Readers reflect on the staying power of Beatlemania and mourn the loss of Gene Wilder

We still love them, yeah, yeah, yeah

I look forward to seeing “Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years,” Ron Howard’s new documentary on the Beatles [“A Beatles Journey Filled With Twists and Shouts,” Sept. 4]. I was disappointed, however, that reporter Randy Lewis did not mention the 1964 British film “A Hard Day’s Night,” directed by Richard Lester. It is a delightful movie that gave viewers an inside look into a typical day in the life of the popular band while it was still touring.

Helen Lotos

Corona del Mar

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It is wonderful to have been alive during the birth of Beatlemania and to still be experiencing the magic today. Can’t wait to see the film and buy the new Beatles album.

L. Alan Dean

Ogden, Utah

From left, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan and DeForest Kelley in an episode of “Star Trek.”

(CBS / Getty Images )

A bonanza for themes’ players

Vintage TV shows such as “Star Trek” had such iconic music[“ ‘Star Trek’ at 50: Pop Music Gets Spacey Across the Universe,” Sept. 5]. Rare is the person who grew up during the ’60s and ’70s who can’t hum a popular show’s theme song. Yet the musicians are rarely, if ever, credited. Even now, I watch TV and movie credits and they list everyone down to who got the crew lunch but not the musicians. Can anyone name the person who played the lyrical French horn part at the beginning of the “Star Trek” theme song? I can. That is my late father, Gene Sherry, who can also be heard on a number of other iconic TV themes, such as “Get Smart,” “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie.”

Carolyn Sherry

Santa Maria

A little buzz for ‘BrainDead’

I’m sure Mary McNamara wouldn’t have listed her six favorite unbuzzed-about TV shows if she didn’t want to prompt other nominees. Here’s mine: “BrainDead.” Those wonderful people who brought you “The Good Wife” attempt something almost unheard of on TV — satire. The show took a few episodes to find its groove, but now at last, D.C. exists as the idiotic, brain-dead place it is.

Bob Klein

Culver City

The flip side of angry music

Maybe I’m out of touch with what defines music [“A New Spin on No. 1 Records,” Aug. 31]. Maybe I’m just too old. When anger defines what is popular, we have evolved into a society that believes hate has value. Music is like ice cream: There are many valid choices that make sense. I don’t understand why Drake is that popular when we could be listening to artists like Dua Lipa. Am I alone here? I’m so tired of hate. Artists like Dua Lipa will be exposed only if media find it important that love has more value than hate.

Bill Cohee

Whittier

Whole lotta love for ‘Streak’

Steven Zeitchik chose to write an article about a movie he didn’t like in homage to Gene Wilder [“Gene Wilder’s Lasting Twinkle,” Sept. 3]. I am not sure what prompted the attack on “Silver Streak,” but out of all the duds Wilder starred in, Zeitchik singled out one of the most successful and entertaining of the bunch? What a curious choice for the front page of the Calendar section.

John Lynch

Burbank

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Wilder was one of a kind and loved by his fans, so why take the time to single out “Silver Streak” and call it dreadful? Forty years ago, this movie was successful and people loved it. First and foremost, Wilder was a wonderful actor who took risks playing different roles, most of which are iconic. Leo Bloom, Willy Wonka, the Waco Kid and Dr. Victor Frankenstein: These roles will be his legacy and, more important, his gift to the world, along with all the laughter and sweetness he shared with all of us who love him and cherish his contribution to his craft and what he created on the silver screen.

Frances Terrell Lippman

Sherman Oaks

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I’ve got to object vehemently to Zeitchik’s article on Wilder. It’s not necessary to trash a great director, Arthur Hiller, a great comedy writer, Colin Higgins, and a great, groundbreaking comedy of its day, “Silver Streak,” to duly praise a wonderful, charming, charismatic and often surprising actor who starred in the movie and did it proud.

Bob Shayne

Adjunct professor of film and television Dodge College of Film and Media Arts Chapman University

Los Angeles

Not a matter of ‘que sera, sera’

Regarding “Academy Announces Governors Awards” [Sept. 2]. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may be preoccupied with increasing diversity among the members, but there’s another issue they need to be equally concerned with: selecting worthy recipients for honorary Oscars. Jackie Chan over Doris Day? You’re kidding, right?

George Gallucci

Los Angeles

Worse the film, bigger the bucks

Isn’t is amazing that mediocrity still makes money [“Blockbuster Sequel to 2015 Was a Fail,” Sept. 1]? Too many people consider these inane blockbusters a “must see.” What a pity.

Christine Peterson

Woodland Hills

Simon Paisley-Day as Mark Antony and Janie Dee as Cleopatra at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 30.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

Brit had an ear for Shakespeare

In Mark Swed’s list of composers who’ve written film scores for Shakespeare’s plays [“A Shaky ‘Shakespeare at the Bowl,’ ” Sept. 1], he overlooked English composer William Walton’s major contributions to Laurence Olivier’s productions of “Hamlet,” “Henry V” and “Richard III,” among others. These magnificent scores are beautifully crafted major works that play well, on their own, as classical music of the first rank.

Richard R. McCurdy

Burbank