Another good LttE

To the Editor:

So intellectuals destroyed American middlebrow culture? Was it the intellectuals who replaced Toscanini and "Playhouse 90" with "Mr. Ed" and "Gilligan's Island"? Was it the intellectuals who shifted resources away from opera reviews in Time magazine and toward celebrity puff pieces in People and its various epigones?

Ultimately, it was the bottom line that destroyed American middlebrow culture. It turns out that while profitable, it just wasn't profitable enough for those who put up the dough.

John E. Fields
Madison, Wis., June 16, 2005