Give us a break (or not)

We don’t have intermissions in long movies, neither should we have them in tense and involving plays.

Morrie Markoff

Los Angeles

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The next time you see a play with an intermission, check the line outside the women’s lavatory. It is long. I leave my seat the moment the first act curtain starts to fall. Why? If I don’t, I find myself at the end of a long queue and may not get to see the next act. Cut out the intermission and many will be most uncomfortable for the rest of the performance. That does not contribute to a satisfying theater experience.

Valerie Fields

Los Angeles

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You’ve written exactly what I’ve been feeling for some time. Excellent piece.

Carol Goddard

Evanston, Ill.

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Bravo to you for your stand on an intermission-free theater (except when the play is worth waiting for). I’m a theater producer in Ojai and want to encourage others to find or create intermission-less plays for all the reasons you stated.

Our next play is Shakespeare’s second shortest play, “Macbeth.” Do we have the guts to present that one without intermission?

Stuart Crowner, Ojai Performing Arts Theater

Ojai

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Great piece today. I just returned from a 20-show trip to New York City and eight of them were 90 minutes, no intermission, and I have started to realize how much I like these no-nonsense, to the point, stagings.

Doug Jones

Los Angeles

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Having an intermission seems a dated concept and unnecessary, even to my husband and me. We are in our 50s.

Diane Haun

Culver City

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If only theaters would install spacious recliners as movie theatres are doing now, I could sit through almost anything! Otherwise, if it’s not “90 minutes, no intermission,” I’m increasingly likely to pass.

Risa Slavin

Porter Ranch

The happiest place on Earth, for some

Regarding “A Parks Devotee Seeks Out the Experts to Explain His Several-Times-a-Month Fixation” [July 9]. I have been going to Disneyland for 60 years. Starting as a child and now as an old lady. You are not alone in the pleasure you get from a “D-land” visit. Every visit makes me happy. Is there a better reason to go to Disneyland?

Margo Allen

Laguna Woods

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I believe there is a rational explanation for Todd Martens’ addiction to Disney theme parks. As a world traveler, I have been to 70 countries, including primitive places. Things inevitably go wrong. You get lost, you miss flights, you wind up in a terrible hotel, you get food poisoning, you are flim-flammed by locals, etc., etc. If, however, you incessantly return to Disney parks, things are very predictable and very little can go wrong. In essence, you lose control when you travel the world and you maintain control when you frequent Disneyland.

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

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Surely Walt Disney himself was exactly like Todd Martens, in believing that a world of fantasy could lighten our burdens and gladden our hearts. I wonder if people rolled their eyes at him? Sixty years later I would think his point has been made.

Aren Latimer

Torrance

One fine author

Regarding “The Making of Sherman Alexie” [July 9]. I appreciate today’s story on Sherman Alexie. I had read about him in The Times over the years, then stumbled upon him at my local library a few years back and fell in love with his writing.

He’s a wonderful writer, and I’m so glad he’s successful. Hopefully there will be more readers out there who will find him thanks to today’s article.

Pam Evans

Norwalk

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Theater history

I enjoyed your article on porn houses [“The onetime thriving Pussycat chain and other X-rated theaters have dwindled to merely a pair,” July 9]. I wondered where you got the picture of the demolition of the Pussycat in Buena Park. My grandparents and uncle bought the theater in the 1960s and renamed it the Grand Theater.

They began showing regular movies but could not compete with the chain theaters in La Mirada and Buena Park.

My grandfather died in 1967, and my uncle and dad kept the show open until about 1971, when they sold out to Miranda and the Pussycat chain.

Richard Malone

Rancho Cucamonga

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