The News And Views

BROADWAY ...by Mark Barron

NEW YORK--Now that he is celebrating his 85th staging assignment for the professional theater, the newly arrived drama, "To Be Continued," Guthrie McClintic says that Mrs. McClintic, otherwise star Katharine Cornell, has considerable to say about his work.

However, she has her say about the new scripts he is directing when they are at home. By the time they arrive at the theater for rehearsals they have ironed out all differences of opinion. And, to the rehearsing cast, they seem like two doves of peace.

They are two of the most active people in the Broadway theater. but once outside the stage door they lead mostly "a home life."

McClintic is a bit more active publicly than is Miss Cornell. For instance, this season he has directed and produced three plays on Broadway, whereas one a season is usually the quota for a director.

He directed Miss Cornell in her revival of "The Constant Wife," then staged the City Center production of "Come Of Age" and now TRUE ENOUGH his eighty-fifth directing job is "To Be Continued," the William Merchant comedy which has Dorothy Stickney and Jean Dixon in the leading roles. In his spare moments he also flew to Berlin to stage "Medea" with Judith Anderson in the starring role.

Although Miss Cornell lives quietly outside the theater, she does like to use the telephone, a tendency which most husbands will understand.

When she is touring she calls him long distance every night, and frequently their telephone bills total up to $200 a month.

She and McClintic are both long and diligent workers on scripts of new plays whether it be one in which she is starring or one which he is directing. They like to have the scripts in perfect shape by the time they arrive at the theater so they can spend all their time there in experimenting with and perfecting the players' performances.

Incidentally, it was a reading of a single line of four words which first attracted Miss Cornell to McClintic and eventually led to their marriage. It was in a play in which she said only "My son--My son!" Not a big part, but McClintic was so impressed with the way she said that single line that he went backstage to see her.

Although they avoid night clubs and similar rendezvous, they do like to gather up intimate friends who come to see them backstage, take them to their lovely home on the East River and there have midnight snacks from whatever they find in the ice box.