Belasco, David, 1853-1931; Theater -- United States
During the last five years [that is, the five years preceding April,
1917] Belasco has made productions of various plays which do not require
extended consideration, though they must be specified and briefly
described in this Memoir in order to complete the record of his labors.
Those plays are “The Governor’s Lady,” “Years of Discretion,” “The
Temperamental Journey,” “What’s Wrong,” “The Man Inside,” “The Vanishing
Bride,” “The Phantom Rival,” “The Boomerang,” “The Love Thought,” “Seven
Chances,” “Alias,” “The Little Lady in Blue,” and “The Very Minute.”
Of these, “What’s Wrong,” by Frederick Ballard; “The Love Thought,” by
Henry Irving Dodge; “The Vanishing Bride,” adapted by Sydney Rosenfeld
from a German original called “Tantalus,” by Leo Kastner and Ralph
Tesmar; and “Alias” (based on a story by John A. Moroso and originally
called “The Treadmill”), by Willard Mack, are plays to which Belasco
gave trial productions, and all of which, except “The Vanishing Bride,”
he purposes to present in New York hereafter, when they have been
smoothed and polished and are deemed by him to be ready for metropolitan
presentment. “What’s Wrong” was brought out at the National Theatre,
Washington, D. C., May 4, 1914; “The Vanishing Bride” at Long Branch,
New Jersey, July 27, the same year; “The Love Thought,” at the Parsons
Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut, April 26, 1915; and “Alias,” first under
its original title, at the Apollo Theatre, Atlantic City, May 8, 1916,
then, February 5, 1917, at the Belasco Theatre, Washington. “The
Vanishing Bride” would have been produced in New York soon after its
trial had not Belasco found Mr. Rosenfeld (who is an industrious and
moderately clever writer but flatulent with self-conceit) excessively
fractious and troublesome to deal with. “I had spent $18,000 on that
play,” Belasco has told me, “and I know it could be made a success,
because it has excellent material in it. But life is too short for
disputes with Mr. Sydney Rosenfeld. I am always glad to do my best for
the men and women, writers or actors, who work with me, but I am not
willing to wrangle and fight with them for the privilege of doing so!
Therefore, I preferred to pocket my loss and let the piece go--with my
blessing and the hope that its adapter will find a more satisfactory
producer.”
The casts of the trial productions enumerated are here appended:
CAST OF “WHAT’S WRONG.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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