40 Facts About David Belasco

1.

David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright.

2.

David Belasco was the first writer to adapt the short story Madame Butterfly for the stage.

3.

David Belasco launched the theatrical career of many actors, including James O'Neill, Mary Pickford, Lenore Ulric, and Barbara Stanwyck.

4.

David Belasco was born in 1853 in San Francisco, California, the son of Abraham H Belasco and Reyna Belasco, Sephardic Jews who had immigrated to the United States from London's Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community during the California Gold Rush.

5.

David Belasco began working as a youth in a San Francisco theater doing a variety of routine jobs, such as call boy, script copier, or as an extra in small parts.

6.

David Belasco received his first experience as a stage manager while on the road.

7.

David Belasco said that while working there, seeing "people die under such peculiar circumstances" made him.

8.

When Maguire lost the theater in 1882, David Belasco relocated to the East Coast, bringing his practical western experiences with him.

9.

David Belasco worked as stage manager for the Madison Square Theatre, and then the old Lyceum Theatre, while writing original plays.

10.

David Belasco helped establish careers for dozens of notable stage performers, many of whom went on to work in films.

11.

David Belasco wrote a lead part for 18-year-old Maude Adams in his new play Men and Women, which ran for 200 performances.

12.

David Belasco launched the career of Barbara Stanwyck, and was responsible for changing her name.

13.

David Belasco is perhaps most famous for two works that were adapted as highly popular operas.

14.

David Belasco adapted the short story Madame Butterfly as a play with the same name.

15.

David Belasco wrote the play The Girl of the Golden West.

16.

David Belasco is credited as giving Pickford her stage name as well.

17.

David Belasco worked with Lionel Barrymore, who starred in his play Laugh, Clown, Laugh opposite Lucille Kahn, whose Broadway career Belasco launched.

18.

David Belasco was a member of The Lambs from 1893 to 1931.

19.

David Belasco was married to Cecilia Loverich for over fifty years.

20.

David Belasco died in 1931 at the age of 77 in Manhattan.

21.

David Belasco was interred in the Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery on Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens.

22.

David Belasco demanded a natural acting style, and to complement that, he developed stage settings with authentic lighting effects to enhance his plays.

23.

David Belasco's productions inspired several generations of theatre lighting designers.

24.

David Belasco brought a new standard of naturalism to the American stage as the first to develop modern stage lighting, along with the use of colored lights, via motorized color changing wheels, to evoke mood and setting.

25.

David Belasco became one of the first directors to eschew the use of traditional footlights in favor of lights concealed below floor level, thereby hidden from the audience.

26.

David Belasco used 'follow spots' to further create realism and often tailored his lighting configurations to complement the complexions and hair color of the actors.

27.

David Belasco ordered a specially made 1000-watt lamp developed just for his own productions.

28.

David Belasco was the only director to have one for the first two years after its introduction.

29.

David Belasco was said to put appropriate scents to set scenes in the ventilation systems of the theaters, while his sets were highly detailed and sometimes spilled out into the audience area.

30.

David Belasco has not been noted for producing unusually naturalistic scenarios.

31.

David Belasco both embraced existing theatre technology and sought to expand on it.

32.

When David Belasco took over the Republic Theatre, he drilled a new basement level to accommodate his machinery.

33.

David Belasco had the Stuyvesant Theatre specially constructed with great amounts of flyspace, hydraulics systems and lighting rigs.

34.

Many of the innovations developed in the David Belasco shop were sold to other producers.

35.

David Belasco took over management of the theater and completely remodeled it in 1902, only two years after it was constructed as the Theatre Republic by Oscar Hammerstein.

36.

David Belasco gave up the theater in 1910 and it was renamed the Republic.

37.

The second David Belasco Theatre is located at 111 West 44th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, only a few blocks away from the New Victory.

38.

The David Belasco is still in operation as a Broadway venue with much of the original decor intact.

39.

The second, and perhaps more well known theatre in Los Angeles, The Belasco is located at 1050 S Hill St in Downtown Los Angeles.

40.

The Shubert-David Belasco Theatre, located in Washington, DC, was purchased by David Belasco in September 1905.