THE CANNELL FILES

Unless the nature of his career has included the incoherent, hallucinatory, delusional thinking characteristic of a schizophrenic psychosis, Stephen J. Cannell is mistaken in referring to “the kind of schizophrenic career I’ve had” (“Banging Out a New Ending,” by Bruce Newman, June 1).

Schizophrenia refers to a group of psychoses formerly referred to as “dementia praecox.” The fact that current dictionaries no longer condone nonmedical definitions of schizophrenia does little to help the misuse they encouraged for so long.

BARBARA SANCHEZ

San Gabriel Valley Alliance for the Mentally Ill Inc.

Pasadena

As a former publicist for Stephen J. Cannell, I enjoyed reading Bruce Newman’s story on his career and his success as an author. Newman omitted one important part, however.

When Steve left Universal to be his own master, he didn’t have a staff of hundreds, he had a small office at Goldwyn Studios. It was here that he wrote what is probably one of the best pilots ever made, “Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.” CLIFF DEKTAR

North Hollywood