Dear Editor:
We four are writing to correct the mistake that your reporter made in the first paragraph of your Dec. 16 front-page story. The circus will ring in the New Year at the Columbia Theatre, Mr. Buckland's rebranded establishment, the Ghost of Christmas present, not the Burr Theatre that is now the Ghost of Christmases past.
You will recall here that even Mr. Buckland admits that he has no rights from the Raymond Burr estate to continue to use the late Raymond Burr's name to promote his commercial enterprise.
The mistake itself recalls the most extravagant phrase of the year past uttered in city council chambers in 2010, "We saved the Burr," as quoted in your publication's article headlined "Lafflines buys Burr Theatre," on Feb. 10, 2010.
The present 2011 reality, of course, is that Mr. Buckland, as he puts it, "gutted" the theatre, its stage and theatre attributes to create a cabaret atmosphere where a circus rings in the New Year instead of a play. Now comedy is the bill-of-fare, and the tragedy is that legitimate theatre lost a home and moved to Surrey.
In keeping with our theme, it's not Mr. Buckland who played Ebenezer Scrooge.
Your publication would do well to give the "Burr Theatre" name a decent burial, like its namesake. Even dead celebrities have rights that transcend their demise. Those that would invoke or appropriate their names should exercise some caution, if not decency - even when making anonymous gifts to commercial enterprises (or receiving them for that matter), lest they forge chains to rattle like Marley's Ghost.
The appropriation of Raymond Burr's name is the equivalent of expropriation of property without due process, agreement or compensation - a phrase that you will likely hear more of in connection with the demise of the old Burr Theatre during the New Year, 2012.
This message is delivered by the Ghost of Christmas future, unless Scrooge repents, as in the Dickens classic. It was the housekeeper who purloined the curtains and took them to the pawnbroker, wasn't it? Hmmmmmm.
E.C. "Ted" Eddy, president of the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society
Vance McFadyen, past director and treasurer of the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society
Maureen Albanese, present director and treasurer of the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society and the late Raymond Burr's cousin
Michelle Sereda, director and vice-president of the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society
