David Belasco - Biography

Biography

Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the California Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs, such as call boy and script copier.

He eventually was given the opportunity to act and serve as a stage manager, learning the business inside out. A gifted playwright, Belasco went to New York City in 1882 where he worked as stage manager for the Madison Square Theatre, and then the old Lyceum Theatre while writing plays. By 1895, he was so successful that he set himself up as an independent producer.

During his long creative career, stretching between 1884 and 1930, Belasco either wrote, directed, or produced more than 100 Broadway plays including Hearts of Oak, The Heart of Maryland, and Du Barry, making him the most powerful personality on the New York city theater scene. He is perhaps most famous for having adapted the short story "Madame Butterfly" into a play with the same name and for penning The Girl of the Golden West for the stage, both of which were adapted as operas by Giacomo Puccini. More than forty motion pictures have been made from the many plays he authored, including Buster Keaton's Seven Chances.

Belasco was informally known in the theatrical community as "the Bishop of Broadway," due to his penchant for dressing in black clothing, which made him resemble a priest. Belasco was mentioned as a contemporary celebrity in Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter III, page 45, Nick encounters "The Owl Eyed Man," who says of Gatsby "This fella's a regular Belasco," commenting on the theatrical (meaning ironically false) nature of Gatsby's giant library. In other words, "The Owl Eyed Man" is noting Gatsby's artificiality, comparing it to that of a stage player, by his amazement that the books, unlike Gatsby, are genuine.

Many prominent performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries sought the opportunity to work with Belasco; among them was a young Mary Pickford. Pickford appeared in his plays The Warrens of Virginia at the first Belasco Theatre in 1907 and A Good Little Devil in 1913. The two remained in touch after Pickford began working in Hollywood; Belasco appeared with her in the 1914 film adaptation of A Good Little Devil. He is also credited as giving Pickford her stage name. He also worked with Lionel Barrymore who starred in his play "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" opposite Lucille Kahn, whose Broadway career Belasco launched.

David Belasco was married to Cecilia Loverich for over fifty years; they had two daughters, Reina and Augusta. He died in 1931 at the age of 77 in Manhattan and was interred in the Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery on Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood. Find a Grave incorrectly lists Belasco as buried in the nearby Linden Hill "Methodist" (Non-Sectarian) Cemetery.