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Q. Don't we pay enough to attend the movies? More and more theaters are showing TV commercials before the previews. I used to boo during theater commercials, but my wife threatened to divorce me if I continued. Moreover, the audience, unfortunately, did not join my boos as I had hoped. I complain to theater managers, but the decision to show ads seems to be out of their control. -- Larry Brown, Lincolnwood, Ill.
A. I feel the same way, although I do enjoy the previews of coming attractions, and they're commercials, too. In the old days, theaters would show cartoons and short subjects as a bonus, but these days it's all cash-oriented. By the way, MGM has just re-released 34 of its classic shorts (by Robert Benchley and Pete Smith, among others) on laserdisc. Those were the days. Do you ever get the feeling that everything is just sort of slowly running down?