Actor, Dramatist, and Manager, Whom She Dearly Loved And by Whom She Was Idolized, Is Reverently Dedicated By the Stranger Who Has Written It, Hoping Thereby to Honor and Commemorate Genius, Courage, Industry, Enterprise, and Energy, Exemplified in a Useful and Beneficent Life, In the Service of The Theatre * * * * * _If Heaven to souls that dwell in bliss can show_ _The fate of those they love and leave behind,_ _She, in that Heaven, may be glad to know_ _Her son was honored with his human kind._ “_Each petty hand_ _Can steer a ship becalm’d, but he that will_ _Govern and carry her to her ends must know_ _His tides, his currents, how to shift his sails,_ _What she will bear in foul, what in fair, weathers,_ _What her springs are, her leaks and how to stop ’em,_ _What strands, what shelves, what rocks, do threaten her,_ _The forces and the nature of all winds,_ _Gusts, storms, and tempests, when her keel ploughs hell_ _And deck knocks heaven_, THEN _to manage her_ _Becomes the name and office of a Pilot!_” --BEN JONSON, IN “CATILINE.” CONTENTS THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO--VOLUME ONE THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO PAGE ANCESTRY AND BIRTH 1 BOYHOOD IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 2 EARLY PROCLIVITY FOR THE THEATRE 6 MEMORIES OF JULIA DEAN 7 REMOVAL TO SAN FRANCISCO 10 GLIMPSES OF BOYHOOD 12 SCHOOL DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO 14 HARD TIMES IN EARLY DAYS 15 THE SENTIMENTAL STOWAWAY 17 A BOHEMIAN INTERLUDE 19 BELASCO’S EARLIEST ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE THEATRE IN SAN FRANCISCO 22 AN EARLY FRIEND,--W. H. SEDLEY-SMITH 28 ADOPTION OF THE STAGE 34 BELASCO’S THEATRICAL NOVITIATE 35 A THEATRICAL VAGABOND 39 EMULATION OF WALTER MONTGOMERY 42 A ROMANTIC COURTSHIP.--MARRIAGE 44 THEATRICAL LIFE IN VIRGINIA CITY 50 DION BOUCICAULT AND KATHARINE RODGERS 52