Once upon a time Mayor La Guardia assigned a Jewish policeman to guard the German Consulate in New York. To Clare Boothe the Mayor's little joke was a God-send. Around the consul she built an extenuated murder mystery which at one time was ready to involve all the non-Aryans in Hitland. She gave him six fellow characters all with good reason to kill him. Miss Boothe called it "Margin For Error," and after a long run in New York, almost as much a mystery as the plot, it reopened last night at the Plymouth.

For one act, "Margin For Error" rips along and then settles down for a second act of harangue and occasional laughter while the consul's death finds a solution. Spotted here and there with good humor, the play is still far and away beneath. "The Women." The wit is always about politics, and somehow one feels that all jokes about Europe have been told already. Although carried almost to the ridiculous, the plot on the whole is well-handled, and allows for some spontaneous acting by a cast that does everything required of it. Sheldon Leouard as Officer Finkelstein is the only part with real guts. But Doris Dudley, Morgan Farley and Kurt Ketch supply enough clues and alibis to make their presence worth while. "Margin For Error" is not brilliant mystery nor complete satire; but working with both, Clare Boothe has provided another fair evening of fun.