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Tooth."

Henry Fonda and June Walker with the leading players in The Farmer Takes a Wife, by Connelly and Frank B. Elser. "That was Henry's first big chance, he was an engaging young actor. When I sold it to the movies, he went out and played his part and became a star overnight. Janet Gaynor had June's role in the movie."

Connelly saw Sarah Bernhardt play L'Aiglon with one leg; "I thought what Shaw did of her, that she was a shopgirl's heroine." Ethel Barrymore: "I loved her." Maude Adams: "A wonderful Peter Pan; she had a rather hoarse, small-boy voice." Jane Cowl: "Played the best Juliet at 40 I ever saw." Marie Doro: "A Dresden china darling." Nazimova: "Very good but she depended a lot on exoticism."

Of all actresses Laurette Taylor is by a distance his favorite.

"She was our foremost actress, the best actress of the century, really. I don't know anyone who touched her in sensitivity and awareness. She had an immediate perception of depth and understanding, she immediately translated a part into flowering reality.

"At the opening of The Glass Menagerie, when Julie Haydon came out to take a bow with Laurette, she kissed Laurette's hand and Laurette said, 'If you do that again. I'm going to knock your head off.' Laurette was so humble in the face of adoration." (More shoulder-shaking laughter.)

"Every Sunday night a crowd of us used to gather at Laurette and Hartley's. God, the fun we had! Hartley was such a dear guy. Laurette was spiritually and emotionally bankrupt after Hartley died, she had no defense. But she pulled herself out of it."

Connelly lives at The Century on Central Park West, in the charming, spacious, book-and-memorabilia-strewn apartment which has been his home for almost 40 years. It was here that he talked, his voice as rich and swiftly changing as an actor's.

"I think I'm the oldest tenant here, except possibly Arthur Gershwin (George and Ira's brother). I took this apartment for my mother, then when she became ill I moved in to look after her. I have a housekeeper.

"The Century Theatre, one of the most opulent theaters we had, stood on this site. It was built by Winthrop Ames and it had a tier of elegant private boxes, like the first tier at the Metropolitan Opera House. Spectacles were put on there, including two or three of Max Reinhardt's.

"Then the Shuberts bought it. They had a roof garden which attempted to emulate the old Ziegfeld roof but of course it was done in a tinhorn way, it was horrible. That's where I first saw Miss Mae West.

"Miss West was in a lovely number called Shakespeare's Garden of Love – that's an indication of the kind of material the Shuberts had. Upstage there was a wrinkled country drop, and there was a 25-cent bust of William Shakespeare.

"Miss West did a Cleopatra grind across the stage. And a young man in a tuxedo sang a song with Bob Benchley and I committed it to memory." He sings the song, every word of it.

Connelly gave the theatre other plays, including A Story for Strangers and Hunter's Moon, produced in London. He wrote as well for Hollywood, including the scenario for Captains Courageous, which starred Spencer Tracy. "I think that was my best."

For five years he was a professor of playwrighting at Yale. "I enjoyed it, it was a lovely thing. I was the only full professor on the faculty list who didn't have a degree to his name. I've got a couple of doctorates but they were handouts."

About his new play.

"I think this is one of the best plays I ever wrote but I don't want to publicize it at all. There' s a man out west who is very enthusiastic about it. One producer here wanted to do it on a longtime option which I hesitated to give him. I think I'm waiting for someone to come from heaven on this play.

"I have as much enthusiasm for the theatre as I ever did. But I'm more choosy, I've walked out on several plays this year. The new actresses are mostly two-dimensional, they're colorless, they're figures on posters.

"I couldn't have lived anywhere else than the theatre. It's one of the few territories in which men and women can move freely; you can say what you want to stay, think what you want to think. The theatre is the free man's Liberty Hall."

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