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Creator
Belasco, David, 1853-1931
Call number
*T-Mss 1931-001
Physical description
10.5 linear feet (55 boxes and 30 rolls of microfilm)
Preferred Citation

David Belasco Papers, *T-Mss 1931-001. The Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

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).

Biographical/historical information

Actor-manager, playwright, director, producer and theater owner, David Belasco was one of the outstanding personalities of the American theater. Born in San Francisco on July 25, 1853, to Portuguese-Jewish parents who had emigrated from England, Belasco, whose father had been on the London stage, began acting as a child. He was a call boy and then stage manager in San Francisco before moving to New York in 1882 to manage the Madison Square Theatre under Daniel Frohman. Seeking greater freedom, he left that theater and was a freelance playwright and director before becoming stage manager, again under Daniel Frohman, at the Lyceum Theatre in 1887. In 1890 he left to again work independently, staging a number of his own plays, mainly collaborations. The most successful of these were THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME (1893), THE HEART OF MARYLAND(1895), ZAZA (1898), and MADAME BUTTERFLY(1900). In 1901 he began his association with the actor David Warfield in Charles Klein's THE AUCTIONEER. In 1902 he opened the first Belasco Theatre, which had opened as the Republic in 1900, and where several of his most famous plays were first seen including Klein's THE MUSIC MASTER(1904), ADREA (1905), and THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST(1905). His success enabled him to build a new theater which opened in 1907 as the Stuyvesant Theater with Warfield in A GRAND ARMY MANand was renamed the Belasco in 1910 (the earlier Belasco Theatre reverted to its original name). It was here that he staged THE RETURN OF PETER GRIMM(1911), considered by many his finest work. He remained at the Belasco until his death on May 14, 1931.

Belasco's greatest contributions to the American stage were his elaborate, realistic scenic displays using the latest mechanical inventions and experiments in the use of lighting, his discovery and launching of a number of the stars of his day including Mrs. Leslie Carter, Blanche Bates, David Warfield and Frances Starr, and his participation in the ultimately successful fight against the Theatrical Syndicate, Klaw-Erlanger, which was strangling theater in the United States. He continued the tradition of importing plays from Europe rather than encouraging new American dramatists. His own plays, mostly melodramas, were primarily adaptations and dramatizations of earlier works; he was sued for plagiarism a number of times, but always won. His last two decades saw his influence decline, eclipsed by the rise of a new generation of American playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill, and a new kind of theater. But Belasco had brought a fresh realism to theater production and was the most successful man of the theater in turn-of-the-century America where spectacular and emotionally wrenching melodramas were in vogue.

Belasco was married to Cecilia Loverich from 1873 until her death in 1925. They had two daughters, Reina, who married theatrical producer Morris Gest, and Augusta, who predeceased her parents.

Scope and arrangement

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, halftones, reviews, and programs, 1898-1930. It also includes a few speeches and articles by Belasco, a few legal documents, clippings about him, and other printed material. Drawings for costume designs, sets and posters for Belasco productions were removed from the Papers and placed in the Library's "Originals" files under production title.

The David Belasco papers are arranged in ten series:

  • Series I. Correspondence
    1887-1936
    59 folders

    This series consists of letters to Belasco, letters by Belasco and third party correspondence; the bulk is letters to Belasco. Letters are from actresses including Sarah Bernhardt, Ina Claire, and Jane Cowl, as well as others trying to break into the field, playwrights including Edward Knoblock and theater colleagues including Daniel Frohman and Edward Sheldon. Topics include proposed plays, letters of introduction, and letters of thanks for various things including his souvenir edition of The Merchant of Venice. Letters by Belasco are to Eugene Brieux, Geraldine Farrar, Eugene O'Neill, Charlotte Walker, and David Warfield among others, as well as to newspaper theater critics in response to reviews. The entire series is surprisingly small, comprising ca. .25 linear feet.

  • Series II. Speeches by Belasco
    n.d.
    1 folder

    One folder of speeches, all undated, some incomplete, includes Belasco speaking against the Theatrical Syndicate.

  • Series III. Writings about Belasco
    1919 and n.d.
    1 folder

    One folder of typescripts containing biographical material on Belasco were mostly written for newspaper publication.

  • Series IV. Legal documents
    1887-1918
    1 folder

    One folder of legal documents consists of a document of copyright, a handwritten memorandum of agreement between Daniel Frohman, manager of the Lyceum Theatre and Belasco and H. C. DeMille, authors of The Wife, a sharing contract for actress Frances Starr, and material from a plagiarism suit brought against Belasco for the play Marie Odile.

  • Series V. Programs
    1868-1921
    2 folders

    Programs are from the Lincoln Grammar School where the student David Belasco spoke in 1868, and from a dinner in his honor at The Society of Arts and Sciences in 1921, with the text of his speech included.

  • Series VI. Printed material
    1922 and n.d.
    2 folders

    Printed material written by Belasco consists of a preface to David Belasco's arrangement of The Merchant of Venice, 1922, and an essay, undated, with photographic portraits on The Return of Peter Grimm and spiritualism.

  • Series VII. Clippings
    1884-1967
    10 folders

    Clippings consist of articles by Belasco including his serial, "My Life's Story", and articles about his work, life and death. Also included are posthumous mentions of Belasco in newspapers that were added to the collection after its arrival in the Library. Much of the material is also available on microfilm.

  • Series VIII. Ephemera
    1910-1931
    2 folders

    Ephemera consists of printed hand props for The Return of Peter Grimm including letters, a telegram, circus flyers and a tulip catalog which were created to appear completely authentic though no one in the audience would be able to read them; and Belasco autographs, financial papers, forms, book plates, and a pamphlet on his art collection sold after his death.

  • Series IX. Scrapbooks of photographs
    1898-1930
    53 volumes

    This series consists of scrapbooks of production photographs of 44 of Belasco's shows arranged alphabetically by play title. The photographs are either by White Studio (New York, N.Y.) or Byron Studio (New York, N.Y.). Some of the scrapbooks contain the program for the production. Actors and actresses depicted in more than one scrapbook include Lionel Atwill, Blanche Bates, Ina Claire, Frances Starr, Lenore Ulric, Charlotte Walker, and David Warfield.

  • Series X. Scrapbooks [Microform],.
    1898-1930
    30 reels

    Scrapbooks of clippings, halftones, reviews, and programs for Belasco productions were microfilmed (*ZAN-*T-279). Originals were discarded after filming.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The cornerstone of The Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the David Belasco papers were a gift of the estate of David Belasco in 1931. The original gift contained much published material: 2,999 books and over 8,000 pamphlets and periodicals from his Library, as well as 400 pieces of sheet music which were given to the Music Division. In the initial processing of the collection, photographs, programs, original designs for costumes and posters, scripts and some correspondence were separated from the rest of the papers. At some later point, the scrapbooks containing clippings, halftones, reviews and programs were microfilmed and then discarded. The collection was reprocessed in 1994-1995; individually filed letters were brought back into the collection and the material was entered in the Library's on-line system.

Source of acquisition

Papers: Bequest, Belasco, David

Processing information

Processed by Elisabeth Elkind.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited. Advance notifice may be required.

Location of originals

Originals were discarded after filming