BALL OF FIRE

Betty Rowland, stripteasing’s “Original Ball of Fire,” is alive and well and may be found behind the bar at Mr. B’s in Santa Monica. She is gracious and of good heart, and she laughed when told that a letter to the Book Review (May 15) claimed that what she, in contrast to Charles Bukowski, “exposed was well-made and worthy of scrutiny.”

Although at least two of those who admired her performances more than 25 years ago read or write to the Book Review’s Letter section, that, admittedly, is not inconsistent with the letter writer’s assertion that her audience was “not exceptionally literate.”

H. PETER YOUNG, LOS ANGELES