business association with Thomas Maguire built a theatre in San
Francisco which was named Baldwin’s Academy of Music. Baldwin had been
an hostler, Maguire a cab-driver; both had prospered and become
wealthy--Baldwin to an astonishing degree. The theatre, which was
incorporated with an hotel, called the Baldwin, was built on land owned
by Maguire, at the corner of Market and Powell streets, and it was an
uncommonly spacious and commodious edifice. Baldwin and Maguire,
although associated in this enterprise, were not friends, and Belasco
has assured me that most of their business transactions were carried on
through him, as an intermediary. Baldwin’s Academy of Music was opened
March 6, 1876. Maguire was announced as “proprietor,” James A. Herne as
stage manager: Belasco, although not advertised as such, officiated as
assistant stage manager and prompter. The opening bill was “King Richard
III.,”--Cibber’s perversion of Shakespeare’s tragedy,--with the Irish
tragedian Barry Sullivan in the central character, supported by the
stock company from Maguire’s New Theatre. That company included, among
others, James A. Herne, Arthur D---- Billings, Louis James, Edward J----
Buckley, William Henry Crane, Michael A. Kennedy, Katie Mayhew, Emily
Baker, Louise Hawthorne, and Mrs. Belle Douglass. James F---- Cathcart
was specially engaged, to play _Richmond_, which part he acted till
March 10, when he was superseded by James O’Neill; he played various
other parts, however, during the engagement. Belasco played _Sir Richard
Ratcliff_. The engagement of Barry Sullivan lasted till April 16, the
plays presented, after “King Richard III.,” being “The Wonder,”
“Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “The Gamester,” “King Lear,” “Othello,” “The
Merchant of Venice,” a version of “Don Cæsar de Bazan” called “A Match
for a King,” “A New Way to Pay Old Debts,” and “The Wife.” In all of
those plays Belasco participated, acting small parts, which are named in
the schedule of his repertory given later in this work. On April 18 Mrs.
James A---- Oates and her “Grand Opera Company” succeeded Sullivan, at
Baldwin’s Academy, in “Mme. l’Archiduc,” while Maguire’s stock company
returned to Maguire’s New Theatre, where some of its members, including
Belasco, appeared, in support of Messrs. Baker and Farron, in a trivial
play called “Heinrich and Hettie.” Belasco, who had profited by his
association with Barry Sullivan,--an actor of exceptional ability and
wide experience, and, though rough in method and sometimes violently
vehement in delivery, a master of his vocation,--and had been so
fortunate as to please that austere martinet, provides, in his “Story,”
this interesting glimpse of him:
“To my mind the most difficult rôles (_sic!_) were the officers and
flying messengers in the Shakespearean plays, when cast with some
famous tragedian. All young actors appreciated this, and, knowing
Sullivan’s temperament, were very loath to subject themselves to
his rough handling. It so happened that I was selected to play
these flying messengers and recite the tricky speeches, but no more
than the others did I escape. One day I suddenly found myself held
high in air, and my descent was equally rapid. I was laid up for
several nights. As a reward he cast me to play _Francis_, in ’The
Stranger,’ but because of the objections of James and Buckley, each
of whom claimed the part, it was never played. I had the advantage
of private rehearsals, however, with this great tragedian in his
room at the Baldwin Hotel.... The reason why he liked me, he said,
was that, with my pale face and blue-black hair, I reminded him of
a little priest who had been a chum of his in Ireland. When he
left, he gave me a much-prized feather, such as actors usually wore
when they played _Malcolm_ or _Macbeth_. ’I shall probably never
see you again,’ he said, ’and it may help you to remember me with
kindly feelings. It belonged to the girl I loved best in the
world.’”
After his engagement with Baker and Farron Belasco went “barnstorming”
in various California and Nevada towns and camps, but returned to San
Francisco at intervals, sometimes remaining there a few days, while
seeking employment,--working, meanwhile, on dramatic versions of various
books or stories or on the revision and alteration of old
plays,--sometimes acting small parts at any of the theatres or serving
as a super when no better occupation was obtainable. On May 4, in that
city, he participated in a performance at Maguire’s New Theatre for the
benefit of M. A. Kennedy, when the bill included “One Thousand
Milliners,” “Robert Macaire,” and the burlesque of “Kenilworth,”--in
which latter play he had often acted _Queen Elizabeth_, as I have reason
to think he did on this occasion. He seems, also, to have taken part, in
a minor capacity, in at least one of the performances given in May,
1876, at the California Theatre, by Edwin Adams, who played _Rover_, in
“Wild Oats,” and he saw that fine actor as _Enoch Arden_, if he did not
act with him in the play about that character. He also saw, May 29,
1876, at Wade’s Opera House, San Francisco, George Rignold’s first
performance in San Francisco of _King Henry the Fifth_,--a remarkably
pictorial, spirited, fervent, and stirring impersonation.
Rignold had been brought to America by Jarrett & Palmer, under an
arrangement with Charles Calvert, of Manchester, England, and he made
his first appearance in this country, February 6, 1875, at Booth’s
Theatre,--then under the direction of those managers,--acting _King
Henry the Fifth_. Shakespeare’s play, which was withdrawn at Booth’s
April 24, 1875, was revived there, April 10, 1876, and ran for five
weeks. Some dissension arose between Rignold and Jarrett & Palmer, and
those managers arranged for the presentment of the Shakespearean
historical drama and pageant (Calvert’s setting) in San Francisco, at
the California Theatre, where, on June 5, it was brought out, with
Lawrence Barrett as _King Henry_. Jarrett & Palmer conveyed their
production and members of the theatrical company across the continent on
board a special train, which left Jersey City at 1.30 A. M., June 1, and
arrived at the mole, Oakland, California, at 9.22 A. M., June 4,--having
made the journey in eighty-three hours, thirty-nine minutes, sixteen
seconds. Rignold, when acting in the Western metropolis, preparatory to
returning to England by way of Australia, was under the management of
Frederick W. Bert. Belasco closely studied both those Shakespeare
productions and the acting with which they were illustrated, thereby
adding materially to his knowledge of the good traditions of
Shakespearean interpretation. No more scrupulous and competent stage
director than Lawrence Barrett ever lived, while Rignold had been
carefully trained by Calvert, one of the best of stage managers and
Shakespearean actors,--and had enjoyed the advantage of seeing Calvert
play the part when first he revived the history, at Manchester. Belasco
himself never set a finer spectacle on the stage than Calvert’s
presentment of “King Henry V.”
During June, like Asmodeus, he flamed in many places, generally
appearing for only a single performance. By July 15, 1876, he was at
home again, and as prompter and stage manager, and sometimes as super or
actor of small parts, was employed at Baldwin’s Academy of Music during
an engagement there of George Fawcett Rowe, who, on that date, began, as
_Waifton Stray_, in his play of “Brass,” and acted, in succession,
_Micawber_, in “Little Em’ly,” and _Hawkeye_, in “Leatherstocking,” also
one of his dramas. On July 23, Sunday night, Belasco appeared, as
_DeWilt_, in a performance, for the benefit of E. J. Buckley, given “by
John McCullough and members of the Dramatic Profession,” at the
California Theatre. The play was Augustin Daly’s “Under the Gas-Light.”
McCullough and Barton Hill recited, and McCullough performed as _Julian
St. Pierre_, in the Dagger Scene, from “The Wife.” On August 14 Eleanor
Carey made her first appearance in San Francisco, acting _Miss Gwilt_,
in a dramatization of Wilkie Collins’ “Armadale,” and Belasco, then
meeting her, formed an acquaintance which, eventually, was valuable to
him: he made a play for Miss Carey, on the basis of “Article 47,”
calling it “The Creole,” which was acted at the Union Square Theatre,
New York, January 17, 1881, and in which she was seen in many cities.
WITH BOOTH AT THE CALIFORNIA.
The period of about two and a half years, from August, 1876, to
February, 1879, was one of incessant activity for Belasco: in it he
underwent much toil and acquired much knowledge which served to develop
his faculties and tended to equip him for the many-sided labor of his
later life. At first, his progress in that period was slow; but it is
not daily exercise, it is the total effect of long persistence in it,
that develops, and scrutiny of the register of Belasco’s experience in
those years exhibits various events of signal significance and many
incidents of interest which require mention and comment. One of the
latter, which he recalls with special pleasure, was his meeting with
Edwin Booth. That great actor, whose professional novitiate was served
in San Francisco,--chiefly at the old Metropolitan Theatre,--from 1852
to 1856, left there in September, 1856, and did not again visit the West
for exactly twenty years. On September 4, 1876, at the California
Theatre, acting _Hamlet_, he began an engagement which lasted for eight
weeks, in the course of which he was seen, in succession, as
_Richelieu_, _Iago_, _Othello_, _King Richard the Second_, _King Lear_,
_Bertuccio_, in “The Fool’s Revenge”; _Shylock_, _Pescara_, in “The
Apostate”; _Marc Antony_, _Cassius_, and _Brutus_, in “Julius Cæsar”;
_King Richard the Third_, _Mr. Haller_, in “The Stranger”; _Lucius
Brutus_, in “The Fall of Tarquin,” and _Claude Melnotte_. Belasco was
intensely eager to see and study the acting of Booth--surely the
greatest tragic genius that has graced our Stage and a consummate
executant in art--and he sought to obtain an engagement at the
California Theatre to play the same “line of parts” (as the phrase goes
among old stock company actors) which he had performed in the preceding
Spring with Barry Sullivan. Though he failed in that effort--and was
keenly disappointed thereby--he was not to be balked in his purpose, and
got himself employed, during the Booth engagement, as a super. “I could
not give _every_ night to such work,” he has told me; “but I ’walked on’
with him, at least once, in every play he did,--and in ’Hamlet,’
’Richelieu,’ and ’Julius Cæsar’ I think I went on at every performance.
In ’Cæsar’ when Booth played _Cassius_ McCullough was the _Brutus_ and
Thomas W. Keene the
[Illustration:
EDWIN BOOTH AS _HAMLET_
“_There’s something in his soul_
_O’er which his melancholy sits on brood._”
--Act III, sc. 1
Photograph by Sarony. Authors’s Collection.]
_Antony_; when Booth played _Brutus_ McCullough was _Cassius_; when
Booth was _Antony_ Keene was _Cassius_ and McCullough went back to
_Brutus_. We used to wish we had Lawrence Barrett there for
_Cassius_--but ’Tom’ Keene was a fine actor in his way, and I shall
never forget those performances of ’Cæesar,’ nor those of ’Othello,’ in
which Booth and McCullough alternated as _Othello_ and _Iago_. Booth was
my _great_ idol; the one actor who, for me, could surpass McCullough,
Barrett, and Montgomery. I found him very uneven--that is, his
performances were not always up to his own standard. But, when he was
really ’in the vein,’ there was _nobody_ like him; there never has been,
and there never will be! I never heard such a voice,--so full of fire,
feeling, and power,--and I never saw such eyes as Booth’s, when he
played _King Richard the Third_, _Richelieu_, or _Iago_. At first I used
to go to the California to watch his rehearsals, but I soon found out it
was little use. The plays were all an old story to him and he wouldn’t
rehearse. McCullough had Booth’s prompt books, and Booth left the
company pretty much to him and just ’ran through’ the big scenes with
the principals. He was very gentle, considerate, and kind to everybody,
but he seldom said much unless spoken to. I valued my acquaintance with
him greatly; I never missed an opportunity to see him, and I cherish
his memory as that of one of the best of men and greatest of actors.”
Belasco’s enthusiasm for Booth has led him, in recent years, to make an
extensive collection of precious stage relics associated with that
sombre genius: visitors to the reception room on the stage of the
Belasco Theatre will find the “star’s” dressing room, which opens off
it, indicated by a star of brilliants which was worn, first, by William
Charles Macready as _Hamlet_, and, afterward, by Booth, in the same
part. There, also, are displayed Booth’s _Brutus_ sandals and sword, his
_Macbeth_ spear, his _Bertuccio_ bauble, the mace carried by him when
acting _King Richard the Third_, the sceptre he used as _King Lear_, the
hat he wore as _Petruchio_, his _Shylock_ knife and scales, and his
make-up box.
During October of 1876 Belasco worked for a short while with James W.
Ward and Winnetta Montague (he appeared with them at the Grand Opera
House, October 16, in “The Willing Hand”), as stage manager and as
adapter and rectifier of several plays. On Sunday, October 22, he
participated in a benefit for Katie Mayhew given at Baldwin’s Theatre,
appearing as _Doctor of the Hospital_, in “The Two Orphans.” Soon after
that, declining a minor position in a new company, headed by Eleanor
Carey and organized for “a grand re-opening of the Grand Opera House”
(effected November 13, with “Wanted, a Divorce”), he joined a travelling
company, at Olympia, Washington, headed by Fanny Morgan Phelps, and for
about three months resumed the precarious life of a strolling player.
BELASCO AND “THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERY.”
By about the beginning of February, 1877, Belasco was once more in San
Francisco, and immediately allied himself, as playwright, stage manager,
and actor, with Frank Gardner and his wife, Caroline Swain.
Gardner,--who afterward turned his attention to gold mining in Australia
and acquired great wealth,--had associated with himself a person
familiar with the famous “Pepper’s Ghost” illusion, and together they
had devised a variant of that contrivance which was utilized in giving
theatrical performances. Belasco, describing it, writes: “There was a
stage, covered with black velvet, and a sheet of glass, placed obliquely
over a space beneath the stage,--which was called the ’oven.’ Gas lamps
were ingeniously concealed so as to give the impression of a
phosphorescent light from ghostlike bodies. The characters in the play
were obliged to enter the ’oven’ under the black velvet, and to lie on
their backs, while their misty shadows were thrown like watery
impressions upon the glass plate. As these shadows floated across the
surface of the glass, the people in the ’oven’ could easily shake tables
and move chairs to the hair-raising satisfaction of the audience.”
Belasco appeared with the Gardners, at Egyptian Hall (No. 22 Geary
Street, near Kearny), on February 16, as _The Destroyer_, in “The
Haunted House”; _Valentine_, in an epitome of the “Faust” story
(introducing the Duel Scene between _Faust_ and _Valentine_), and _Mr.
Trimeo_, in “The Mysterious Inn.” On the next night he performed as
_Avica, Spirit of Avarice_, in “A Storm of Thoughts,” and _Phil
Bouncer_, in “The Persecuted Traveller,” as well as in “The Haunted
House.” On February 20 he personated _Our Guest_, in “Our Mysterious
Boarding House,” and on April 2, _Mark_, in “The Prodigal’s Return.”
Belasco wrote all those plays, specially for use in Gardner’s “Egyptian
Mystery,”--as the entertainment was called,--and at least two
others,--“Wine, Women, and Cards,” and “The Christmas Night; or, The
Convict’s Return.” I have not found casts of the last named two, or
record of the dates on which they were first produced. Belasco, besides
playing the parts as above enumerated,
[Illustration:
From the Albert Davis Collection.
A playbill of “The Egyptian Mystery,” at Egyptian Hall, San Francisco,
1877. Belasco wrote all the plays named and recited “Little Jim.” He
was, also, actually the stage manager.]
also gave various recitations at Egyptian Hall, with musical
accompaniments,--among them his favorite “The Maniac,” “The Maiden’s
Prayer,” and “Little Jim, the Collier’s Lad.” Recalling his alliance
with Gardner, he writes the following bit of informative reminiscence:
“Our ’Mystery’ attracted much attention. ’Egyptian Hall,’ if I remember
correctly, had been a shop and was fitted up for our ’show’ by Gardner.
I remember that the _Faust_ and _Valentine_ Duel Scene made a great
sensation, because my sword seemed to go _right through_ the body of
_Faust_. And the recitations were very effective, too. When I gave
’Little Jim’ spirits seemed to float here and there, illustrating the
sentiments of the lines. Our little theatre was packed night after
night, and before the end of the engagement I was obliged to write about
eight pieces for Gardner. I have often been asked if this was my first
endeavor to experiment with stage lights. It was not. Some time before I
had been working with locomotive headlights, and I had discovered the
ease with which I could get certain effects by placing tin pans before
oil lamps. Then it occurred to me that by means of colored silks,--my
own forerunner of gelatine slides,--I could add further variations to
colored lights, and it was after this experience that I began to pay
particular attention to the charm of stage lighting and to the
inventions which, since then, have been so wonderfully developed.”
A REMINISCENCE OF HELENA MODJESKA.
The engagement at Egyptian Hall lasted until the middle of April; then
Belasco travelled with the Gardners and their “Mystery,” presenting the
entertainments above mentioned and variations of them, until the end of
July. From August to about October he appears to have been connected
with the California Theatre: on August 18 he appeared there, in a
performance given for the benefit of A. D. Billings, as _John O’Bibs_,
in Boucicault’s “The Long Strike” (billed on that occasion as “The Great
Strike”), and as the _Earl of Oxford_, in the Fifth Act of “King Richard
III.” At this time, also, he witnessed the first appearance (August 20,
1877) on the American Stage of that lovely actress and still more lovely
woman,--the gentle, beautiful, and ever lamented Helena Modjeska. She
had gone to California, 1876, as one of a party of eight persons, Polish
emigrants, who attempted to form a colony there, somewhat on the model
of the Brook Farm movement. That attempt failing, Modjeska was compelled
to turn again to the Stage,--in Poland she had been among the leaders
of the dramatic profession,--and after much difficulty she finally
obtained, through the interest of Governor Salomon of California, a
trial hearing by Barton Hill, stage manager for McCullough, at the
California Theatre.
* * * * *
[The following brief but interesting account of Modjeska’s trial
has been published, elsewhere, by my father.--J. W.]
Hill had little if any knowledge of the foreign Stage, and he knew
nothing of Modjeska’s ability and reputation. Her rare personal beauty,
distinction, self-confidence, and persistence finally won from him a
reluctant promise of a private hearing. That promise, after interposing
several delays, he fulfilled, and Modjeska’s story, as she told it to
me, of her first rehearsal at the California Theatre was piquant and
comic. Hill was a worthy man and a good actor. It was, no doubt, natural
and right that, in dealing with a stranger applicant for theatrical
employment, he should have exercised the functions of his position, but
there will always be something ludicrous in the thought of Barton Hill
sitting in judgment on Helena Modjeska. “He was very kind--Meester
Hill,” said the actress; “but he was ne-ervous and fussy, and he
patronized me as though I were a leetle child. ’Now,’ he said, ’I shall
be very criti-cal--ve-ery _severe_.’ I could be patient no longer: ’Be
as criti-cal and severe as you like,’ I burst out, ’only do, please, _be
quiet_, and let us begin!’ He was so surprised he could not speak, and I
began at once a scene from ’Adrienne.’ I played it through and then
turned to him. He had his handkerchief in his hand and was crying. He
came and shook hands with me and tried to seem quite calm. ’Well,’ I
asked, ’may I have the evening that I want?’ ’I’ll give you a week, and
more, if I can,’ he answered.”
* * * * *
Before Hill’s approval of Modjeska was ratified she was required to give
another “trial rehearsal,” at which McCullough and various other persons
were present, and it was Belasco’s privilege to be among them. “I don’t
believe she was called Modjeska in those days,” he writes [her name was
Modrzejewska--she shortened it to Modjeska at the suggestion of
McCullough]; “but she had within her all the charm and power that
afterward became associated with her name. I was in the auditorium the
day she gave her first rehearsal [error--the second], and scattered here
and there were a few critics. A mere handful came, for there was no
general interest in one who was expected to have a gawky manner and a
baffling accent. The unexpected happened; those of us who heard her
were literally stunned by the power and pathos of this woman. McCullough
promised her a production and not long afterward she played ’Adrienne
Lecouvreur.’ When the performance was over, Mr. Barnes, of ’The San
Francisco Call,’ the other critics, and all of us knew that we had been
listening to one of the world’s great artists. ’It is the greatest piece
of work in our day!’ was the general verdict. McCullough was wild with
enthusiasm. She played her repertory in San Francisco, and society took
her into its arms.”
STROLLING _AD INTERIM_.--BELASCO AS “THE FIRST OLD WOMAN.”
In September, 1877, during “Fair Week,”--24th to 29th,--Belasco was
stage manager of a company from the California Theatre, headed by Thomas
W. Keene, which performed at the Petaluma Theatre, in the California
town of the same name, in “The Lady of Lyons,” “The Young Widow,” “The
Hidden Hand” (Belasco’s version), “Robert Macaire,” “The Wife,” “My Turn
Next,” “The Streets of New York,” “The Rough Diamond,” “Deborah,” and
“The People’s Lawyer.” Belasco, besides directing the stage, acted in
those plays, respectively, as _Monsieur Deschapelles_, _Mandeville_,
_Craven Lenoir_, _Pierre_, _Lorenzo_, _Tom Bolus_, _Dan_, _Captain
Blenham_, _Peter_, and _Lawyer Tripper_.
Soon after that he joined a company, under the management of Frank I.
Frayne, known as the “Frayne Troupe,” of which M. B. Curtis, “Harry” M.
Brown, E. N. Thayer, Mrs. “Harry” Courtaine, Gertrude Granville, and
Miss Fletcher were also members. He joined that company at Humboldt,
Oregon, where the opening bill was “The Ticket-of-Leave Man.” Belasco
was to play _Melter Moss_, but the actress who was cast for _Mrs.
Willoughby_ becoming ill, Belasco (who knew all the other parts as well
as his own) volunteered to take her place in that character and did so
with such success that Frayne kept him in it: “I was scheduled to play
all the first ’old women’ that season,” he writes to me, “and I found it
for some time difficult to escape my new ’specialty.’”
A SUBSTANTIAL TRIBUTE.
Belasco left the “Frayne Troupe” about the end of January, 1878, and
returned to San Francisco. There I trace him first at the Bush Street
Theatre,--where he performed as _James Callin_ and as _Pablo_, in the
prologue and drama of “Across the Continent,” then first presented, by
[Illustration:
Photograph by Sarony. Author’s Collection.
HELENA MODJESKA
Soon after her first appearance in New York, 1877]