Theatre Note

"Stand back there, you coyotes," snapped D. O. O'Donnell, brandishing a revolver. Eleven officers of the law were cowed. "Crack!" barked a gun. "Ow!" screamed an officer, as the bullet plunged its way through the fleshy part of his left arm. In the wings, a woman screamed, fell fainting onto the stage. Onlookers guffawed.

The play was Hell's Bells, performed in a Manhattan Theatre. O'Donnell was Eddie Garvie. The wounded man was Clifton Self. The woman who fainted was Shirley Booth. The laughing onlookers were the audience. They thought it was a joke until the curtain went down and they had to endure a long wait while Garvie was arrested and Self was treated to bandages and salve. Then up went the curtain and the play was finished. Afterward, Garvie was taken to jail, but released subsequently on $500 bail.

Garvie had been unable to find his own gun, had borrowed the stage carpenter's. He was not supposed to pull the trigger--but he did. It was a case of "So sorry, my mistake."