GRACE AND STYLE

To the Editors of The Crimson:

One would have thought that by 1976 the Harvard Crimson could have risen above its petty egotism long enough to relax and enjoy itself. But alas, once again, this college daily felt the necessity to sling mud at one of Harvard's most relaxed and enjoyable of traditions, the annual Hasty Pudding Theatrical. The Crimson, typifying the worst kind of elitism, inverse snobbery, dealt an unfair blow to what it felt was the "establishment" at Harvard. In so doing, your "reviewers" lost complete sight of the ideals of the Pudding show, especially since its good-hearted laughter is set in so improbable a time and place as to make its "sexism" and "elitism" totally innocuous.

Eleni Constantine obviously attended opening night at the Pudding solely in order to expose what she thought to be the decadence of elegance. The show itself was apparently of little interest to her, since the bulk of the review presented slurs on the people attending and a saccharine sympathy for the teenage fans who craved the sight of Robert Blake. Let that reviewer not forget that Mr. Blake was being entertained, given the most luxurious accommodations possible and honored as the Man of the Year. Certainly along with these comforts and accolades goes a sense of responsibility that he should have felt as a guest. It will indeed go on record as a horrible day when grace, style and elegance become excluded from the theatre. Frederick L. Kidder, Jr. '77