ANOTHER FINE MESS

I was both amused and disheartened by your article on the new film projects to be based on the comedies of Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers (“Slapping Around Some New Ideas for Old Shtick,” by Steven Smith, March 10).

I hope these projects are worthy of their inspiration, but I have my doubts. Larry Harmon’s desire to cast Tom Hanks and John Goodman as his Laurel and Hardy certainly does not inspire confidence. While these stars are fine actors and talented comedians in their own right, would they be willing to act as mimics, rather than create their own new interpretations? If they will not mimic Laurel and Hardy (or the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges), what’s the point?

Several years back I wrote “A Night in Elsinore,” a version of “Hamlet” as it would have been performed with Groucho Marx as Hamlet, Chico Marx as Horatio, Harpo Marx as the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Laurel and Hardy as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the Three Stooges as the Traveling Players. It was performed at a local college, and the actors did an excellent job of mimicking the classic comedians.

If the director of the Laurel and Hardy project is really sincere about casting suggestions, Ted Newsom, who played Stan Laurel in my play, was outstanding.

RICHARD NATHAN

Studio City

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To those who are seeking a “new” Laurel and Hardy comedy, I suggest that you purchase a copy of “Babes in Toyland” and allow children who are unfamiliar with Stan and Ollie to view it.

Trust me, through a child’s delight this 1934 classic will seem new and fresh and howlingly funny all over again.

DAVE DELVAL

Dana Point

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Larry Harmon’s statement that “for four decades, people have not been able to go to a theater and see a Laurel and Hardy picture” is sharply contradicted by the words of John Duff, who cites the famed Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax.

Furthermore, in citing films about comedians that were successful, only “Lenny” was mentioned. What about Frank Sinatra’s brilliant portrayal of famed comic Joe E. Lewis (“The Joker Is Wild,” 1957)? No one can tell me that was a loser!

EDDIE CRESS

Los Angeles