Actor, manager, playwright, director, producer and theater owner, David Belasco was one of the outstanding personalities of the American theater at the turn of the century. He is most notable for his exotic stage productions, famous for their...
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Actor, manager, playwright, director, producer and theater owner, David Belasco was one of the outstanding personalities of the American theater at the turn of the century. He is most notable for his exotic stage productions, famous for their lavishness and scenic realism, and his discovery and training of actors such as Mrs. Leslie Carter, Blanche Bates, David Warfield and Frances Starr. He made good use of the mechanical inventions of his day including innovations in the use of lighting, was involved in the fight against the Theatrical Syndicate, and wrote plays of his own, mostly collaborations and adaptations of sentimental melodrama. The collection contains Belasco correspondence with actors and others, 53 scrapbooks of photographs by White Studio and Byron Studio of Belasco productions [1898-1930], and 30 rolls of microfilm of scrapbooks of clippings [1898-1930] (*ZAN-*T-279).
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