first balcony, which, while the curtain is down, appears to be an ornamental glass panel about six feet long. When the curtain is raised, however, shutters in the front of that panel are opened by an electrical device operated at the switchboard on the stage, and a singular bright light, which is transmitted without casting perceptible rays, is diffused upon the stage, bringing the [Illustration: Photograph by White. Belasco’s Collection. SWITCHBOARD OF THE SECOND BELASCO THEATRE, NEW YORK] actors into clear vision.--It is not practicable to pursue this subject further in this place; but readers will, perhaps, realize the importance Belasco attaches to the art of lighting as an adjunct to acting and the care he lavishes upon it when they are informed that the experimental workshop in his theatre is operated all the year round and that in many instances the expense of his _light rehearsals alone_ has exceeded the total of all other costs of production. Perhaps the most perfect example of stage lighting ever exhibited was provided in Belasco’s presentment of “The Return of Peter Grimm,”--and that was the result of nine and a half months of persistent experimentation. Dilating on this subject, Belasco has said with justified wrath: “I think that we may fairly and without vanity claim to have revolutionized stage lighting. I confess that I have at times felt some annoyance when I have been informed by young writers in the press,--who were not born until long after I had made great improvement in lighting,--that in dispensing with footlights I have ‘imitated’ Mr. Granville Barker, Mr. Max Reinhardt, and various other so-called ‘innovators.’ Such statements are nonsensical. My first regular production without ‘foots’ was made in 1879,[4] when I staged Morse’s ‘Passion Play’ in San Francisco. And I did without them in several other productions, at the Madison| Square Theatre, in ‘The Darling of the Gods,’ and in ‘Adrea.’ When I produced ‘Marie-Odile’ there was a lot of newspaper talk on this subject, but the talkers were such poor observers that they didn’t know I had been using the _same system of lighting_ I used in ‘Marie-Odile’ for more than three months before, in ‘The Phantam Rival’! A little of Mr. Barker’s work as a producer has been seen in this country and he has had success in England. He seems to be a very talented man and I always admire ability and so I admire him and am glad to see him succeed. But without unkindness I must say that I have no need to ‘borrow’ from Mr. Barker; and as he must know that I never have done so I wonder a little that he has not rebuked these writers who would push him up by pulling me down. Many of the appliances we use in my theatre are invented and made in my own shop; many others are made outside, to specifications we provide.