Ginger Rogers

* Re “Movie Great Ginger Rogers Dies at 83,” April 26:

In early 1942 I received my orders to proceed to the U.S. Navy’s squadrons of the South Pacific. On the way to San Francisco I stopped off at the USO’s Hollywood Canteen.

I danced with Ginger Rogers. She had one hand holding her curls and the other on my shoulder. What a smooth dancer! All through the miserable Solomon Islands campaign I kept thinking of her instead of sharks. She kept me going.

How does the saying go? “They also serve who . . . “

You did your job, Ginger Rogers. Rest in peace.

HAROLD DROPKIN

Rancho Palos Verdes

* Your article mentioned that the versatile Academy Award-winning actress, comedian, singer and dancer did not smoke or drink and was a devout Christian Scientist. As the celebrated dance partner to Fred Astaire and a product of the 1920s Broadway scene and the 1930s Hollywood era, the talented Ginger Rogers seemed to represent a kind of person who didn’t have to “always go along with the crowd” and to do the wild and crazy and uninhibited things popularized by that so-called Jazz Age and “anything goes” era. In other words, young people of today don’t have to take drugs or smoke or drink.

Look at Ginger Rogers and her phenomenal and outstanding success as an American citizen and film star and entertainment superstar! So that’s my answer to our permissive society and the undue emphasis on young people of today and drugs and alcohol and smoking--you don’t have to! And if somebody gives you a bad time--just ask them to read the article about Oscar-winning film star and top-notch dancer Ginger Rogers.

KENNETH LLOYD LARSON

Los Angeles