Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 41

FRANcOISE [_smiling through her tears_]. Best of husbands! You're not going out then? You'll stay?

MARCEL [_in Francoise's arms_]. Can I go now, now that I'm here? You are so pretty that I--

FRANcOISE. Not when I'm in trouble.

MARCEL. Don't cry!

FRANcOISE. I forgive you!

MARCEL. Wait, I haven't confessed everything.

FRANcOISE. Not another word!

MARCEL. I want to be sincere.

FRANcOISE. I prefer you to lie to me!

MARCEL. First, read this note--the one I received this morning.

FRANcOISE [_surprised_]. From Madame Guerin?

MARCEL. You saw her not long ago. Yes, she calmly told me--

FRANcOISE. That her husband had found some letters!

MARCEL. And that she was about to leave for England with her lover.

FRANcOISE. Then she is quite consoled?

MARCEL. Perfectly.

FRANcOISE. Poor Marcel! And you went to see her and try to prevent her going away with him?

MARCEL. My foolishness was well punished. She wouldn't receive me.

FRANcOISE. Then I am the only one left who loves you? How happy I am!

MARCEL. I'll kill that love some day with my ridiculous philandering!

FRANcOISE [_gravely_]. I defy you!

MARCEL [_playfully_]. Then I no longer have the right to provoke Monsieur Guerin? Now?

FRANcOISE [_gayly_]. You are growing old, Lovelace, his wife has deceived you!

MARCEL [_lovingly_]. Francoise' luck! [_Sadly._] Married!

[_Curtain._]

ALTRUISM

A SATIRE

BY KARL ETTLINGER TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN F. GLAZER.

Copyright, 1920, by Benjamin F. Glazer.

All rights reserved.

The first performance of ALTRUISM was given by The Stage Society of Philadelphia at the Little Theatre, Philadelphia, on January 28, 1916, with the following cast:

A BEGGAR _Henry C. Sheppard_ A WAITER _E. Ryland Carter_ A YOUNG MAN _William H. McClure_ A COCOTTE _Sylvia Loeb._ A PARISIAN _Edward B. Latimer_ HIS WIFE _Florence Bernstein_ THEIR CHILD _Jean Ma.s.sey_ AN ARTIST _Theron J. Bamberger_ AN AMERICAN _William J. Holt_ A GENTLEMAN _Caspar W. Briggs_ ANOTHER GENTLEMAN _Norris W. Corey_ A PICKPOCKET _Walter E. Endy_ A GENDARME _William H. Russell_ ANOTHER GENDARME _Frederick Cowperthwaite_ A WORKINGMAN _Walter D. Dalsimer_ A FLOWER GIRL _Katherine Kennedy_ A Pa.s.sING LADY _C. Warren Briggs_ A BYSTANDER _Charles E. Sommer_ AN OLD LADY _Paulyne Brinkman_ A GRISETTE _Florence M. Lyman_

[TIME: _The present_. PLACE: A Parisian Cafe by the Seine.]

Produced under the direction of Benjamin F. Glazer. Scene designed by H. Devitt Welsh. Costumes designed by Martha G. Speiser.

CHARACTERS

A BEGGAR A TOWNSMAN A TOWNSWOMAN THEIR SEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON AN ARTIST AN AMERICAN A COCOTTE A WAITER A WORKINGMAN A YOUNG MAN TWO OFFICERS THE CROWD

PLACE: _Paris_.

TIME: _Present_.

_On the banks of the Seine._

The play was later produced by the Washington Square Players, at the Comedy Theatre, New York City. The professional and amateur stage rights are reserved by the translator, Mr. Benjamin F. Glazer, Editorial Department, _The Press_, Philadelphia, Pa., to whom all requests for permission to produce the play should be made.

ALTRUISM

A SATIRE BY KARL ETTLINGER

[_In the background the end of a pier. On a post hangs a rope and a life buoy. Close by the Beggar is sitting on the floor. At right a street cafe; two tables stand under the open sky on the street.

At one of the tables sits the Waiter, reading a newspaper. At the other sits the Cocotte and the blond Young Man. At left on a public bench sits the Artist. He has a sketch book and pencil with which he is drawing the Cocotte, who has noticed it and is flirting with him._]

[_Lady xes from Left to Right._]

[_Man xes from Right to Left._]