Before Hill’s approval of Modjeska was ratified she was required to give another “trial rehearsal,” at which McCullough and various other persons were present, and it was Belasco’s privilege to be among them. “I don’t believe she was called Modjeska in those days,” he writes [her name was Modrzejewska--she shortened it to Modjeska at the suggestion of McCullough]; “but she had within her all the charm and power that afterward became associated with her name. I was in the auditorium the day she gave her first rehearsal [error--the second], and scattered here and there were a few critics. A mere handful came, for there was no general interest in one who was expected to have a gawky manner and a baffling accent. The unexpected happened; those of us who heard her were literally stunned by the power and pathos of this woman. McCullough promised her a production and not long afterward she played ’Adrienne Lecouvreur.’ When the performance was over, Mr. Barnes, of ’The San Francisco Call,’ the other critics, and all of us knew that we had been listening to one of the world’s great artists. ’It is the greatest piece of work in our day!’ was the general verdict. McCullough was wild with enthusiasm. She played her repertory in San Francisco, and society took her into its arms.” STROLLING _AD INTERIM_.--BELASCO AS “THE FIRST OLD WOMAN.” In September, 1877, during “Fair Week,”--24th to 29th,--Belasco was stage manager of a company from the California Theatre, headed by Thomas W. Keene, which performed at the Petaluma Theatre, in the California town of the same name, in “The Lady of Lyons,” “The Young Widow,” “The Hidden Hand” (Belasco’s version), “Robert Macaire,” “The Wife,” “My Turn Next,” “The Streets of New York,” “The Rough Diamond,” “Deborah,” and “The People’s Lawyer.” Belasco, besides directing the stage, acted in those plays, respectively, as _Monsieur Deschapelles_, _Mandeville_, _Craven Lenoir_, _Pierre_, _Lorenzo_, _Tom Bolus_, _Dan_, _Captain Blenham_, _Peter_, and _Lawyer Tripper_. Soon after that he joined a company, under the management of Frank I. Frayne, known as the “Frayne Troupe,” of which M. B. Curtis, “Harry” M. Brown, E. N. Thayer, Mrs. “Harry” Courtaine, Gertrude Granville, and Miss Fletcher were also members. He joined that company at Humboldt, Oregon, where the opening bill was “The Ticket-of-Leave Man.” Belasco was to play _Melter Moss_, but the actress who was cast for _Mrs. Willoughby_ becoming ill, Belasco (who knew all the other parts as well as his own) volunteered to take her place in that character and did so with such success that Frayne kept him in it: “I was scheduled to play all the first ’old women’ that season,” he writes to me, “and I found it for some time difficult to escape my new ’specialty.’” A SUBSTANTIAL TRIBUTE.