THE LIFE OF
DAVID BELASCO
VOLUME ONE
THE RECENT
WORKS OF WILLIAM WINTER
OTHER DAYS., Being Chronicles and Memories of The Stage (1908).
OLD FRIENDS., Being Literary Recollections of Other Days (1909).
POEMS (Definitive Edition--1909).
LIFE AND ART OF RICHARD MANSFIELD (Two Volumes--1910).
SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND (Revised and Augmented--1910).
GRAY DAYS AND GOLD (Revised and Augmented--1911).
OVER THE BORDER (Scotch Companion to Above--1911).
SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE,--_First Series_: 1911. I. “Shakespeare
Spells Ruin.” II. King Richard III. III. The Merchant of Venice.
IV. Othello. V. Hamlet. VI. Macbeth. VII. King Henry VIII.
SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE,--_Second Series_: 1915. I. Twelfth Night.
II. Romeo and Juliet. III. As You Like It. IV. King Lear. V. The
Taming of the Shrew. VI. Julius Cæsar.
SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE,--_Third Series_: 1916. I. Cymbeline. II.
Love’s Labor’s Lost. III. Coriolanus. IV. A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. V. King Henry IV.,--First and Second Parts. VI. The Merry
Wives of Windsor. VII. Antony and Cleopatra. VIII. King John.
LIVES OF THE PLAYERS:--I. Tyrone Power (1912).
THE WALLET OF TIME, Containing Personal, Biographical, and Critical
Reminiscence of the American Theatre (Two Volumes--1913).
VAGRANT MEMORIES, Being Further Recollections of Other Days (1915).
THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO (Two Volumes--1918).
[Illustration]
[Illustration: DAVID BELASCO
“_If he come not, then the play is marred!_”
--Shakespeare
From a portrait by the Misses Selby, New York.
Author’s Collection.]
THE LIFE
OF
DAVID BELASCO
BY
WILLIAM WINTER
(1836-1917)
“He, being dead, yet speaketh.”
VOLUME ONE
NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
1918
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
JEFFERSON WINTER
_All Rights Reserved_
TO
THE MEMORY OF
REINA MARTIN BELASCO
This Memoir of Her Son
DAVID BELASCO
Actor, Dramatist, and Manager,
Whom She Dearly Loved
And by Whom She Was Idolized,
Is Reverently Dedicated
By the Stranger Who Has Written It,
Hoping Thereby to Honor and Commemorate
Genius, Courage, Industry, Enterprise, and Energy,
Exemplified in a Useful and Beneficent Life,
In the Service of
The Theatre
* * * * *
_If Heaven to souls that dwell in bliss can show_
_The fate of those they love and leave behind,_
_She, in that Heaven, may be glad to know_
_Her son was honored with his human kind._
“_Each petty hand_
_Can steer a ship becalm’d, but he that will_
_Govern and carry her to her ends must know_
_His tides, his currents, how to shift his sails,_
_What she will bear in foul, what in fair, weathers,_
_What her springs are, her leaks and how to stop ’em,_
_What strands, what shelves, what rocks, do threaten her,_
_The forces and the nature of all winds,_
_Gusts, storms, and tempests, when her keel ploughs hell_
_And deck knocks heaven_, THEN _to manage her_
_Becomes the name and office of a Pilot!_”
--BEN JONSON, IN “CATILINE.”
CONTENTS
THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO--VOLUME ONE
THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO PAGE
ANCESTRY AND BIRTH 1
BOYHOOD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 2
EARLY PROCLIVITY FOR THE THEATRE 6
MEMORIES OF JULIA DEAN 7
REMOVAL TO SAN FRANCISCO 10
GLIMPSES OF BOYHOOD 12
SCHOOL DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO 14
HARD TIMES IN EARLY DAYS 15
THE SENTIMENTAL STOWAWAY 17
A BOHEMIAN INTERLUDE 19
BELASCO’S EARLIEST ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE
THEATRE IN SAN FRANCISCO 22
AN EARLY FRIEND,--W. H. SEDLEY-SMITH 28
ADOPTION OF THE STAGE 34
BELASCO’S THEATRICAL NOVITIATE 35
A THEATRICAL VAGABOND 39
EMULATION OF WALTER MONTGOMERY 42
A ROMANTIC COURTSHIP.--MARRIAGE 44
THEATRICAL LIFE IN VIRGINIA CITY 50
DION BOUCICAULT AND KATHARINE RODGERS 52
CONFLICTIVE TESTIMONY 53
VARIEGATED EXPERIENCES 61
RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS.--1875 73
BALDWIN’S ACADEMY AND BARRY SULLIVAN 86
WITH BOOTH AT THE CALIFORNIA 93
BELASCO AND “THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERY” 97
A REMINISCENCE OF HELENA MODJESKA 100
STROLLING _ad interim_.--BELASCO AS “THE FIRST
OLD WOMAN” 103
A SUBSTANTIAL TRIBUTE 104
“OLIVIA” AND “PROOF POSITIVE” 106
BELASCO’S VERSION OF “NOT GUILTY” 108
WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BALDWIN.--“THE LONE
PINE” AND DENMAN THOMPSON 110
“WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE” 113
SALMI MORSE’S “PASSION PLAY” 114
NOT THE OBERAMMERGAU DRAMA 116
CONSTITUENTS OF MORSE’S PLAY 118
AS TO PROPRIETY 120
“THE PASSION PLAY” IN NEW YORK 121
BELASCO’S SERVICES TO MORSE’S ENTERPRISE 123
“THE MILLIONAIRE’S DAUGHTER” 125
DETRACTION OF BELASCO.--EARLY CALIFORNIA
INFLUENCES 129
BELASCO’S REPERTORY AS AN ACTOR 140
BELASCO’S “THE STORY OF MY LIFE” 148
THE EVIL OF INCOMPETENT CRITICISM 155
THE NATURE OF BELASCO’S TALENTS AND
SERVICES 159
CONCERNING MATTERS OF FACT 163
THE FACTS ABOUT JEFFERSON’S _Rip_ 172
A LEADING LADY IN A PET 176
ROSE COGHLAN AND “THE MOONLIGHT MARRIAGE” 179
“L’ASSOMMOIR” AND A DOUBLE-BARRELLED BENEFIT 183
A HOT WATER REHEARSAL 187
THE PLAY OF “CHUMS” 188
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO CHICAGO 191
“HEARTS OF OAK” 193
FIRST VENTURE IN NEW YORK 196
JAMES ALFRED HERNE 197
ANALYSIS OF “HEARTS OF OAK” 201
FAILURE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 205
SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN 208
BELASCO’S RECOLLECTIONS OF ADELAIDE NEILSON 209
THE BLACK PEARL 211
MISS NEILSON’S GOOD INFLUENCE 213
“PAUL ARNIFF” 214
WANING FORTUNES AT THE BALDWIN 216
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE,--JOHN T. MALONE 218
“TRUE TO THE CORE” 220
A STERLING ACTOR AND AN INTERESTING ESTIMATE:--WILLIAM
E. SHERIDAN 221
LAURA DON.--AN UNFULFILLED AMBITION 225
“LA BELLE RUSSE” 230
“THE STRANGLERS OF PARIS” 237
NEW YORK AGAIN.--“LA BELLE RUSSE” AT WALLACK’S 241
AN OPINION BY BRONSON HOWARD.--WALLACK IN
THE THIRTIETH STREET HOUSE 244
BELASCO AND HIS “THE CURSE OF CAIN” 248
THE PASSING OF MAGUIRE 252
BELASCO AND GUSTAVE FROHMAN.--THEY REVIVE
“THE OCTOROON” 254
“AMERICAN BORN” 257
FIRST MEETING WITH CHARLES FROHMAN 259
EASTWARD, HO! 260
A RETROSPECT 263
A SECOND VENTURE IN CHICAGO.--THE LAST OF
“AMERICAN BORN” 269
THE MADISON SQUARE THEATRE 271
BELASCO AT THE MADISON SQUARE 275
“MAY BLOSSOM” 280
FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND.--“CALLED BACK” 290
CHANGES AT THE MADISON SQUARE 292
A LABORIOUS INTERLUDE.--LYCEUM THEATRE 294
“VALERIE” AT WALLACK’S 298
MORE ERRORS CORRECTED 306
AN EXTRAORDINARY COMPANY AND A SUMMER SEASON
IN SAN FRANCISCO 307
AFFAIRS OF THE LYCEUM 311
“THE HIGHEST BIDDER” 314
“PAWN TICKET 210” 317
“BARON RUDOLPH” AND GEORGE S. KNIGHT 321
“THE WIFE” 326
“A COMMON-SENSE HUSBAND” 327
REVISION OF “SHE” 337
“LORD CHUMLEY” AND E. H. SOTHERN 340
“THE KAFFIR DIAMOND” 345
LOUIS ALDRICH 347
THE SCHOOL OF ACTING 348
THE TRUE SCHOOL IS THE STAGE 351
A REVIVAL OF “ELECTRA” 353
MANY NEW TASKS 355
“THE CHARITY BALL” 357
MRS. LESLIE CARTER 361
EPISODE OF “THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER” 365
RETIREMENT FROM THE LYCEUM THEATRE 367
A LONG, LONG ROAD 370
CONFEDERATION WITH CHARLES FROHMAN 373
PROCTOR’S TWENTY-THIRD STREET THEATRE 374
THE PLAY OF “MEN AND WOMEN” 377
HATCHING “THE UGLY DUCKLING” 383
“THE UGLY DUCKLING.”--MRS. CARTER’S DEBUT 385
MORE FAILURE, AND A LAWSUIT 388
A POVERTY-STRICKEN STRUGGLE 392
“MISS HELYETT” AND MRS. CARTER 396
ORIGIN OF THE EMPIRE THEATRE 400
“THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME” 403
EXCELLENCE OF THAT INDIAN DRAMA 406
THE VALUE OF SUGGESTION IN ART 417
A SUGGESTIVE REMINISCENCE OF FRONTIER DAYS 420
BELASCO AND CHARLES FROHMAN 421
A CHARLES FROHMAN LETTER 422
A BAFFLED ENTERPRISE IN CHICAGO 424
“THE YOUNGER SON” 428
FIGHTING FOR A CHANCE 431
STORY AND PRODUCTION OF “THE HEART OF MARYLAND.”--ITS
GREAT SUCCESS 438
“THE FIRST BORN.”--A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 447
BELASCO’S SECOND ENGLISH VENTURE.--“THE
HEART OF MARYLAND” IN LONDON 451
“ZAZA,” AND THE ETHICAL QUESTION 456
PRODUCTION, AND CONTENTS, OF “ZAZA” 461
MRS. CARTER’S IMPERSONATION OF ZAZA 464
DEATH OF BELASCO’S MOTHER.--“CAN THE DEAD
COME BACK?”--A STRANGE EXPERIENCE 466
BLANCHE BATES AND “NAUGHTY ANTHONY” 469
“MADAME BUTTERFLY” 476
“ZAZA” ABROAD 484
VIEWS OF THE FRENCH DRAMATISTS 485
“WITH SPEED FOR ENGLAND.”--ANOTHER SUCCESS
IN LONDON 486
PUCCINI AND BELASCO 488
“MADAME BUTTERFLY” AS AN OPERA.--A PROPOSAL
BY LADY VALERIE MEUX 489
INDEX 497
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLUME ONE.
_In Photogravure._
David Belasco Frontispiece
TO FACE
PAGE
William Winter xxvi
John McCullough 18
Cecilia Loverich, Mrs. David Belasco 44
David Belasco as _Robert Macaire_ 80
Edwin Booth as _Hamlet_ 94
David Belasco as _Marc Antony_, in “Julius Cæsar” 136
David Belasco as _Fagin_, in “Oliver Twist” 146
Lawrence Barrett as _Caius Cassius_, in “Julius Cæsar” 166
Joseph Jefferson as _Rip Van Winkle_ 176
Adelaide Neilson 214
David Belasco as _King Louis the Eleventh_ 226
David Belasco as _Uncle Tom_, in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” 258
David Belasco as _Hamlet_ 294
_In Halftone._
The Infant Belasco and His Parents 2
Julia Dean (Hayne) 6
{ Charles John Kean, }
“The Keans” { Ellen Tree, Mrs. Kean } 10
Belasco’s Parents, Humphrey Abraham, and Reina
Martin, Belasco, About 1865 22
William Henry Sedley-Smith 28
Mrs. Frank Mark Bates }
Sallie Hinckley } 32
{ Ella Chapman }
The Chapman Sisters { Blanche Chapman } 36
Belasco, About 1873-’75 40
Joseph Murphy } 48
John Piper }
Mrs. D. P. Bowers 52
Dion Boucicault 56
Katharine Rodgers 60
John T. Raymond 66
Gertrude Granville }
Annie Pixley as _M’liss_ } 74
Playbill of “The Egyptian Mystery,” at Egyptian
Hall, San Francisco, 1877 98
Helena Modjeska 104
Belasco as _Armand Duval_, in “Camille” 130
Belasco, About 1880 140
Henry J. Montague 150
Augustin Daly, About 1870-’75 160
Rose Coghlan } 178
Nina Varian }
Lewis Morrison } 188
James O’Neill }
James A. Herne 200
Mary Jeffreys-Lewis } 230
Osmond Tearle }
Thomas Maguire 252
F. F. Mackaye } 262
Gustave Frohman }
Georgia Cayvan 286
Charles Frohman } 292
Daniel Frohman }
Steele Mackaye, About 1886 298
Annie Robe }
Kyrle Bellew } 304
Lester Wallack 306
Albert M. Palmer 310
Edward H. Sothern, About 1888 314
Lotta (Charlotte Crabtree), About the time of “Pawn
Ticket 210” 320
David Belasco and Clay M. Greene in 1887 330
A Scene from the “Electra” of Sophocles, as Produced
by Belasco, at the old Lyceum Theatre, New York 354
Elsie Leslie as the _Pauper-Prince_, in “The Prince and
the Pauper” 366
Henry C. De Mille 374
Mrs. Leslie Carter, About the time of “The Ugly
Duckling” 386
Mrs. Leslie Carter as _Miss Helyett_ 400
Belasco, About 1893 430
Mrs. Leslie Carter, About 1895 438
Mrs. Leslie Carter as _Maryland Calvert_, in “The
Heart of Maryland” 446
Mrs. Leslie Carter as _Zaza_ 464
Belasco, About 1899-1900 472
The Death Scene, Belasco’s “Madame Butterfly” 480
Giacomo Puccini 484
Geraldine Farrar as _Madama Butterfly_ 490
PREFACE
_My father’s plan of_ THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO _was communicated, in
detail, by him to me. He realized that whenever he might die he was
certain to leave much work undone. He hoped and expected, however, to
live long enough to complete this book. It was in his mind to the very
end. The last entry in his “Journal” refers to it: “June. Saturday, 2.
Cloudy and gloomy. Worked all day on the Memoir.” He spoke of it often
during his agonized final illness. The last words he ever wrote are a
part of it. I have, as well as I could, finished it for him, according
to his plan, because I know that he wished me to do so._
_This book was planned by Mr. Winter in 1913, as part of a comprehensive
record of the American Stage which he purposed to write. Other kindred
projects which he then had in view and on which he labored much include
revised and augmented editions of his_ LIFE AND ART OF EDWIN BOOTH _and_
LIFE AND ART OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON; _joint biographies of_ HENRY IRVING
_and_ ELLEN TERRY, _and an encyclopedical work to be called_ ALMS FOR
OBLIVION, _in which he intended to gather a vast mass of miscellaneous
material relative to the Theatre. He also had in contemplation a_ LIFE
OF AUGUSTIN DALY, _but he abandoned it because his friend the late
Joseph Francis Daly (Augustin’s brother) had undertaken and in large
part written a biography of that great theatrical manager and
extraordinary man. All those projects languished because of lack of
money: such books as those by William Winter issued since 1908 are, in
every way, so costly to make that little commercial profit can be
derived from them._
_David Belasco, however, is the most conspicuous figure in the
contemporary Theatre: his career has been long, picturesque,
adventurous, and brilliant: “the present eye praises the present
object,” and it was deemed certain that an authentic_ LIFE _of that
singular, romantic person would prove remunerative as well as
interesting, instructive, and valuable. In September, 1913,
accordingly,--soon after Mr. Winter’s_ THE WALLET OF TIME _had been
brought out,--I was, as his agent, easily able to make for him very
advantageous arrangements for the publication of such a work,--first to
be passed through a prominent magazine, as a serial, and then to be
issued in book form. Mr. Winter was much pleased and encouraged by this
arrangement, and he had begun to gather and shape material for_ THE
LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO _when announcement was made that Mr. Belasco was
writing and would presently publish, in_ HEARST’S MAGAZINE, _an_
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. _My father had met with a similar experience in 1893,
when Jefferson’s_ AUTOBIOGRAPHY, _published as a serial in_ THE CENTURY,
_forestalled his authoritative LIFE of that great actor, rendering it,
monetarily, almost profitless, and, therefore, he deemed it wise to lay
aside this book._
_Belasco’s_ THE STORY OF MY LIFE _was published_ _in_ HEARST’S MAGAZINE,
_March, 1914, to December, 1915,--but, though it preëmpted the magazine
field and made a work therein by my father impossible, it proved wholly
inadequate and unreliable as a biography. In September, 1916,
however,--soon after_ SHAKESPEARE ON THE STAGE--THIRD SERIES _had been
published,--Mr. Winter decided that the time was propitious for him to
take up again the present Memoir, and, his publishers agreeing with him,
he engaged to do so. He was then ill and weak; but he earnestly desired
to work till the last, to be always doing, to overcome every obstacle by
the force of his indomitable will, and, whatever he might suffer, never
to yield or break under the pressure of adverse circumstance or the
burden of age._
_About the end of October, 1916, accordingly, he began the actual
writing of this Memoir, and, although repeatedly urged by me to desist,
he continued in it almost to the last day of his life. “I might better
be dead,” he once exclaimed, “than to sit idle! I must go on: I must
work at something: if it were not at this, it would be at something
else. Moreover, I will not be beaten by anything: I will make this book
the best thing of the kind I have ever yet done.”_
_If he had lived he would have done so; but his spirit was greater than
his strength. When death came to him unconnected sections of this book,
amounting to about three-fifths of the matter contained in Volume One
and about one-third of that contained in Volume Two, were in type,
awaiting his revision. Much of the remainder was in manuscript--some
parts of it practically completed, some of it more or less roughly
drafted. My task has been, substantially, to supply some dates, to fill
some blanks, and to edit, coördinate, and join the material left by my
father. That task I have performed with reverence and care, and if the
errors and defects in this work--which I hope are few--be recognized as
mine, and the merits and beauties in it--which I know to be many--be
recognized as his, then the responsibility of authorship will be rightly
divided._
_Mr. Winter was of many moods,--and, when possible, he wrought at his
writing as he felt inclined. That is the reason why some passages in
this book which stand near to its close were finished and polished by
him, while others, much earlier, were left incomplete or isolated. The
subject of The Theatrical Syndicate, for example, was thoroughly
familiar to him, and he wrote the section devoted to that subject in
intervals of his restudy of “The Return of Peter Grimm,” a play about
which he had written, for this book, little but rough notes when the end
came (I have, herein, reprinted his criticism of that play previously
recorded in another place). The last passage in the text on which he
worked is that treating of “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” He brought the
revised manuscript of that passage to me on the afternoon of June 2 and
asked me to type it for him, saying: “I like the earnestness of it, and
if you will make a fair copy for me I will go over it once more in the
morning and dismiss it: I am too tired to go on to-day.” On June 3, 4,
and 5, although suffering acutely, he insisted on rising, each day, and
attempted to work, but was unable to do so. On the morning of June 5 he
was forced to take to his bed. That was the beginning of the end._
_My father died on June 30, 1917. The direct cause of his death was
uræmic poisoning, sequent on angina pectoris. His personal reticence was
extreme; he disliked strangers about him and depended on me; it was,
therefore, my very great privilege to wait on and nurse him in his
final sickness. His suffering was indescribable and was exceeded only
by his invariable patience and gentleness. The last thing he ever wrote
was the Dedication of this book. At about eleven o’clock on the night of
June 9 he endeavored to compose himself to sleep. I sat at the door of
his bedroom until about midnight, when, as it was obvious that he could
not sleep and that he was in terrible distress, I went to him. The next
two hours were specially hard: there is little that can be done in such
circumstances but to hope for the release of death. Anybody who has seen
and heard the piteous restlessness and the dreadful, strangulated
breathing characteristic of such a condition as my father’s then was is
not likely to forget them. At about two o’clock in the morning, his
breathing and his pulse both being so bad that I believed he was then to
die, he asked to be helped out of bed into a chair. I lifted him into
one, and, after a little while, he asked, with much difficulty, “Is
there paper--pencil, here?” Supposing that he wished to write some
request or message that he was not able to speak, I immediately gave him
a pad of paper and a pencil. He sat for a few minutes with them in his
lap, gathering his strength. Then he took them up and slowly, painfully,
wrote the Dedication of this book, all except the four lines of verse
with which it ends. He made a mark beneath the text and wrote there
“Four lines of verse--not finished yet.” A while later he seemed to
grow easier and presently asked to be got back to bed. The next day,
June 10, in the forenoon, he asked me to help him to dress, which I did:
it was the last time he ever had his clothes on. He read for a little
while in one of his favorite books, Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,”--the
passage relative to the execution of Dr. Dodd. He presently spoke to me,
in his old, gentle, whimsical way, of “the touching resignation shown in
Johnson’s letter to the fact that Dodd was going to be hanged.” Then,
after an interval of acute and dreadful distress, he spoke of his
illness. He said: “It is my principle_ to go on. _I felt that I was
going to die last night,--that’s why I wrote the Dedication to the
’Belasco.’ I feared I should die before I could complete that work and
the three other books I have undertaken. But my principle is to go on:
to hold on, till the end--and then_, still hold on! _I do not mean to
break. But I am very sick.” Soon afterward he became so weak that it was
necessary to get his clothes off and lift him back to bed. In the
afternoon he roused himself again,--rising above the tide of poison
which was slowly submerging him, as visibly as a drowning man rises in
water,--and asked for the Dedication, which I had typewritten. He sat up
in bed and revised it, as it now stands, and then added the four lines
of verse. Although he had been suffering horribly for days he made but
one mistake in writing the Dedication: he wrote “use_less_” instead of
“use_ful_“--and was much vexed with himself for doing so. In the last
line of the verse he first wrote “boy”; in the evening he changed that
word to “son.”_
_Among the manuscript notes left by my father I have found the beginning
of a_ PREFACE _to this book, which I think it desirable to print here
because it gives in his words some intimation of his purpose and feeling
in undertaking the writing of it_:
* * * * *
David Belasco is the leading theatrical manager in the United
States; the manager from whom it is reasonable to expect that the
most of achievement can proceed that will be advantageous to the
Stage, as an institution, and to the welfare of the Public to which
that institution is essential and precious. I have long believed
that a truthful, comprehensive, minute narrative of his
career,--which has been one of much vicissitude and
interest,--ought to be written now, while he is still living and
working, when perhaps it may augment his prosperity, cheer his
mind, and stimulate his ambition to undertake new tasks and gain
new honors. In that belief I have written this book, not as a
panegyric, but as a Memoir.
[Illustration: IN MEMORIAM
“_Earthly Fame_
_Is fortune’s frail dependent; yet there lives_
_A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, gives:_
_To whose all-pondering mind a noble aim,_
_Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed;_
_In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed._”
--Wordsworth
photograph by I. Almstaedt, Staten Island. son of Jefferson Winter.]
[Illustration: William Winter]
_David Belasco and William Winter were friends for thirty-odd years.
They did not always agree as to the course which should be followed in
theatrical management; but their disagreements on that subject, such as
they were, never estranged them nor lessened their mutual sympathetic
understanding, respect, and regard. Belasco, undoubtedly, is what my
father called him, “the last of the real managers,” the heir of all the
theatric ages in America that have been led by Dunlap, Caldwell,
Gilfert, Wood, the Wallacks, Booth, McCullough, Ford, Palmer, and Daly,
and it is fitting that his_ LIFE _should have been written by the one
man in all the world best qualified to perform the task. Belasco’s
feeling about the matter, at once modest and appreciative, is shown in a
letter from which I quote the following_:
(David Belasco to William Winter.)
October 18, 1916.
MY DEAR WILLIAM WINTER:--
I am greatly honored to know that you are really going to write the
history of my life! I will not say “It is an honor that I dreamed
not of,” because I _have_ dreamed of it. But I never thought you
would really undertake it. Of course I will, as you ask, very
gladly do _anything_ and _everything_ I can to assist you.
But though my life has not been altogether an easy or uneventful
one, in all sincerity I can hardly think of it as worthy of your
brilliant pen. Yet you know how I have always looked up to you, and
so you will know how much this means to me and how much I
appreciate it. And because “I hold every man a debtor to his
profession” I am more than delighted that you think the public will
be interested in the life of a theatrical manager,--and that
manager me. If only I had been able to do all that I wanted to,
then there would have been a career worthy even of your pen.
It pleases me so much whenever there comes a real, worthwhile
tribute to the profession I adore--the Stage! It is great and
wonderful to think that my name is to be written in the records of
the American Theatre by you: that hereafter the name of Belasco
(just a stroller from California in the dear old days of the
pioneers) will be found written by you along with the names of
those who made our Theatre _possible_ as well as great. I mean the
men and women who gave my profession of their best--long, arduous,
weary years of hard, hard work, at the sacrifice of personal
comfort; who studied and toiled and played their parts
uncomplainingly night after night in the changing bills; the
friends who were never too tired to learn something; who lived
simply and poorly and yet had the courage to marry and bring up
their children and give the Stage a new generation; the friends who
found joy in the few hours they held sacred in the home--often a
barren room or two. Beautiful! Those are the boys and girls I
love--our pioneers. What pathetic figures--what noble examples many
of them were! Such men and women I reverence--I salute them! And I
thank you for the compliment you pay me, as a humble follower of
the Theatre, when you write my name with theirs.... We must meet
soon and have good, long talks about the golden days in
California,--_my_ California. _Facts_ I can give you: exact _dates_
I will not promise. I have never kept a “Diary.”... As far as I
possibly can I will make my convenience to suit yours....
Faithfully,
DAVID BELASCO.
_Many readers may suppose, because Belasco is still living and at the
zenith of his career, that it was an easy task to compile and arrange a
complete record of his life. The truth is far otherwise. There was once
a vast amount of invaluable material for such a record,--comprising a
copy of every programme in which his name appeared from 1871 to the end
of the theatrical season of 1897-’98, together with every important
article about him or his work in the same period, several scores of
photographs of him in dramatic characters and many hundreds of
interesting letters. But that unique collection, the property and pride
of his mother, was destroyed in the great San Francisco earthquake-fire,
April 18, 1906; and his dubiosity about exact dates proved to be more
than justified. The comprehensive and authoritative Chronology of
Belasco’s life which is included in this Memoir is, therefore, chiefly
the product of Mr. Winter’s indefatigable, patient original research and
labor: such parts of it as were not made by him were made entirely
according to his plan and by his direction, specifying the sources of
information to be consulted. And I would specially emphasize the fact
that wherever this Memoir may be found to differ from, or conflict
with, other accounts of Belasco’s career those other accounts are
erroneous._
_The letters which appear in this Memoir were all selected by my
father,--excepting a few of his, toward the end, which I have inserted.
Mr. Winter requested Belasco to chose from his collection such letters
as he would permit to be used, but received from him a reply in which he
writes_:
... I would be glad to go through my letters for you, as you
requested, if I could; but the fact is I am so over-worked just now
that I simply can’t take the time to do it. I am, therefore,
sending over to you eight or nine old letter-books of mine and two
boxes of old letters. I really don’t know _what_ is in them (for I
haven’t looked at them for years), but I hope you will be able to
find something useful and such as you want among them. If not, let
me know and I will send over some more. All the other material you
ask for in the list which Jefferson left at the theatre last week
was destroyed in the [San Francisco] fire.... I don’t believe there
are twelve pictures of me “in character” in existence. I had dozens
made when I was young, but I don’t know of anybody who has any
to-day, except my wife. She has a set of, I think, six, which I
will ask her to lend us....
_In assembling originals for pictorial illustration of this work I have
been specially aided by Mr. Belasco, who has not only loaned me
everything in his own collection for which I have asked but has also
obtained for my use many photographs in the Albert Davis Collection, as
well as the six very interesting and now, I believe, unique pictures of
him, preserved by Mrs. Belasco, in the characters of_ Hamlet, Marc
Antony, King Louis the Eleventh, Uncle Tom, Fagin, _and_ Robert Macaire.
_For photographs of members of the Theatrical Syndicate I am indebted to
my father’s friend and mine, Louis V. De Foe, Esq., of New York. My
father was not altogether satisfied with the illustrations of his other
books: every effort has been made to embellish this one as nearly as
possible in the manner in which he would have had it done._
_On behalf of my father and in accordance with a written note found
among his papers I would here make grateful acknowledgment of the
courtesy of Mr. Belasco’s sister, Mrs. Sarah Mayer; his brother, Mr.
Frederick Belasco, and his nephew, Mr. E. B. Mayer, all of San
Francisco, who endeavored to answer many inquiries by Mr. Winter and who
were able to provide some necessary corroboration of details. Also, I
would make acknowledgment of the obliging kindness shown him by the late
James Louis Gillis (1857-1917), Librarian of the California State
Library at Sacramento, and by his assistants, unknown, who searched for
Mr. Winter various old California newspaper files which, otherwise,
might have remained inaccessible._
_For myself, I owe thanks to Mr. Gillis’ successor as State Librarian of
California, Milton J. Ferguson, Esq.; to William Seymour, Esq., to James
A. Madison, Esq., and to the several members of Mr. Belasco’s personal
staff,--all of whom have assisted me in verifying for my father casts of
plays long ago forgotten and in supplying or verifying dates. I wish,
also, to thank Captain Joseph H. Coit, formerly Vice-President and
manager of Moffat, Yard & Company,--now, I believe, on service somewhere
in France,--without whose coöperation this work, perhaps, might not have
been undertaken._
_To Mr. Belasco I owe a debt of lasting gratitude--not only for his
unquestioning, instant compliance with every request I have ventured to
make of him, but far more for his simple, hearty sympathy in affliction
and his great personal kindness, which is not less valued because I know
that, primarily, it has been inspired by his reverence and affection for
my father._
_The Indices to this work I am chiefly responsible for. They have been
prepared on the model of others made under my father’s direction and in
large part by him: many of the biographical facts given in them were set
down for the purpose by him. I trust that they will be found accurate
and useful._
_The delay in publishing this work has been due in part to ill-health
which compelled me long to neglect it; in part to technical and
mechanical difficulties and mischances in its manufacture. I surmise
that notwithstanding the great care which has been exercised some minor
errors and slips will be found to have crept into this edition:[A] if
any are observed I shall be glad to have them brought to my attention in
order that they may be corrected in future issues._
JEFFERSON WINTER.
46 Winter Avenue, New Brighton,
Staten Island, New York.
June 30, 1918.
THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO.
ANCESTRY AND BIRTH.
David Belasco, one of the most singular, characteristic, picturesque,
and influential persons who have participated in the theatrical movement
in America, is descended from an old Portuguese Hebrew family (the name
of which was originally pronounced “Valasco”), members of which
emigrated from Portugal to England in the reign of the Portuguese King
Emanuel the First (1495-1521), at one time in which reign the Jews in
Portugal were cruelly persecuted, so that all of them who could do so
fled from that country. His father, Humphrey Abraham Belasco, was a
native of England, born in London, December 26, 1830. His mother, whose
maiden name was Reina Martin, was also of English nativity, born in
London, April 24, 1830. Both were Jews. They were poor and their social
position was humble. The father’s occupation was that of a harlequin. He
was proficient in his calling and he pursued it successfully at various
London theatres, but he did not find it remunerative. He wished to
improve his condition, and affected, as many others were, by the “gold
fever,”--which broke out and soon became epidemic after the discoveries
of gold in California (1842-1848), and was almost everywhere acute
during 1849 and the early fifties,--he determined to seek his fortune in
that apparent Eldorado. This determination was approved by his wife,
who, like himself, was a person of strong character and adventurous
spirit, and, accordingly, in 1852-’53, they voyaged, in a sailing
vessel, to Aspinwall (now Colon), crossed the isthmus to Panama, and
went thence, by another sailing vessel, to San Francisco, California,
arriving there almost destitute. Their first lodging was in a house,
long ago destroyed, in Howard Street, where, in a room in a cellar, July
25, 1853, occurred the birth of their first child, David Belasco, the
subject of this Memoir.
BOYHOOD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The residence of those adventurers in San Francisco continued for
several years, Humphrey Belasco keeping a general shop and moderately
prospering as a tradesman, but about the beginning of 1858 they migrated
(travelling by sailing vessel) to the coast town of Victoria, then a
trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company,--later (1862)
[Illustration:
From an old photograph. Belasco’s Collection.
THE INFANT BELASCO AND HIS PARENTS, 1854
INSCRIPTION:
“Father and Mother and _Me_--during my _first starring_
engagement.--D. B.”]
incorporated a city. There Humphrey Belasco continued in business, as a
dealer in tobacco, fur, and other commodities, trading with miners and
Indian hunters and trappers, and also he dabbled in real estate
speculation and took part in mining operations, joining a party that
explored the Cariboo Mines region. He was not fortunate in his real
estate and mining ventures, nor did he specially prosper in
trade,--though, as Macaulay says of Richardson, the novelist, “he kept
his shop and his shop kept him.[B]” Humphrey Belasco is mentioned, in a
record of that place, as keeping a tobacco shop there, in Yates Street,
in 1862. He remained in Victoria for about seven years, and there three
of his children were born: Israel, July 25, 1861; Frederick, June 25,
1862, and Walter, January 1, 1864. The elder Belasco was a social
favorite, and so considerable was his popularity that he was more than
once asked to accept public office,--a distinction which he declined. He
is remembered as a modest, lovable person, genial in feeling and manner,
a pleasant companion and a clever entertainer in the privacy of his
home, and as having been specially fond of quietude.
In Victoria much of David’s childhood was passed. From his mother, who
was intellectual, imaginative, romantic, and of a peculiarly amiable
disposition, he received the rudiments of education: she taught him
neatness, self-respect, industry, and the importance of acquiring
knowledge. I have heard him speak of her, with deep emotion, as the
friend from whom he had derived those lessons of courage, energy,
perseverance, and arduous labor that have guided him through life. He
was early sent to a school called the Colonial, in Victoria, conducted
by an Irishman named Burr, remembered as a person whose temper was
violent and whose discipline was harsh. Later, he attended a school
called the Collegiate, conducted by T. C. Woods, a clergyman. When about
seven years old he attracted the attention of a kindly Roman Catholic
priest, Father ---- McGuire, then aged eighty-six, who perceived in him
uncommon intelligence and precocious talent, and who presently proposed
to his parents that the boy should dwell under his care in a monastery
and be educated. Strenuous objection to that arrangement was at first
made by David’s father, sturdily Jewish and strictly orthodox in his
religious views; but the mother, more liberal in opinion and more
sagaciously provident of the future, assented, and her persuasions,
coincident with the wish of the lad himself, eventually prevailed
against the paternal scruples. In the monastery David remained about two
and a half years, supervised by Father McGuire, and he made good
progress in various studies. The effect of the training to which he was
there subjected was exceedingly beneficial: ecclesiastics of the Roman
Catholic Church have long been eminent for scholarship and for
efficiency in the education of youth: their influence endured, and it is
visible in David Belasco’s habits of thought, use of mental powers,
tireless labor, persistent purpose to excel, and likewise in his
unconscious demeanor, and even in his attire. It would have been better
for the boy if he had remained longer in the monastic cell and under the
guidance of his benevolent protector, but he had inherited a gypsy
temperament and a roving propensity, he became discontented with
seclusion, and suddenly, without special cause and without explanation,
he fled from the monastery and joined a wandering circus, with which he
travelled. In that association he was taught to ride horses “bareback”
and to perform as a miniature clown. A serious illness presently befell
him and, being disabled, he was left in a country town, where he would
have died but for the benevolent care of a clown, Walter Kingsley by
name, who remained with him,--obtaining a scanty subsistence by
clowning and singing in the streets, for whatever charity might
bestow,--and nursed him through a malignant fever, only himself to be
stricken with it, and to die, just as the boy became convalescent.
Meantime Humphrey Belasco, having contrived to trace his fugitive son,
came to his rescue and carried him back to Victoria, to a loving
mother’s care and to his life at school.
EARLY PROCLIVITY FOR THE THEATRE.
It was about this time, 1862-’63, that David’s strong inclination for
theatrical pursuits became specially manifest. His mother was fond of
poetry, and she, and also his school teachers, had taught him to
memorize and recite verses. His parents, the father having been a
professional harlequin (one of David’s uncles, his namesake, it should
be mentioned, was the admired English actor David James [1839-1893], and
the whole family was histrionical), naturally sought the Theatre and
affiliated as much as they could with whatever players came to Victoria
or were resident there as members of the local stock company. David had
been “carried on,” at the Victoria Theatre Royal, as _Cora’s Child_, in
“Pizarro,”--that once famous play,
[Illustration:
From an old photograph. The Albert Davis Collection.
JULIA DEAN (HAYNE)]
adapted from Augustus Frederick Ferdinand von Kotzebue’s “Die Spanier in
Peru,” and rewritten by Sheridan. That incident probably occurred when
the talented and beautiful Julia Dean (1830-1868), in the season of
1857-’58, first acted in Victoria,--“Pizarro” having been in her
repertory and _Cora_ one of the parts in which she was distinguished. In
June, 1856, Julia Dean was lessee of the American Theatre, San
Francisco; she made several tours in Pacific Coast towns. Belasco
remembers having played the boy, _William_, in “East Lynne,” with her,
but that appearance must have occurred later, because “East Lynne,” as a
novel, was not published till 1861, and it was not launched earlier as a
play. Julia Dean returned to the East in 1858, but made at least one
subsequent tour of the Western States.
MEMORIES OF JULIA DEAN.
Belasco’s random recollections of the actors with whom he was brought in
contact while in California and other parts of the West are those of a
youthful enthusiast, generally injudicious, frequently incorrect,
sometimes informative, always indicative of amiability. Julia Dean, who
held little David in her arms when he was a child, and with whom he
appeared in boyhood, remains to this day an object of his homage. She
was one of the best actresses of her time. I saw her first at the Boston
Museum, in 1854, as _Julia_, in “The Hunchback,” later in other
characters, and was charmed by her exquisite beauty and her winning
personality. I saw her for the last time, in New York, in July, 1867, at
the Broadway Theatre (the house which had been Wallack’s Lyceum), where
she was playing,--with peculiar skill and fine effect,--_Laura Fairlie_
and _Anne Catherick_, in “The Woman in White.” She was a scion of a
theatrical family. Her maternal grandfather, Samuel Drake (1772-1847),
an English actor, was highly esteemed on our Stage a hundred years ago.
Her mother, Julia Drake (first Mrs. Thomas Fosdick, later Mrs. Edmund
Dean), was a favorite in the theatres of the West and was accounted
exceptionally brilliant. Julia Dean went on the stage (1845) at
Louisville, Kentucky, made her first appearance in New York in 1846, at
the old Bowery Theatre, and continued in practice of her art till the
end of her life. She was lovely in person and not less lovely in
character. Her figure was tall and slender, her complexion fair, her
hair chestnut-brown, her voice sweet, her movement graceful, and she had
sparkling hazel eyes. The existing portraits of her give no adequate
reflection of her beauty. In acting, her intelligence was faultless,
her demeanor natural, her feeling intense. Her every action seemed
spontaneous. Her imagination was quick, she possessed power and
authority, and she could thrill her audience with fine bursts of
passion,--as notably she did in the Fifth Act of “The Hunchback”; but,
as I recall her, she enticed chiefly by her intrinsic loveliness. Her
performance of Knowles’s _Julia_ was perfection. She played many
exacting parts,--such as _Bianca_, in “Fazio”; _Mrs. Haller_, in “The
Stranger”; _Margaret Elmore_, in “Love’s Sacrifice”; _Griseldis_, and
_Adrienne Lecouvreur_. She was the primary _Norma_, in Epes Sargent’s
“Priestess,” which was first acted in Boston, and she was the primary
_Leonor_, in George Henry Boker’s tragedy of “Leonor de Guzman,” first
produced at the original Broadway Theatre, New York, April 25, 1854.
Whatever she did was earnestly done. Her soul was in her art, and she
never permitted anything to degrade it. A marriage contracted (1855)
with Dr. Arthur Hayne,--son of Robert Young Hayne, United States Senator
from South Carolina, whose semi-seditious advocacy of “State Rights”
prompted Daniel Webster’s great oration in the Senate (1830),--resulted
unhappily, somewhat embittering her mind and impairing the bloom of her
artistic style. She obtained a divorce and (1866) became the wife of
James Cooper. She died suddenly, in childbirth, March 6, 1868. At her
funeral, two days later, at Christ Church, Fifth Avenue and Thirty-first
Street, New York, the service was performed by Rev. Ferdinand Cartwright
Ewer (1826-1883), a noted Episcopalian ritualist, who in early life had
been a dramatic critic,--one of competent intelligence, good judgment,
and considerate candor,--associated with the newspaper press of San
Francisco, had known her in the season of her California triumphs, and
well knew her worth both as actress and woman.
REMOVAL TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Young David Belasco was frequently utilized for infantile and juvenile
parts at the Victoria Theatre. In 1864, when Charles Kean, in his
farewell “tour round the world,” filled a short engagement there, the
lad appeared as the little _Duke of York_, in “King Richard III.” His
age was then eleven, but he was diminutive and therefore he suited that
part. During Kean’s engagement he also appeared as a super in “Pauline.”
About 1865 Humphrey Belasco, his fortunes not improving as he had hoped,
removed his family from Victoria and established residence in San
Francisco, where he opened a fruit
[Illustration:
From photographs by Brady. The Albert Davis Collection.
“THE KEANS”
CHARLES JOHN KEAN ELLEN TREE, MRS. KEAN
(1811-1868) (1805-1880)
Taken during their last American tour, 1864-’65, soon after Belasco
appeared with them in “King Richard III”]
shop, fraternized with players at the theatres, gaining friends and
popularity, and where he spent the rest of his life. David was sent to
the Lincoln Grammar School, which for some time he continued to attend.
There he was studious, and there, in particular, he was trained in
elocution,--that art having been specially esteemed by his teachers.
Among the persons who, at various times, instructed him in elocution
were Dr. Ira G. Hoitt, Miss---- James, Professor Ebenezer Knowlton, and
Miss “Nelly” Holbrook, once an actress of distinction (she figures among
the oldtime female players of _Hamlet_ and _Romeo_), mother of the
contemporary actor (1917) Holbrook Blinn. The boy’s talent for
declamation had been quickly perceived, and a judicious endeavor was
made to foster and develop it. Among the poems he was taught to recite,
and which, in the esteem of his teachers, he recited well, were “The
Vagabonds,” by John Townsend Trowbridge; “The Maniac,” by Matthew
Gregory Lewis; “Curfew Must Not Ring To-night,” by Rosa Hartwick Thorpe,
and “Bernardo del Carpio,” by Felicia Hemans. Those poems were well
chosen for the purpose in view, because each of them contains a dramatic
element propitious to a declaimer.
GLIMPSES OF BOYHOOD.
At one time, in his boyhood, at Victoria, Belasco was adopted by the
local Fire Department as “a mascot,” and when parades of the firemen
occurred,--the hook and ladder vehicle being drawn with ropes by the
men,--the little lad either walked at the head of the line or rode,
perched high upon the wagon, arrayed in a red shirt, black trousers and
boots, and a fire-helmet. After removing, with his parents, from
Victoria to San Francisco, he was sent to a school called the Fourth
Street, and it was from there that he went to the Lincoln. He took the
honors for penmanship, being assigned to keep the school “rolls,” and
sometimes his “compositions” were framed and hung in the halls, for the
edification of other pupils. There, also, he was awarded a gold medal,
as being the best reader and performer of Tragedy,--a prize which he
pawned for the benefit of the family,--while his chum, James O. Barrows,
obtained a silver medal for special cleverness in Comedy. As a schoolboy
he was particularly fond of reading “dime novels,” which, for
convenience of surreptitious perusal, he customarily concealed in his
boots. For some time after their return to San Francisco the Belascos
dwelt in a house in Harrison Street; later, they resided in Louisa
Street.
The first play, apparently, that David wrote was concocted later, after
the family had removed to No. 174 Clara Street, and was entitled “Jim
Black; or, The Regulator’s Revenge!” Another of his early pieces of
dramatic writing (and, perhaps, it may have been the first) was called
“The Roll of the Drum.” Belasco is very positive that he wrote this soon
after the death of Abraham Lincoln (April 15, 1865),--at which time he
was less than twelve years old. His recollection regarding this may be
correct; there is no doubt that he was an extraordinarily precocious
child, and such children do, sometimes, write astonishing compositions
even at an earlier age than twelve. Belasco is equally positive that his
play, while it was, at various times, acted outside of San Francisco,
was never played in that city. A play of the same name was performed, by
Mme. Methua-Scheller and associates, at Maguire’s Opera House, for the
benefit of “Sue” Robinson, on November 26, 1869, announced as “The new
military drama”; this was not Belasco’s play, but one wholly different
from it. Belasco’s custom, as a lad, was to keep a table by his bedside,
with writing materials, candle and matches upon it, in order to note at
once any idea that might occur to him as likely to be of service in his
theatrical work, and he was often rewarded for this precaution. In all
my study of theatrical history I have not encountered a person more
downright daft, more completely saturated in every fibre of his being,
with passion for the Stage and things dramatical than was young David
Belasco.
SCHOOL DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
The following extract from a letter dated December 25, 1916, addressed
to Belasco by one of his schoolmates, E. F. Lennon, Esqr., now (1917)
City Clerk of Red Bluff, Tehama County, California, provides a glimpse
of him as a schoolboy in San Francisco: