The Power of Television to Bring People Together

* Paul Clarke did a marvelous job at recounting various events brought into his Washington home via television (“Gathering at the TV for a Communal Experience,” July 17). However, it is important to remember that Southern Californians were the first to experience the medium’s ability to bring people together.

On April 9 and 10, 1949, Southlanders were transfixed by the effort to rescue 3 1/2-year-old Kathy Fiscus, who had fallen into a San Marino well. The legendary late television pioneer Klaus Landsberg dispatched a mobile unit and reporters Stan Chambers and Bill Welsh for what was destined to become 27 hours of continuous live coverage of an unscheduled news event.

“It really brought the city together,” Chambers recalled in a special television program last year commemorating his career. “Los Angeles was a big city, but on that weekend, it became a small-town city. Neighbors would visit neighbors they didn’t know very well. They’d sit in front of the set, they’d have dinner there, they’d go to sleep on the floor. The whole city suffered a personal loss.”

STEVEN HERBERT

Beverly Hills