production, it has been presented in nearly every country of the world. It has not always met with commercial success, but it has always been regarded as a play of representative importance.

William Winter was one of the bitterest enemies of "The Easiest Way." He placed it with "Zaza" and Brieux's "Three Daughters of M. Dupont." As an opposite extreme view, we give the opinion of Mr. Walter Eaton, written in 1909, concerning the play: "It places Mr. Walter as a leader among our dramatists." In some respects, we may have surpassed it since then, in imaginative ideality; but, as an example of relentless realism, it still holds its own as a distinct contribution. The text has been edited for private circulation, and it is this text which is followed here. A few modifications, of a technical nature, have been made in the stage directions; but even with these slight changes, the directions are staccato, utilitarian in conciseness, rather than literary in the Shaw sense.

DAVID BELASCO'S STUYVESANT THEATRE

44th STREET near BROADWAY New York City

Under the sole management of DAVID BELASCO

DAVID BELASCO PRESENTS FRANCES STARR —IN— THE EASIEST WAY

An American play concerning a peculiar phase of New York life.

In Four Acts and Four Scenes.

By EUGENE WALTER.

CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

JOHN MADISON EDWARD H. ROBINS

WILLARD BROCKTON JOSEPH KILCOUR

JIM WESTON WILLIAM SAMPSON

LAURA MURDOCK FRANCES STARR

ELFIE ST. CLAIR LAURA NELSON HALL

ANNIE EMMA DUNN

Program Continued on Second Page Following

PROGRAM CONTINUED.

* * * * *

SYNOPSIS.

ACT I.—Mrs. William's ranch house or country home, perched on the side of the Ute Pass, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Time—Late in an August afternoon.

ACT II.—Laura Murdock's furnished room, second story, back. New York. Time—Six months later.

ACT III.—Laura Murdock's apartments in an expensive hotel. New York. Time—Two months later. In the morning.

ACT IV.—The same at Act III. Time—The same afternoon.

* * * * *

The play produced under the personal supervision of Mr. Belasco.

* * * * *

PROGRAM CONTINUED ON SECOND PAGE FOLLOWING.

PROGRAM CONTINUED.

Stage Director William J. Dean
Stage Manager Langdon West

* * * * *

Stage decorations and accessories designed by Wilfred Buckland.

* * * * *

Scenes by Ernest Cross.

* * * * *

     Scenery built by Charles J. Carson.
     Electrical effects by Louis Harlman.
Gowns by Mollie O'Hara. Hats by Bendel.

* * * * *

The Pianola used is from the Aeolian Co., New York.

THE EASIEST WAY

AN AMERICAN PLAY CONCERNING A

PARTICULAR PHASE OF

NEW YORK LIFE

IN FOUR ACTS AND FOUR SCENES

By EUGENE WALTER

1908 BY EUGENE WALTER

[The Editor wishes to thank Mr. Eugene Walter for his courtesy in granting permission to include "The Easiest Way" in the present Collection. All its dramatic rights are fully secured, and proceedings will immediately be taken against anyone attempting to infringe them.]

CHARACTERS.

LAURA MURDOCK. ELFIE ST. CLAIR. ANNIE. WILLARD BROCKTON. JOHN MADISON. JIM WESTON.

DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS.

LAURA MURDOCH, twenty-five years of age, is a type not uncommon in the theatrical life of New York, and one which has grown in importance in the profession since the business of giving public entertainments has been so reduced to a commercial basis.

At an early age she came from Australia to San Francisco. She possessed a considerable beauty and an aptitude for theatrical accomplishment which soon raised her to a position of more or less importance in a local stock company playing in that city. A woman of intense superficial emotions, her imagination was without any enduring depths, but for the passing time she could place herself in an attitude of great affection and devotion. Sensually, the woman had marked characteristics, and, with the flattery that surrounded her, she soon became a favourite in the select circles which made such places as "The Poodle Dog" and "Zinkand's" famous. In general dissipation, she was always careful not in any way to indulge in excesses which would jeopardize her physical attractiveness, or for one moment to diminish her sense of keen worldly calculation.

In time she married. It was, of course, a failure. Her vacillating nature was such that she could not be absolutely true to the man to whom she had given her life, and, after several bitter experiences, she had the horror of seeing him kill himself in front of her. There was a momentary spasm of grief, a tidal wave of remorse, and then the peculiar recuperation of spirits, beauty and attractiveness that so marks this type of woman. She was deceived by other men in many various ways, and finally came to that stage of life that is known in theatrical circles as being "wised up."

At nineteen, the attention of a prominent theatrical manager being called to her, she took an important part in a New York production, and immediately gained considerable reputation. The fact that, before reaching the age of womanhood, she had had more escapades than most women have in their entire lives was not generally known in New York, nor was there a mark upon her face or a single coarse mannerism to betray it. She was soft-voiced, very pretty, very girlish. Her keen sense of worldly calculation led her to believe that in order to progress in her theatrical career she must have some influence outside of her art and dramatic accomplishment; so she attempted, with no little success, to infatuate a hard-headed, blunt and supposedly invincible theatrical manager, who, in his cold, stolid way, gave her what love there was in him. This, however, not satisfying her, she played two ends against the middle, and, finding a young man of wealth and position who could give her, in his youth, the exuberance and joy utterly apart from the character of the theatrical manager, she adopted him, and for a while lived with him. Exhausting his money, she cast him aside, always spending a certain part of the time with the theatrical manager. The young man became crazed, and, at a restaurant, tried to murder all of them.

From that time up to the opening of the play, her career was a succession of brilliant coups in gaining the confidence and love, not to say the money, of men of all ages and all walks in life. Her fascination was as undeniable as her insincerity of purpose. She had never made an honest effort to be an honest woman, although she imagined