Cooper as Gehrig

Re “Back When Decency Was Glamorous” (by Susan King, April 29): When Maria Cooper Janis recalled Gary Cooper’s preparation for his role as Lou Gehrig in “Pride of the Yankees,” and how Yankee great Bill Dickey was imported to teach her father how to throw and catch a baseball, she failed to mention that teaching Coop to bat was more problematic.

Gary Cooper was right-handed; Gehrig was a lefty and batted that way. Someone--either director Sam Wood or cinematographer Rudolph Mate--came up with the idea of having Gehrig’s No. 4 sewn on the Yankee pinstripes in reverse and having Cooper (as Gehrig), after smacking the ball, run to third base instead of first, then flip-flopping the film so that all would be right in the showing.

JIM PINKSTON

RAY BERGEN

Los Angeles