread at an Iowa dinner table. We should be thankful to have another chance to pay homage to our savior.

What is the matter with us?

Universal isn’t sharing the joy of E.T. a second time out of benevolence; it’s just shaking us down again.

As a real Messiah, Pete Townshend, showed us in “Tommy,” behind every icon and hero, no matter how pure, naive, or blind he may be, stands someone looking to make a buck.

E.T., break it out big, while you can. Someday you may hear us chanting, “We’re not gonna take it.”

MARK S. SCOTT

Seal Beach

The Times received a total of 46 letters on the E.T. affair, 35 of which expressed varying degrees of outrage over the drug paraphernalia in the original June 16 cover illustration by Will Weston. The other letters were in reaction to E.T.’s “own” letter sent in by the Spielberg/Universal interests or the batch of pro-E.T./anti-Times letters published last Sunday.