BACON BITS

While we appreciate your efforts at “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” using Oscar nominees (“Oscar Bits,” by Susan King, March 23), we do feel you cheated in spots.

Using a film that has yet to be released is a no-no, which you did to connect Geoffrey Rush with Kev. It can be done with “Shine”: Geoffrey Rush to Noah Taylor (egregiously overlooked by the academy), who was in “Flirting” with Nicole Kidman, who was in “Far and Away” with Tom Cruise, who was in “A Few Good Men” with Kevin Bacon.

You had Billy Bob Thornton in “Sling Blade” with Robert Duvall, who was in “Something to Talk About” with Kyra Sedgwick. Fine so far. But then you drag in public TV and Bacon’s directing career, connecting him to his wife by an “American Playhouse” film and a Showtime movie. All you have to do is: Kyra Sedgwick, who was in “Murder in the First” with Bacon. But that’s the long way. Billy Bob Thornton is in “Sling Blade” with J.T. Walsh, who was in “A Few Good Men” with Bacon.

Again, we object to the use of TV in the connection with Emily Watson. You get to Bacon via Rosanna Arquette and a Showtime film with John Lithgow, who was in “Footloose” with Kevin Bacon. Here’s our legit way: Emily Watson is in “Breaking the Waves” with Stellan Skaarsgard, who was in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” with Lena Olin, who was in “Romeo Is Bleeding” with Gary Oldman, who was in “JFK” with Bacon.

As with all journalism, we felt that the purity and integrity of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” must be maintained with draconian adherence.

REBEKAH HIRSCHLER

TOM FRANCK

Sherman Oaks

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“The Last Emperor” is noted as the “last best picture to win without any of its actors nominated.” I guess the editor was sleeping when last year’s “Braveheart” failed to receive any acting nominations.

DANIEL FILLMORE

Camarillo

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Wow! Charles Laughton must have had a really big year in 1932. Calendar reports that he won an Oscar for “The Private Life of Henry VII” and, as we all know, he also won an Oscar for “The Private Life of Henry VIII.”

GORDON HEARNE

Encino