Eugene Walter (playwright)

{{short description|American playwright (1874–1941)}}

{{About|the playwright|the screenwriter|Eugene Walter}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Eugene Walter

| image = Eugene Walter, 1929.jpg

| caption = Walter in 1929

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|11|27}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|09|26|1874|11|27}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| restingplace = Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles County California

| spouse = Charlotte Walker (m.1908–div.1923)

}}

Eugene Walter (November 27, 1874 – September 26, 1941) was a playwright. He was the author of the hit play The Easiest Way.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/easiestwayameric00walt|title = The easiest way; an American play concerning a peculiar phase of New York life, in four acts and four scenes|year = 1908|publisher = New York, Printed at the Goerck art press}}

Biography

He was born on November 27, 1874, in Cleveland, Ohio. He served in the 1st Ohio Cavalry as a private and was a veteran of the Spanish–American War.{{cite news|title=Veteran Playwright, Eugene Walter, Dies|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aREqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l2gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4127%2C7355757|accessdate=6 May 2013|newspaper=Lewiston Daily Sun|date=1941-09-27}}

He was married to actress Charlotte Walker in 1908 in Cincinnati. They separated for a time in 1910.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/137659721/?terms=%22eugene%2Bwalter%22%2Bmartyn "Eugene Walter, Playwright, Gives Marguerite Martyn New Ideas on Suffrage]", Marguerite Martyn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 27, 1910, Page 7 The marriage ended in divorce in October 1923,{{cite news|title=Denies Reputed Marriage|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XqNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i2gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4121%2C3608705|accessdate=7 May 2013|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=1930-09-22}} when he secretly married Mary Kissel in Mexico. She was a New York artists' model{{cite news |title=Playwright and Mary Kissel Were Married in April, a Month After His Interlocutory Divorce. |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0914FA355E1B728DDDA80A94D1405B808FF1D3 |work=The New York Times |date=September 21, 1930 |accessdate=2009-02-02}} and actress.

=Description=

Artist and reporter Marguerite Martyn described Walter in 1910:

File:Playwright_Eugene_Walter_Is_Sketched_by_Marguerite_Martyn,_1911.jpg sketches Walter in 1911.]]

He is a man whose growth has not gone to length of limb or body. His incessant interest in life has taken him to many rough corners of the earth, so he is weather-toughened and looks as if he might be in excellent athletic training. He is small of stature and sturdy. He has a long upper lip and big eyes which he narrows and fixes upon something way off in the future. He is perfectly quiet, and you might think a little diffident — until he has something to say.

She also interviewed him in 1911.Marguerite Martyn, "Marguerite Martyn Interviews a Playwright Who

Understands Modern Women 'Only Too Well,'" St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15, 1911, Editorial Section, Page 1

=Death=

Walter died of cancer on September 26, 1941, in Hollywood, Los Angeles.{{cite news |title=Eugene Walter, Dramatist, Dies |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/413911311.html?dids=413911311:413911311&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Sep+27%2C+1941&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Eugene+Walter%2C+Dramatist%2C+Dies&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019063222/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/413911311.html?dids=413911311:413911311&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Sep+27,+1941&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Eugene+Walter,+Dramatist,+Dies&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 19, 2012 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 27, 1941 |accessdate=2009-02-02}} He was buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Sawtelle.{{cite web|title=Los Angeles National Cemetery|url=http://www.interment.net/data/us/ca/losangeles/lanat/w/lanat_w02.htm|publisher=interment.net|accessdate=15 September 2018}}

Plays

  • Sergeant James (1901), later called Boots and Saddles (1909)
  • The Flag Station (1905)
  • The Undertow (1907)
  • Paid in Full (1908)
  • The Real Issue (1908)
  • The Wolf (1908)
  • The Easiest Way (1909)
  • Boots and Saddles (1909)
  • Just a Wife (1910)
  • The Assassin (1911)
  • The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1912), adapted from the novel of the same name
  • Fine Feathers (1912)
  • Just a Woman (1916)
  • The Knife (1917) (aka The Assassin)
  • Nancy Lee (1918)
  • The Challenge (1919)
  • The Man's Name (1921)
  • Jealousy (1928), based on the French play Monsieur Lamberthier by Louis Verneuil
  • Come Angel Band (1936)

Selected filmography

=Screenwriter=

References

{{Reflist}}