Show BROADWAY AND MAIN STREET Quality 0 of Mercy Was Strained When Mantell Played Richard By BILLY ROSEA ROSE ROSE- A few fc years back I got the nobby notion of reviving Henry VIII b by y one W. W Shakespeare and the day after the first three-line three announcement announcement- appeared on the drama pages my office was cram- cram jammed with well known actors who were willing wining to work for what ordinarily would have been their agents' agents commissions Subsequently for reasons that have nothing to do with this piece I pigeon holed my plans for doing Henr Henry but I sure learned a lot about show folks during the month I was up to the Bard To nine out of ten of them I found the pentameters of William the Great are th the e chocolate sauce a aon on the and during rehearsals rehearsals re re- they go about their business busi busi- business s ness as 11 if l they were In a temple f r of worship On opening night as asfar asfar far as the cast is f. f LT concerned t the h o e Billy Roso Hoso the theater a t er has stained glass windows and Im I'm not exaggerating when I say the actors actors actors ac ac- ac- ac tors would probably kill anyone who tried to foul up the perform perform- ance l If you think Im I'm using kill carelessly try this one on for forBACK sighs S BACK IN 1904 1903 an obscure thespian thespian thespian thes- thes pian named Robert Mantell Mantel who had been playing desultory one one- In the Midwest received word that a choice Broadway theater theater theater thea thea- ter would be available during the Christmas season He promptly cancelled his road engagement and brought his troupe to New York but shortly after alter his arrival he discovered discovered discovered dis dis- dis- dis covered that the choice theater he had been offered was the Princess Princess Princess Prin Prin- small auditorium auditorium auditorium audi audi- cess a story second on Broadway between and streets No more mor daunted than solvent Mantell Mantel announced h be he would present present pre pre- sent his bit production of Richard III Ill on December 5 S and when hen friends a a and n d colleagues warned amed him that not lot a hundred peo people le would climb limb a flight of oj rickety rickely stairs to 10 se see a Shakes Shakespearean play during the holidays he shrugged his threadbare shoulders and posted posted post post- ed his rehearsal schedule Immediately however t the there h e r e eW ewas W was lS trouble The stage crew in insisted insisted insisted in- in on a scenic rehearsal and when the impoverished actor refused refused refused re re- re- re fused they decided to get even by lousing up his show on opening night On the evening evenin of the a minute after Mantel Mantell began to decibel decibel decibel deci deci- bel his way through the initial lines a stagehand lunged at him from behind behind be be- hind a cloth drop and a aIm almost l m o 0 s t knocked him into the pit And a afew afew afew few moments later the same accident accident accident ac happened again When the act was over Mantell quietly told the crew th that l t he would kill the next man who tried to disrupt disrupt disrupt dis dis- dis- dis rupt his performance and performance and halfway through the second act he darned near did In the middle of a speech he saw the outline of a hand behind the curtain trying to locate him and never faltering In his lines he drew his dagger and plunged the blade full-force full into the drop When he went into the wings at atthe atthe atthe the end of ot the scene one of the crew grabbed him and said Youve killed our head carpenter I 1 hope to Heaven I did said Mantell But when he examined the stag stagehand hand he found the wound was only a gash in the thigh TO MAKE SURE no one would woul misunderstand how he felt the actor actor actor ac ac- ac- ac tor went up to his dressing room and came down wearing the iron- iron studded glove that was part of his costume in the last act Any more trouble he said and I shall brain each and every everyone one of you The stagehands looked at Mantell Mantell Man Man- t ln- ln tell teU at the mailed glove and at atthe atthe atthe the bleeding man on the floor And from then until the final curtain the crew was as quiet as a Scottish meeting house after alter a rag N Next ext day Ib the cri Mantell's pert t o greatest Richard fare m iq of Booth an and before or tN ih was out he be had ben been i ithe Ih the kt late W William l A. A Brit Bras whose hose management h bi be illS achieve recognition a o n Americas America's leading Recently Theresa HeIb HeIr Hefe The Theatre Guild offered to i buy a small piece of Aj As Ash I Y It starring Katharine y yIn In all aU fairness she sa 4 I ought to tell you that 1 tract is only until June Im not going to had bred b d that I said The be pit Shakespeare and if it ge ge's doubt whether Hollywood t r ther ther kr her again until both scenery fall apart |