Reader to Reader

This is with all due respect to Richard Fleischer, who takes offense at the numbering of Eddie Murphy’s “Dr. Dolittle” movies as 1 and 2, relegating “his” movie to “zero” status (Saturday Letters, June 7).

Although I think Murphy is hilarious, and I have enjoyed Rex Harrison for years, none of these movies, including Fleischer’s version, captures the spirit of the Dr. Dolittle books or character written by Hugh Lofting, which I read with joy and wonder.

Perhaps they should all be renamed “Dr. Non-Original Idea” 1, 2 and 3, and Hollywood can either film a movie that faithfully captures the original source material or come up with an original idea to film.

MICHAEL D. WEINER

Stevenson Ranch

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Bravo to Max J. Wertham for his insightful letter (Saturday Letters, June 30) in which he made the long-overdue point that the movie “Shrek,” while ostensibly being about tolerance for people who are different, is in fact one of the most intolerant movies I’ve ever seen.

While some may say that it’s trivial or overly picky for short men to complain about the movie’s endless jokes and ridicule of short men, it is not “trivial” to me when my 9-year-old son, who is very short for his age, comes home from school crying about how the other children tease him mercilessly with short jokes they learned from “Shrek.”

In these days when schoolyard bullying is finally being examined as a serious problem, how irresponsible of DreamWorks to release a film in which shortness is equated over and over again with villainy, stupidity and cowardice, and how hypocritical of critics not to make an issue out of this in their reviews.

ALBERTO DEL VALLE

Los Angeles

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As composer and arranger of the score for the Pasadena Playhouse’s production of “Side Man,” I would like to clarify some misconceptions regarding the recorded music (Saturday Letters, June 16, 23 and 30).

Contrary to some impressions, money was never an issue concerning the decision of where to record the score. In fact, the original idea was to have one of the many wonderful trumpet players in town do the prerecorded performances. However, once calendars and deadlines entered the picture, it became apparent that I would have to record the music in Europe if I was to record it at all, as I was already scheduled to be in Germany for an extended project with the radio jazz band of Cologne.

One letter made it seem that many musicians were denied work; this was a quintet (including myself), a different issue than a major film score being recorded overseas/out-of-town with an orchestra. However, I do appreciate the irony that a play that deals with the travails of being a working musician utilizes prerecorded music, but it did not enjoy a budget to provide for a “live” band, and “Side Man” is not a musical.

This recording’s logistics aside, it must be emphasized that the local pay scale for union recording in Los Angeles is extremely reasonable, affordable, cost-effective and appropriate. I paid the four musicians in Cologne the equivalent of American Federation of Musicians recording scale per three-hour session.

PETER ERSKINE

Santa Monica

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The reason many people cough during a performance (Saturday Letters, June 30) is because of the air in places like the Music Center. Those attending wear after-shave, cologne, perfume, hair spray, all of which have a scent. In a crowd, this is more overwhelming than the blast of potpourri in a gift shop. When attending a performance, please consider the people who will be sitting around you and go easy on the scents.

JUDY HOFFMAN

Westlake Village