Reader to Reader

Having been a reader and admirer of the Onion for years, I must take issue with Jeff Softley’s incomprehensible and long-winded condemnation (Letters, Jan. 30). The paper lampoons current events, politics, pop culture, newspapers and the media in general. Softley claims these subjects are irrelevant. Uhhh, not if you ever leave the house, or watch TV, or read the paper.

In their brilliant book, “Our Dumb Century,” the Onion takes on the entire history of the 20th century! In this work especially, they exhibit, to quote Softley, “wit and clarity, an incisive perception about what is being lampooned or discussed, which gets a laugh because of a core of truth in the observation expressed.”

Don’t deny yourself the pleasure of reading the Onion. It deserves all of the success it’s having.

KEVIN KILDOW

Los Angeles

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Stanley Goodrich makes a claim for Betty Grable as “the top female box-office star of all time” (Letters, Jan. 23). While Grable did finish on the Quigley poll of film exhibitors 10 times in a row and was No. 1 in 1943, Doris Day is rated higher because four of her 10 showings were in first place.

According to the “People Magazine Year 2000 Almanac’s” analysis of the Quigley data, Day is the most popular female star and only female in the Top 10 all-time listing. Grable is No. 12.

PAUL E. BROGAN

Beverly Hills