Was It All in the Name?

My ex-husband and I were Berkeley-educated hippies in 1971; David was a graduate film student at USC and I was a secretary at Budget Films (“The Celluloid Time Capsule,” by Sean Howe, May 28). While I don’t remember how we met him, producer Gerald Ayres hired us to spend a summer weekend conducting a poll at Venice Beach to see which played best of several potential titles he had for a new movie. Although he didn’t show us the film or tell us the plot, we obtained poll responses from nearly 100 people.

I no longer remember all the titles on the list, but I still remember the most and least popular. An overwhelming majority favored the title “Silver-Tongued Devil.” The least popular title was “Cisco Pike.” Perhaps if he’d used the other title, the film wouldn’t have sunk “without a trace upon its release.”

Sherry Gottlieb

Oxnard