PAYING ATTENTION

Dramatic justice should require critics to judge a play according to the confines of the medium in which it is presented. Therefore, an equitable comparison would have been CBS’ 1967 version versus the network’s 1985 “Death of a Salesman.”

Willy Loman would have been enraptured with both TV presentations because they served the utilitarian concept--providing the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. Free. No skin off Dan’s nose, though, because he gets free theater passes. But for the rest of the unprivileged, lacking the dollar-lolley to fly off to Broadway, CBS brought our family a media miracle.

ELIZABETH MORTIMER

Los Angeles