THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO VOLUME TWO [Illustration] “_I will not be slack to play_ _my part in Fortune’s pageant!_” --Shakespeare [Illustration: DAVID BELASCO “_The natural successor of Lester Wallack, Edwin Booth and Augustin Daly, as the leading theatrical manager of America._”--W. W. From a portrait made for this Memoir by Arnold Genthe, New York. ] THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO BY WILLIAM WINTER (1836-1917) “He, being dead, yet speaketh.” VOLUME TWO NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY JEFFERSON WINTER _All Rights Reserved_ CONTENTS THE LIFE OF DAVID BELASCO--VOLUME TWO PAGE “UNDER TWO FLAGS.”--BLANCHE BATES THE RISING STAR 1 BELASCO AND DAVID WARFIELD:--THEIR FIRST MEETING 6 WARFIELD AND “THE AUCTIONEER” 11 IN THE GRIP OF THE OCTOPUS.--ANCIENT METHODS IN MODERN BUSINESS 16 TESTIMONY UNDER OATH.--BELASCO _VERSUS_ ERLANGER 20 LAW _VERSUS_ JUSTICE 23 A FAITHFUL FRIEND:--WARFIELD FOR BELASCO.--THE END OF “THE AUCTIONEER” 24 TEMPERAMENTAL SYMPATHY.--EARLY READING: “THE LOW SUN MAKES THE COLOR” 28 GENESIS OF BELASCO’S _DU BARRY_.--CHARACTER OF THE HISTORIC ORIGINAL 31 A FANCIFUL FABRIC.--“DU BARRY” FIRST PRODUCED 34 RICHEPIN AND THE “DU BARRY” LAWSUIT 42 A GRACIOUS TRIBUTE.--“REMEMBER THAT WE LOVED YOU” 45 THE THEATRIC _RICHMOND_ “LOOKS PROUDLY O’ER THE CROWN” 47 A DANGEROUS ACCIDENT.--ALTERING THE REPUBLIC 52 THE FIRST BELASCO THEATRE 55 “AFTER THIRTY YEARS OF LABOR.”--BELASCO IN HIS OWN THEATRE:--THE OPENING NIGHT 60 THE FIRST PROGRAMME 62