What Do Critics Know, Anyway?

As a writer whose books have been both panned and praised by The Times, I can sympathize with Bob Gunton’s feeling that “The Times giveth, and The Times taketh away” (“The School of Hard Knocks’ Drama Department,” Counterpunch, Aug. 18).

It is clear from Gunton’s Counterpunch piece and his original piece in Calendar on getting the Nixon acting job that The Times has, inadvertently, discovered a real writer. Gunton’s talent as a writer is as good as his talent as an actor.

Let’s hope he comes back from the bad review from Howard Rosenberg and continues to both write and act. After all, if Nixon can make a comeback. . . .

TOM STEMPEL

Los Angeles

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Regarding Bob Gunton, I’m reminded of a story Steve Allen told. He decided to hire an artist to sketch a picture of a fictitious black boogie-woogie specialist named Buck Hammer. Allen himself plays creditable boogie-woogie. He also wrote liner notes explaining that this was the first and last album by this artist because he had died just after it had been recorded.

This album--”The Discovery of Buck Hammer”--got a great review in Downbeat magazine. Allen then took it one step further and had a photo taken of the Allen housekeeper, a black woman named Mary Sears, seated at the piano and wearing one of his wife’s gowns.

Allen recorded a new album and purposely played nonsense but with a hard-swinging rhythm section. This album also received good reviews, which proved to Allen that most critics haven’t a clue what they are talking about.

GENE DEVALLE

Costa Mesa