Readers write: Unexpected connections, and an excellent issue
Letters to the editor for the March 15, 2021 weekly magazine. Readers discuss unlikely connections with authors and a top-tier Monitor Weekly issue.
Staff
Unexpected connections
The day started quite uneventfully as I began to read “Wild Minds: The Artists and Rivalries That Inspired the Golden Age of Animation,” a title recommended in the “10 best books of December” list from the Dec. 28, 2020, Monitor Weekly. I had briefly worked at an animation studio right after my high school graduation in 1944, and was anxious to read if the company was mentioned in the book.
When I got to page 34 I was so excited I impulsively emailed the author, Reid Mitenbuler, with my words of appreciation for his work. I had to tell him of my early connection with Famous Studio in New York, where I worked in the inking department and then in the opaquing department. We were creating “Popeye” and “Little Lulu” cartoons. It was a fun-filled time, but it was interrupted by my father’s decision to accept the government’s offer to do more for the war effort at a defense plant in Vallejo, California.
After leaving Famous, I was given a letter of recommendation to the Walt Disney animation company, but I couldn’t live alone in Burbank. All this I told to Mr. Mitenbuler in my email, never really expecting a reply. To my amazement, I did hear from him, with a couple of emails back and forth since. I thought I would share how grateful I am to the Monitor for steering me in the direction of reading “Wild Minds,” and for the pleasure I have received in doing so. Many thanks.
June T. Bassemir
Jamesport, New York
Excellent issue
Regarding the Jan. 25 Monitor Weekly: What a wonderful issue. I particularly enjoyed the first article by Ned Temko; the article explaining why Twitter, as a private business and a free market enterprise, has the right to determine who accesses its platform; the Arts and Culture article; and the list of best books (though I’m more into nonfiction than it gave me). But such excellent work. Thank you.
Ellen White
Cherry Log, Georgia