Belasco, David, 1853-1931; Theater -- United States
At this juncture, when unfortunately he was impecunious, indignant, and
excited, he received a visit from Maguire’s nephew, Mr. Frank L.
Goodwin, with whom he had already negotiated relative to “La Belle
Russe,” and whom he now supposed to have come to him as Wallack’s
representative. To this person he imprudently made known his quarrel
with Maguire, and hastily inquired, “What will you give me for the
play?” “Fifteen hundred dollars, cash,” Goodwin answered, and then,
observing that he hesitated, “and a return ticket to San Francisco, and
$100 more for your expenses.” “How soon can I have the money?” Belasco
rejoined. “In half an hour.” “Then I’ll take it”--and he did, selling
his play, outright, not, as he supposed, to Wallack, but to Goodwin, for
$1,600 cash and a railroad ticket home! He received the money the same
afternoon and left that night for San Francisco. When the play was
produced at Wallack’s it was announced as “By arrangement with Mr. F. L.
Goodwin, the production of a new and powerful drama by David Belasco,
Esq.” Wallack paid Goodwin a high price for the play, which, since then,
has been successfully acted throughout the English-speaking world, and,
later, when told of the facts of the sale, expressed his profound regret
and dissatisfaction that Belasco had not dealt directly with him. Fifty
times the amount of money that Belasco received for “La Belle Russe”
would have been more like a fair payment for it than the sum he actually
received. “I did not particularly care what Maguire might do,” Belasco
told me, “when he heard about the matter. I felt that I could get along
much better without him than he could without me (I always did for
Maguire far more than ever I got paid for!), but he cooled off after he
got home, and I resumed work, for a little while, at the Baldwin.”
AN OPINION BY BRONSON HOWARD.--WALLACK IN THE THIRTIETH STREET HOUSE.
Belasco’s published recollections of the circumstances of Wallack’s
removal from the Thirteenth Street house and of the importance to that
manager of his presentation of “La Belle Russe” require revision to make
them accurate. He says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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