Chapter IV: Preface (3)

On April 23 Raymond, at the California, produced, for the first time, a stage synopsis made by Gilbert S. Densmore, of “The Gilded Age,” by Samuel L. Clemens and Charles Dudley Warner. Writing of it, Belasco says: “While that play was building Densmore talked it all over with me. As it was originally written it was in five long acts and had in it a curious medley of melodrama.... When the script was eventually read to him [Raymond], all the comment he made, with a few of those choice expletives which he knew so well how to choose, was that he hated all courtroom scenes, except those in ’The Merchant of Venice’ and in Boucicault’s ’The Heart of Midlothian.’... It was in this frame of mind that he was finally persuaded to try ’The Gilded Age.’ Of course, the play needed a lot of re-writing, and I don’t believe any one really thought it would be successful. It was put on as a try-out because the man was in such sore need of a vehicle, and, like so many other plays which are produced as makeshifts, it soared its way into instant popularity. It was not by any means a wonderful play in itself, it was merely another instance of the personality of the player being fitted to the part, and in the _rôle_ [_sic_] of _Colonel Mulberry Sellers_ John T. Raymond found himself and, incidentally, fame and fortune.”

That is not altogether an accurate account of the dramatic genesis of “The Gilded Age.” Densmore’s adaptation of the book was piratical, and Clemens, hearing of it, protested vigorously, by telegraph, against continuance of its presentment. It was acted _only once_ in San Francisco, in 1874. Densmore finally arranged to sell his stage version to Clemens, and that author himself made a dramatization of the novel. Writing about it, to William Dean Howells, he says:

“I worked a month on my play, and launched it in New York last
Wednesday. I believe it will go. The newspapers have been
complimentary. It is simply a _setting_ for one character, _Colonel
Sellers_. As a play I guess it will not bear critical assault in
force.” In another letter Clemens says: “I entirely rewrote the
play _three separate and distinct times_. I had expected to use
little of his [Densmore’s] language and but little of his plot. I
do not think there are now twenty sentences of Mr. Densmore’s in
the play, but I used so much of his plot that I wrote and told him
I should pay him about as much more as I had already paid him in
case the play proved a success....”--Albert Bigelow Paine’s “Mark
Twain, a Biography.” Volume I., pp. 517-18.

On November 3, 1874, Raymond published the following letter:

(_From John T. Raymond to_ “_The New York Sun_.”)

“The Park Theatre, [New York]. “November 2, 1874.

“_To The Editor of ’The Sun’_: “_Sir_:--

“An article headed ’The Story of “The Gilded Age”’ in ’The Sun’ of
this morning calls for a statement from me. The facts in the case
are simply these: In April last I commenced an engagement in San
Francisco. A few days after my arrival the manager of the theatre
mentioned that Mr. Densmore, the dramatic critic of ’The Golden
Era,’ had dramatized Mark Twain’s and Charles Warner’s novel of
’The Gilded Age,’ and would like to submit it to me. I read the
play, and the character of _Colonel Sellers_ impressed me so
favorably that I consented to produce the piece the last week of my
engagement. I did so, the play making a most pronounced hit. I then
arranged with Mr. Densmore for the right to perform the play
throughout the country. Upon my arrival in New York I heard that
Mr. Clemens had telegraphed to San Francisco protesting against the
play being performed, as he had reserved all rights in his
copyright of ’The Gilded Age.’ I at once recognized Mr. Clemens’
claim, and wrote to Mr. Densmore to that effect. I then
communicated with Clemens, with a view of having him write a play
with _Colonel Sellers_ as the chief character. While the
negotiation was pending I received a letter from Mr. Densmore,
requesting me to send the manuscript of his dramatization to
Clemens, as he had purchased it, and that he (Clemens) had acted in
a most liberal manner toward

From a photograph by Mora. Belasco’s Collection.

JOHN T. RAYMOND

(1836-1887)]

him. I sent the manuscript to Mr. Clemens, but not until after he
had finished his play and read it to me, not one line of Mr.
Densmore’s dramatization being used in the present play, except
that which was taken bodily from the novel of ’The Gilded Age.’
These are the facts in the premises. Mr. Densmore’s play was a most
excellent one; the impression it made in San Francisco was of a
most pronounced character, but in no way [?] does it resemble the
present production, which is entirely the work of Mr. Samuel L.
Clemens (Mark Twain).

“Yours, &c., “John T. Raymond.”

Clemens’ “guess” as to the worth of his work as a play was short of the truth: it was of no consequence, possessed practically no merit whatever, except as a vehicle for the actor. [The character of _Colonel Sellers_ is presented by the dramatist in only a few of the aspects available for its exposition and is attached to the play by only a slender thread. Raymond, nevertheless, by means of thorough personification, made the character so conspicuous that it dominated the whole action of the play. The common notion that words are indispensable to the expression of character is unfounded. Character shows itself in personality, which is the emanation of it, and which finds expression in countless ways with which words are not associated. Personality was the potent charm of Raymond’s embodiment of _Colonel Sellers_,--a personality compounded of vigorous animal spirits, quaintness, rich humor, amiability, recklessness, a chronic propensity for sport, a sensitive temperament, and an ingenuous mind. The actor made the character lovable not less than amusing, by the spontaneous suggestion of innate goodness and by various scarcely definable sweetly winning traits and ways. His grave inquiry as to the raw turnips, “Do you _like_ the fruit?” was irresistibly droll. His buoyant, confident ejaculation,--closing each discourse on some visionary scheme of profit,--“There’s _millions_ in it!” (which Raymond’s utterance made a byword throughout America) completely expressed the spirit of the sanguine speculator and was not less potently humorous because of a certain vague ruefulness in the tone of it. In acting _Colonel Sellers_ Raymond did something that was new, did it in an individual way, was original without being bizarre, and, possessing the humor which is akin to pathos, he could cause the laugh that is close to the tear.--W.W. in “The Wallet of Time.”] “The Gilded Age” was first acted in New York, September 16, 1874, at the Park Theatre.

At about the time of the first San Francisco production of “The Gilded Age” Belasco appears to have been employed by William Horace Lingard, and it is practically certain that he was a member of Lingard’s company,--though I have not ascertained in what capacity,--on the occasion of “the grand opening of Maguire’s New Theatre” (which was the old Alhambra Theatre, rebuilt and altered), on May 4, when “Creatures of Impulse,” “Mr. and Mrs. Peter White,” and a miscellaneous entertainment were presented there.

During the summer of 1874 Belasco worked as a secretary and copyist for Barton Hill, at the California Theatre, and also he performed, in a minor position, as an actor, at Maguire’s New Theatre. He was thus associated with, among others, Sallie Hinckley, in a revival of “The New Magdalen”; Charles Fechter and Lizzie V. Price in a repertory which comprehended “Ruy Blas,” “Don Cæsar de Bazan,” “The Lady of Lyons,” “Hamlet,” and “Love’s Penance”; Miss Jeffreys-Lewis and Charles Edwards in “School,” Boucicault’s “The Willow Copse” and “The Unequal Match”; William J. Coggswell in “Nick o’ the Woods”; Samuel W. Piercy in “Hamlet,” and Charles Wheatleigh in a dramatization of “Notre Dame” and in other plays. For Piercy Belasco has ever cherished extreme admiration and a pitiful memory of his untimely death, which,--caused by smallpox,--befell, in Boston, in 1882. During the summer of 1874 Belasco also made various brief and unimportant “barnstorming” ventures in small towns and camps of California, Oregon, and Washington; likewise, he was associated, as stage director, with several groups of amateur actors in San Francisco. On August 31 a revival of Augustin Daly’s play of “Divorce” was effected at Maguire’s,--James A. Herne (his name billed without the “A.”) and Miss Jeffreys-Lewis playing the principal parts in it. Whether or not Belasco was then in the company at Maguire’s is uncertain, but I believe that he was. At any rate, when Mlle. Marie Zoe,--designated as “The Cuban Sylph,”--began an engagement there, September 14, in the course of which she appeared in “The French Spy,” “The Pretty Housebreaker,” “Nita; or, Woman’s Constancy” (and “Mazeppa”?), Belasco was employed to co-operate with her in sword combats on the stage: he also served Mlle. Zoe, during her stay in San Francisco, as a sort of secretary.

From October 1 to the latter part of December, 1874, Belasco continued in employment at Maguire’s New Theatre, officiating not only as an actor of small parts but as stage manager, as a hack playwright, and as secretary for Maguire. On October 12 he played the _Dwarf_ (one of the _Phantom Crew_ of _Hendrick Hudson_), in “Rip Van Winkle,” Herne personating _Rip_ and Alice Vane appearing as _Gertrude_. On October 21 he participated in a representation of “The People’s Lawyer” (playing _Lawyer Tripper_?), in which Herne acted as _Solon Shingle_. On the next night “Alphonse” was acted at Maguire’s, but Belasco seems not to have been in the bill, because he is positive that he attended the first production in San Francisco, made that night at the California Theatre, of Frank Mayo’s dramatization of Charles Reade’s powerful and painful novel of “Griffith Gaunt.” “I made a version of that book,” Belasco has told me, “and it was a good one, as I remember it; but it passed out of my control soon after it was written: I sold it--to James McCabe, I think,--for a few dollars. I know it was much played in the interior [meaning the small towns of California, Nevada, etc.]. About the same time that I made my version of ’Griffith Gaunt,’--which, of course, was prompted by seeing Mayo’s,--we brought out a new play at Maguire’s, called ’Lady Madge,’ by J. H. Le Roy. I don’t recall what it was about. I remember that it was written expressly for Adele Leighton, a rich novice, and that I did some work on it for Le Roy and made him a clean script and set of the parts. Herne, Sydney Cowell, and Thomas Whiffen were in the cast.” “Lady Madge” was acted at Maguire’s November 3, and did not hold the stage for more than a week. On the 11th of that month a dramatization of Lever’s “Charles O’Malley,” made by Herne, was brought out, Herne appearing in it as _Mickey Free_ and Sydney Cowell as _Mary Brady_. On November 16 Annette Ince and Ella Kemble acted at Maguire’s, supported by Herne and Whiffen, in “The Sphinx,” and on the 26th a notably successful revival was made of “Oliver Twist,”--a more or less rehashed version of the dramatic epitome of the novel which had been made known throughout our country by E. L. Davenport and James W. Wallack, the Younger, being used. Herne played _Sikes_; Annette Ince, _Nancy_; Ella Kemble, _Rosa Maylie_, and---- Lindsay, _Fagin_. On December 1 “Carlotta! Queen of the Arena” was brought out, with Miss Ince as _Carlotta_ and Herne as _Bambuno_. I have been able to find only one other definite record of a performance at Maguire’s, prior to March 1, 1875; that record is of a presentment there of the old musical play of “The Enchantress,” on December 24, with Amy Bennett in the principal female part: Belasco directed the production (ostensibly under the stage management of Herne) and appeared in the prologue as _Pietro_ and in the drama as _Galeas_. “I did a lot of hard work on ’The Enchantress’ for Miss Bennett’s appearance in it,--in fact, I rewrote most of the dialogue,” Belasco has declared to me.

RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS.--1875.

In Pinero’s capital farce of “The Magistrate” _Mrs. Posket_, solicitous to conceal her age, addresses to her friend _Colonel Lukyn_ an earnest adjuration relative to an impending interview with her husband: “Don’t give him _dates_; keep anything like _dates_ away from him!” Belasco’s aversion to fixed facts fully equals that of the distressed lady, though, in his case, it is temperamental instead of secretive. “The vagabond,” he writes, “always says ’at this time,’ whether it be to-day or to-morrow, and, like Omar, he ’lets the credit go.’ The incidents that now come to mind are a little confused as to their chronological order, but what does it matter, if the _impression_ is true!” It “matters,” unfortunately, much,--because confusion and apparent contradiction which result from lack of accuracy and order sometimes tend to create an unjust belief that related incidents, actually authentic, are untrue. It has, moreover, rendered protracted and tedious almost beyond patience the work of compiling and arranging a clear, sequent, authoritative account of Belasco’s long and extraordinary career. I have ascertained divers particulars of his early experiences and alliances (verifying them as _facts_ by diligent search and inquiry in many directions), which, however, I have not invariably been able to place in exact chronological order and which may conveniently be summarized here.

Perhaps the most important single event of the first decade of Belasco’s theatrical life was his employment in a responsible position at Baldwin’s Academy of Music. But during about a year and a half prior to his first engagement there, and also during about the same length of time subsequent to it, he gained much valuable knowledge, in association with various players, acting in “the lumber districts” of Oregon and Washington; in Victoria and Nevada, and in many California towns, including Oakland, Sacramento, Petaluma, Stockton, Marysville, San José, etc. Wandering stars, of varying magnitude, with whom he thus appeared include Sallie Hinckley and Mrs. Frank Mark Bates (respectively, aunt and mother of Blanche Bates), Amy Stone, Ellie Wilton, Charles R. Thorne, Sr., Mary Watson, Annie Pixley, Fanny Morgan Phelps, Frank I. Fayne, Gertrude Granville, Laura Alberta, Katie Pell, and the old California minstrel, “Jake” Wallace. With Miss Pell and Wallace he appeared in the smaller towns of California

From a rare old photograph. The Albert Davis Collection.

GERTRUDE GRANVILLE]

From a photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.

ANNIE PIXLEY AS _M’LISS_]

and Nevada, and he has afforded me the following interesting bit of random recollection. “Wallace was held dear in every Western mining camp. He was a banjoist, and when the miners heard him coming down the road, singing the old ’49 songs, there used to be a general cry of ’Here comes Wallace!’ and work would stop for the day. In ’The Girl of the Golden West’ [1905] I introduced a character in memory of the ’Jake’ Wallace of long ago; I gave him the same name, made him sing the same songs, and enter the poker-saloon to be greeted in the same old hearty manner. When negotiations were under way between the great composer Puccini and myself for ’The Girl of the Golden West’ to be set to music, I took him to see a performance of the play. As we sat there, I could feel no perceptible enthusiasm from him until _Jake Wallace_ came in, singing his ’49 songs. ’Ah!’ exclaimed Puccini, ’_there_ is my theme at last!’”

Of Mrs. Bates and her ill-fated husband he gives this reminiscence: “Both Mrs. Bates and her husband were sterling actors [they were players of respectable talent, well trained in the Old School--W.W.]. Mrs. Bates was a slight little woman, full of romance and for the greater part of our acquaintance much given to melancholy. I look back on her prime, and I know of no actress who gave a more satisfactory interpretation of _Camille_ than she did. Her _Marie Antoinette_ was also very impressive. Mr. and Mrs. Bates soon left for Australia, but before they went, as a token of friendship, I was given many manuscript plays and costumes which the two would not need. Soon after Mr. Bates was mysteriously murdered. Many months passed, and I heard that Mrs. Bates was again in San Francisco, staying at the Occidental Hotel. So I called upon her. ’I only have Blanche to live for now,’ she said, and while we sat there she called for her little daughter to come to her. That was my first meeting with my future star. Thereafter little Blanche was put to school, and I went on the road with Mrs. Bates, playing _Armand Duval_ to her _Camille_. Then I lost sight of her for some time until at last one day I was walking with ’Jimmie’ Barrows, when he began to tell me of a famous actress who was boarding at his house. ’Her name is Mrs. Bates,’ declared ’Jimmie,’ and when I went home with him I found my old friend again. Blanche had pulled out, like a fast growing flower, blithesome and gay; but her mother seemed to have parted with the last drop in the cup of her happiness, and during our entire tour showed the nervous strain she had experienced during the awful times in Australia. ’It is so difficult for me to go back to the different theatres and tread the stages we played on so often together,’ she would say. ’I seem to see Frank’s face everywhere, in the shadows of the wings and out in the cold empty spaces of the auditorium when we are rehearsing. I wonder who struck him down.’

“I felt a great sympathy for her, and she and I became almost like brother and sister. Never shall I forget those days and the long walks we used to take under skies that held all the warmth and splendor of southern Europe, along roads that wound their tree-embowered way through the hills to the little monastery nestling above. At night we could hear the ringing of far-away bells, and sometimes through the stilly air the sound of voices was wafted to us across the silence. In this atmosphere Mrs. Bates would sit and talk to me of the East, and I would dream dreams of things to be. There was a popular song of the time in San Francisco called ’Castles in the Air,’ and invariably our talks would end with a laugh and by my humming that tune.

“It was Mrs. Bates’ ambition to see Blanche doing literary work; for she did not want her to enter the theatrical profession, but later she said: ’I fear the child will go on the stage after all, and what is more, I feel that she is going to have a future. Perhaps, who knows, some day you may be able to do something for her,’ and I promised her that I would, if luck ever came my way.”

Writing to me about other actors of that far-off time, Belasco has mentioned: “I remember, with special pleasure and admiration, John E. Owens, though I don’t remember that I ever acted with him. He produced a play at the Bush Street Theatre [error: more probably at the California?], the name of which I have forgotten, but it was all about ’a barrel o’ apple sass’ [strange that Belasco should have forgotten the title,--“The People’s Lawyer,” sometimes billed as “Solon Shingle,”--because he several times acted in it, with Herne and others], and I was so impressed that I wrote a play for him, called ’The Yankee.’ Owens very kindly listened to my reading of it, but told me he had no intention of putting aside a long tried success. However, he liked some of the speeches in my piece and paid me $25 for them.”

“One of my most valued teachers,” he also writes, “was ’old man Thorne’ [Charles R. Thorne, Sr.]. I did much work for him as copyist, prompter, etc., and attended to all sorts of details,--hiring of wigs, arms, costumes, etc., for the minor parts and for supers in productions which he put on,--so that often he used to say to me, ’My dear Davie, I don’t know what I should do without you!’ Once, when Thorne produced ’King Richard III.,’ in a tent, in Howard Street, I took part and fought a sword combat with him on horseback. He was always very kind to me, taught me much and gave me pieces of wardrobe, feathers, belts, swords, &c. Another early favorite of mine was Mary Gladstane. I copied parts and scripts for her, at the Metropolitan and elsewhere, and whenever she played _Mary Warner_ in San Francisco I cried over her performance so much that she was delighted and gave me a copy of the prompt book. There were no streetcars in those days, and often I walked with her to and from the theatre.”

Belasco was absent from San Francisco from about the middle of January, 1875, until the following May. A Miss Rogers, who had been a school teacher, who is described as having been “very beautiful,” and who became infected with ambition to shine as a dramatic luminary, obtained sufficient financial support to undertake a starring tour and Belasco was employed by her as an agent, stage manager, and actor. The tour appears to have begun, auspiciously, in (Portland?), Oregon, and to have been continued, with declining prosperity, in small towns along the Big Bear and Little Bear rivers. The repertory presented comprised “East Lynne,” “Camille,” “Frou-Frou,” etc., and “Robert Macaire.” “I always liked to play _Macaire_,” Belasco has told me, “and whenever I got a chance to make up a repertory I included that piece in it.” The tour lasted as long as the financial support was continued: then the company was ignominiously disbanded. Belasco and Miss Rogers, however, continued to act together for several weeks, presenting a number of one-act plays--such as “A Conjugal Lesson,” “A Happy Pair,” “Mr. and Mrs. Peter White,” etc.,--which require only two performers. Belasco also gave recitations. “One of my ’specialties,’” he has told me, “was ’The Antics of a Clown,’ in which I gave imitations of opera singers and ballet dancers--using a slack rope instead of a taut wire. I also gave imitations of all the well-known actors, and I had a ’ventriloquist act,’ with dummies. I made my own wigs and costumes and, altogether, I worked pretty hard for a living!”

On February 15, 1875, Augustin Daly produced his authorized adaptation of Gustav von Moser’s “Ultimo,” at the second Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, under the name--once known throughout our country--of “The Big Bonanza.” Its success was instant and extraordinary. R. H. Hooley, of Chicago, presently employed Bartley Campbell (1844-1888) to make another version of that play,

_Strop._ Suppose he should _wake_? _Macaire_. He _won’t_ wake!

Photograph by Bradley & Rulofson, San Francisco.

Original loaned by Mrs. David Belasco.]

“specially localized and adapted for San Francisco.” Campbell fulfilled his commission, passing several weeks in the Western metropolis in order to provide “local atmosphere.” Belasco was still “barnstorming” when he learned of the appearance of Hooley’s Comedy Company in San Francisco,--May 10, at the Opera House, in Campbell’s “Peril; or, Love at Long Branch,”--and he immediately ended his uncertain connection with Miss Rogers in order to return home, so that he might witness the performances of Hooley’s company and, if possible, become a member of it. “I was much impressed by the reputation of ’Hooley’s Combination,’” he writes in a note to me; “and I wanted particularly to see William H. Crane and M. A. Kennedy. Crane’s big, wholesome method made a great success, and the whole company was popular.” Belasco seems not to have reached home until about the end of the second week of the Hooley engagement: soon after that he contrived to obtain employment at the Opera House as assistant prompter and to play what used to be styled “small utility business.” His note to me continues: “Because I had played many big parts, out of town, some of my theatrical friends thought my willingness to do _any work_ that would give me valuable experience was beneath my ’dignity’ and that I was thereby losing ’caste.’ I never saw it that way. ’Haven’t you any pride?’ they used to say; and I used to answer ’No, I expect to be obliged to spend a certain amount of time in the cellar before I’m allowed to walk into the parlor!’” And in conversation with me on this subject he has said, “Why, I would do _anything_ in those days, to learn or get a chance: I once worked as a dresser for J. K. Emmet, because I couldn’t get into his company any other way,--but it wasn’t long before I was playing parts with him.”

In his “Story” Belasco mentions that Daly came to San Francisco at about the same time as Hooley and that when the latter brought out “Ultimo,” and Daly produced “The Big Bonanza,” “strange as it is to relate, the productions were almost equally successful.” That is an error: Hooley’s production was made on June 7 and, though distinctly inferior to Daly’s,--made on July 19,--priority had its usual effect and the wind was completely taken out of Daly’s sails: “The Big Bonanza” was acted in San Francisco by Daly’s company less than half-a-dozen times, while “Ultimo” was played for several weeks and also was several times revived.

Belasco’s relation with the Hooley company lasted until July (11?), on which date its season was ended at the Opera House,--a tour of Pacific Slope towns beginning the next week. Belasco, remaining in San Francisco, endeavored to attach himself to Daly’s company, but failed to do so,--partly, it is probable, because of his intimate connection with Maguire, who was both friendly to Hooley and inimical to Daly, whom he had striven to exclude from San Francisco by refusing to rent him a theatre. Daly, however, hired Platt’s Hall and, July 13, presented his company there, in “London Assurance,” so successfully that Maguire decided to withdraw his opposition and share the profits of success. Daly’s company, accordingly, was transferred to the Opera House on July 15, making its first appearance there in “Divorce,” with Belasco as one of the auditors.

During the remainder of 1875 Belasco labored in much the same desultory and precarious way. When no other employment could be procured by him he worked as a salesman in an outfitting shop. “One thing I did,” he gleefully relates, “for which I was much looked down upon--whenever I went into the country towns I peddled a ’patent medicine,’ as I called it; a gargle made from a receipt of my mother’s, and it was a good one, too; I know because I not only sold it but I _used_ it! And I coaxed all my theatrical friends to use it and write testimonials for me.” His chief business, However, when not regularly engaged in the theatres, was the collection and compilation of a library of plays. Between 1875 and 1880 he prepared prompt books of almost every play that was successfully produced in San Francisco--altering and rearranging many of them,--and in frequent instances supplying them to travelling companies or stars. His friend Mrs. Bates, speaking to me (1903) about him and about the facility he developed as an adapter and playwright, said: “He was a marvel! In ’the old days’ I have known a star to give Belasco an _outline_ of a plot, with three or four situations, on a Thursday night--and we _acted the play_ on the next Monday!”

Among dramatizations that he made in this year, or the next, are “Bleak House,”--prompted by the success of Mme. Janauschek, who had presented a version at the California Theatre, June 7,--“David Copperfield,” “Dombey & Son,” “Struck Blind,” and “The New Magdalen.” The latter was a variant of Le Roy’s version, which he made for his friend Ellie Wilton, and which was first acted at the California on August 7, 1875. On the 27th of that month “Lost in London” was acted at Maguire’s New Theatre, according to a prompt book made by Belasco, and on the 30th Reade’s “Dora” was brought out there,--“under my stage direction,” says Belasco, and adds: “I also did some work on the [prompt] book, so as to make the part of _Farmer Allen_ more suitable for James O’Neill.” On November 1 J. A. Sawtell made his first appearance in San Francisco, in one of Murphy’s many revivals of “Maum Cre.” “I recall _that_ night, perfectly,” writes Belasco, “because I then first met Sawtell, with whom I afterward travelled in many capacities. When I produced ’The Girl of the Golden West’ (1905), Sawtell asked me for an engagement--just so he ’could be doing something,’ as he put it--and I remember that he came up to me on the stage one night and said: ‘“Davy,” I was a big star in California and you were my boy assistant; now here you are with your own theatre and I’m playing a small part in it! How did you do it?’”

About the end of November Belasco left Maguire’s employment and took a place as assistant stage manager, prompter, and general helper under Charles R. Thorne, Sr., who, on December 13, opened Thorne’s Palace Theatre (it had previously been Wilson’s Amphitheatre), at the corner of Montgomery and Market Streets, San Francisco. That engagement lasted for about three weeks--Thorne closing his theatre on December 31, without warning. Belasco’s delight in acquiring experience was gratified in this venture, but it was not otherwise profitable to him, as Thorne was unable to pay more than a small part of his salary. Besides discharging his other duties Belasco acted, in this engagement, _Santo_, in “Gaspardo; or, The Three Banished Men of Milan”; _Signor Meteo_, in “The Miser’s Daughter,” and _Gilbert Gates_, in “The Dawn of Freedom.” “The Fool’s Revenge,”--Thorne as _Bertuccio_ and Kate Denin as _Fiordelisa_,--“The Forty Thieves,” “Who Killed Cock Robin?” and “Faustus, a Romantic Spectacle,” were also produced, and, in one capacity or another, Belasco took part in all those productions; but I have not been able to find programmes. On January 7, 1876, the house was reopened, as the Palace Theatre, under the management of Col. J. H. Wood, presenting Frank Jones, in “The Black Hand; or, The Lost Will,” in which Belasco performed as _Bob, a Policeman_. Jones’ engagement lasted for about three weeks: thereafter Belasco drifted back into the employment of Maguire.

BALDWIN’S ACADEMY AND BARRY SULLIVAN.

In 1876 Edward J. Baldwin, locally known as “Lucky Baldwin,” in a 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

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,

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_.