Robert Trachtenberg

I didn't decide to be straight, never came to a sexually orienting fork in the road to choose the road more traveled. I was never indoctrinated by anyone advancing a heterosexual agenda. Talk about coals to Newcastle. And it's the same for every gay person I've ever talked to. From the earliest stirrings of sexual proclivity, they were somehow aware that they belonged in the same-sex sandbox. This was the case with Brad, one of my best friends.

I didn't decide to be straight, never came to a sexually orienting fork in the road to choose the road more traveled. I was never indoctrinated by anyone advancing a heterosexual agenda. Talk about coals to Newcastle. And it's the same for every gay person I've ever talked to. From the earliest stirrings of sexual proclivity, they were somehow aware that they belonged in the same-sex sandbox. This was the case with Brad, one of my best friends.

The late George Cukor once said, "I work through the actors, and the more successful I am, the less my work is apparent." Ironically, the high degree of success Cukor did achieve--in films marked by stellar performances and evocative but subtle mise en scene--may be precisely the reason he is sometimes overlooked in discussions of the great Hollywood directors of the 20th century.

The late George Cukor once said, "I work through the actors, and the more successful I am, the less my work is apparent." Ironically, the high degree of success Cukor did achieve--in films marked by stellar performances and evocative but subtle mise en scene--may be precisely the reason he is sometimes overlooked in discussions of the great Hollywood directors of the 20th century.

"Two Lives in the Theater" was nothing more than cocktail party chatter dissolving into a sadistic score card. To show John Steppling's failures side-by-side with Jon Robin Baitz's success was mean-spirited. Telling us just how much money Baitz sent his friend in need was contemptible. ROBERT TRACHTENBERG Los Angeles

Fashion involves a certain amount of escapism. The clothes on the runway don't usually find a place in our daily lives, but they're fun to admire--from a distance. This spring the escapism is more a state of place than a state of mind. Take the California surf-inspired looks seen in Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Chanel with printed neoprene skirts, coats and dresses.

JUST WHEN MANY MEN WERE thinking their wardrobes had been finalized in a classical mode--Brooks Brothers, jeans or L. L. Bean--an unstoppable design force is moving in and shaking things up. In the same way that architects Michael Graves and Frank Gehry add iconoclastic colors and shapes to classical forms, designers are adding modernity without forsaking their strengths. They're infusing the classics with bold color. They're relaxing the traditional silhouette.

It'll take more than complaints about Gene Kelly's perfectionism and deep competitive streak to make audiences dislike one of the most devastatingly appealing men ever to dance across movie and television screens. Boasting interviews with an impressive array of writers, colleagues and family members, Robert Trachtenberg's "Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer," tonight on the PBS "American Masters" series, proves that Kelly wasn't always easy to live or work with. But the 90-minute documentary also represents a vivid if arguably excessive tribute to his achievements as dancer, choreographer and director.

On screen, Cary Grant dripped sophistication, charm, good looks and intelligence. Women adored him; men envied him. "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant," he once said. "Even I want to be Cary Grant." He may have been the epitome of a movie star, but Cary Grant was a creation, a persona molded by directors Leo McCarey, George Cukor, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. In reality, Grant wasn't a sophisticate. Known to be tight with money, he charged 25 cents for autographs.

The Walt Disney comedy "102 Dalmatians" received mediocre reviews when it wasreleased last November and did just middling at the box office. Nevertheless, the DVD ($30) is enjoyable fun, thanks to several entertaining featurettes and lively audio commentary from the director and three animal trainers.

Irving Thalberg was no shrinking violet. Despite his frail physique and bad health, the "Boy Wonder" head of production at MGM from 1924 until his death in 1936 had considerable inner strength. He threatened to close the studio gates when the writers began to unionize. And when the Hays Office censors wanted him to cut a scene from the 1934 film "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" because it suggested an incestuous relationship, Thalberg refused.

As a former Navy medical officer during the Vietnam era while at Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Illinois, I tended the wounds of many soldiers brought to us from the battlefield. James E. Caccavo's commentary on "We Were Soldiers" ("Knee-Deep in the Blood, Sweat and Soul of Vietnam," March 4) was 100% on the mark. After seeing the movie Sunday, I could barely sleep, since the vivid scenes brought back many unpleasant memories. MICHAEL L.