The Steve Allen Show

In his reaction to my Nov. 3 appreciation of Steve Allen, reader Dan Anzel (Saturday Letters, Nov. 11) proves that memories--mine and his--do grow shaky after half a century.

“The Tonight Show” was preceded in 1950-51 by “Broadway Open House,” hosted by Jerry Lester and featuring the hyper-statuesque Dagmar. The original 1953 “Tonight” with Steve Allen was followed briefly, after Allen left to do his own “Steve Allen Show,” by a mishmash indeed called “America After Dark,” which featured Earl Wilson and other columnists, including Paul Coates from Los Angeles. It died after seven months, when Jack Paar resumed “Tonight.”

As for Allen’s becoming embittered in his last years, as another letter writer said, no way. He was a social critic, often acerbic, but too creative and essentially optimistic for bitterness.

CHARLES CHAMPLIN

Los Angeles

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Contrary to Michael Hruska’s dreary observation, Steve Allen did not die a “sad, bitter man.” He died a happy, positive, cheerful contributor to entertainment and to society, working productively till the end.

His efforts to speak out against the commercially supported, gratuitous sex and violence on TV deserve our support. We should methodically target the advertisers who feed this poison to our children. Only money talks in their cosmos.

Less known is Allen’s work in promulgating critical thinking, so essential to a free society. He was a staunch friend and supporter of the Skeptics, a worldwide movement that teaches analytical skills and debunks cults, psychics and other such dangerous nonsense.

S. MERIC

Santa Monica