"Playwright Forgets, Stirs Search for Son"

Nyack, N.Y., March 24 -- Jamie MacArthur, 8-year-old son of Charles MacArthur, playwright, and Helen Hayes, actress, went out with friends early this morning for a tugboat ride on the Hudson River. When the boat landed at the Nyack dock this evening, the youngster was surprised to learn that he had been reported missing in an alarm broadcast by Nyack police.

The boy had left his home on North Broadway at 6 A.M. after going to his father’s room and asking permission to take a cruise with the family of Carl Boll, intimate friends of the MacArthurs. Mr. MacArthur, heavy with sleep, granted permission and rolled over. When he awoke several hours later and found the youngster was not about, he was worried and finally, after getting no trace of the boy in telephone calls to friends and neighbors, went to the police. He said tonight he had no recollection of giving Jamie permission.

Mr. MacArthur canceled the police alarm before the boating party docked, having learned from a friend an hour or so earlier that Jamie was in good hands.