Broadway: Goodbye Mary, Hello Richard

There was nothing contrary about Mary, Mary. When Jean Kerr’s comedy closed last week after 196 weeks and 1,572 performances, it had taken in nearly $6,000,000 at the box office another $4,000,000 from the touring company, and $400,000 from Warner Bros. for movie rights. Was Author Kerr, whose more serious Poor Richard had opened to mixed reviews a week and a half before, sorry to see Mary go? “It did $18,000 last week, and it’s sort of sad it has to close,” she said. When did she feel Mary’s lease on life was running short? When the curtain went up recently and ten minutes later an outraged voice in the audience cried: “My God. I saw this damn thing.”