Mail

SCREEN TEST

Finally, we know the movies that America really did see the most in the list of the ''100 Most Popular Movies of All Time''-not just the ones that made the most money at the box office (220, April 29). This issue also cements the fact that Entertainment Weekly is the best entertainment magazine there is.
Salvatore Pizzurro Centereach, N.Y.

The ''100 Most Popular Movies of All Time'' proves a point that I have been trying to make to friends and family for years-the American moviegoer's hunger ) for originality, intellect, and good taste is completely out of whack. That such mindless ''popcorn'' entertainment as Home Alone is a more popular film than Ben-Hur and Casablancacombined is a tragedy.
Todd S. Magee San Antonio

Your story on movie snacks was interesting (''Twistin' the Night Away''). As a movie concessionaire since the 1930s, I'll give you my findings: (1) Bite-size candies, such as Raisinets and Jujyfruits, were big sellers when a certain type of movie was shown-Western, adventure, etc.; (2) when a love story played, we called it a LifeSaver crowd-they didn't buy snacks; (3) Twizzlers strawberry licorice whips came into their own because they were originally a cheap item.
Elliot Cohen Roselle Park, N.J.

'SOUP'-ED UP

One has to wonder how the people who oversee the often shrill, always voyeuristic geek showcases that are, respectively, Jenny Jones and Geraldo, could be so thin-skinned and humorless that they can't take some good-natured ribbing from the pranksters at Talk Soup (''Soup's Off''). If their talk shows were as serious as they purport to be, then they wouldn't be so ripe for satire.
Michael K. Willis San Diego

'INK' BLOT

As a 34-year-old, middle-class, college-educated black man, I share Trey Ellis' frustrations over the limited view of African-American life being portrayed in the movies (''Who Poisoned The Inkwell?''). It may interest the white-male-dominated film industry to know that we don't all come from broken homes and drug- and gang-infested inner-city streets, and that some of us might like to see more of the diversity that we know exists in our community shown on the screen.
Bernard J. Tarver Albany, N.Y.

SOUR NOTES

Your reviewer Greg Sandow wrongly accuses me of backing off from any assessment of Leonard Bernstein's ''serious works'' (''The Music Man''). In fact, each composition is discussed in detail as part of Bernstein's unfolding life.
Humphrey Burton London

WELLES SAID

As he revealed in his conversations with Peter Bogdanovich in This Is Orson Welles, Welles did not write the novel Mr. Arkadin (''Tinseltown Tolstoys'')-it was ghostwritten in French by author Maurice Bessy.
David Blender Highland Park, Ill.