Brother Act

When pawky Playwright Charles MacArthur became editor of Theatre Arts magazine eleven months ago, he didn't expect that all his "conditions of employment" (one of them was getting Lana Turner for his secretary) would be met. But he did expect enough cash in the till to pay the magazine's bills.

Recently, he returned from a European tour to find that Publisher-Impresario Alexander Sandor Ince, whom the staff called "the headlong Hungarian," had romped through most of the magazine's capital, including $30,000 from Doris Duke. Hiring & firing had taken a whimsical turn: Playwright William Saroyan, hired as a drama reviewer, was fired before he got a single review into print. Ince had not collected for many ads, and distribution was a mess: Theatre Arts, seldom to be seen in the Times Square theater district, was going begging on newsstands in Chicago flophouse neighborhoods. Yet somehow, circulation had risen from 11,000 to 41,000.

A fortnight ago, readers got a frank letter-from-the-editor, in Charlie MacArthur's scuffed patent-leather prose. "The situation called for immediate action," he wrote. "We . . . sent for The Experts. [Then] we were wheeled into the operating room while The Experts did a complete plastic job . . . We feel as good as new. No squeak, no stoop, even no squawk . . . While we were under the anaesthetic, a soft rain of $1,000 bills set in . . ."

When the January issue appeared last week with new layouts and writers, the face-lifting operation looked like a success. The masthead flew two MacArthurs instead of one; mustached brother John D. MacArthur, president of Chicago's Bankers Life & Casualty Co., was the new publisher. Ince had sold out and gone off to Europe. "We didn't want anything with the MacArthur name on it to fail," explained John D. loyally. "My group--just some unpicturesque businessmen who want to make money--has put up $500,000 to make it go."

For the time being, contributors will get modest pay. But lucky Ludwig Bemelmans was allowed to name his own price for a parcel of text and sketches. Said Charlie: "He charged us two cases of champagne, six bottles of brandy, a jar of Coronas and a box of sleeping pills."

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