<P> By the end of the monologue, Nyukhin has said hardly anything relevant about the harmful effects of tobacco, but asks the audience not to betray him: </P> <P> "If she asks you, please, I beg you, tell her that her scarecrow husband, I mean, the lecturer, me, behaved with dignity ." </P> <P> The play was originally published in 1886, but Chekhov revised it later, completing the better - known 1902 version . The first English publication was by Ecco Press in The Unknown Chekhov (1954), a collection of writings . </P> <P> Paul Newman directed a short film adaptation of On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco that received limited screening in New York City in 1962 . Nyukhin was played by Michael Strong, who had performed the monologue to high praise in The Actors Studio . Despite a favorable mention in The New York Times, Newman removed his name from the credits for reasons that remain unclear . He gave the sole print to Strong, who kept it until his death in 1980 . As of November 2016, Turner Classic Movies plans to air the film in early 2017 . </P>

On the harmful effects of tobacco chekhov script