Message to Mercury

Six months before opening its revival of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, management of New York's Mercury Theatre wrote to Playwright Shaw to ask what royalties he wanted. Surprised to get no reply, the Mercury cabled Playwright Shaw, finally extracted his assurance that his terms "would not be too unreasonable'' (TIME, May 8). Last week, when Heartbreak House, after running for six weeks, was about to close, the Mercury Theatre finally got Playwright Shaw's terms and his excuse for the delay.

Terms: 15% of the gross when the receipts exceed $1,500 a performance, 10% when they are between $500 and $1,500, 7 1/2% when they are between $250 and $500; and no license to record "any performance or rehearsal for reproduction by the cinematograph."

Excuse: "You would do well to have New York City printed under your street address. When writing to you last November, my eye was caught by the word Pennsylvania and I addressed the envelope to that town. Needless to say, it was returned here marked 'unknown.' "

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