To the Editor:

I read Neal Gabler's article "The Brief Half-Life of Celebrity" [ Oct. 16 ] and thought to myself, what a coincidence! Let me explain.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, my nephew and I were cleaning out my summer home in Liberty, N.Y., which I had recently sold. Among hundreds of photographs and letters from my many years in show business as a performer -- I am 87 -- I came across several mementoes: an autographed picture of Norma Talmadge, a letter from Walter Winchell.

When I asked my nephew not to destroy them, which he had been doing with most of my other old keepsakes, he asked, "Who was Walter Winchell?" I was too busy to tell him at the time, but lo and behold the next day Neal Gabler did it for me. CARL K. MELTZER New York