BELASCO, DAVID

BELASCO, DAVID (1859–1931), U.S. theatrical producer and playwright. Born in San Francisco, Belasco came from a Portuguese-Jewish family named Valasco. He was educated in a monastery, which may have accounted for the way he dressed later in life, a free-flowing style that earned him the epithet "the Bishop of Broadway." As a boy in Victoria, British Columbia – where his father, a one-time clown, owned a store – he joined a circus. At the age of 11 he appeared at the Victoria Theater in Charles Kean's production of Richard III. Working as a stage manager on the Pacific Coast, he devised melodramas with fires and battles and a passion play with real sheep. In 1879 he went to New York, where his name became associated with sensational scenic effects. He was a pioneer in the use of electricity for stage lighting. Belasco's first melodrama, La Belle Russe, was produced at Wallack's Theater in 1882. He established the Lyceum School of Acting and produced successes such as Du Barry and Zaza. In 1902 he opened the first of two theaters, both called the Belasco, where he introduced innovations such as footlights sunk below stage level. His 374 productions displayed a passion for flamboyant realism. His greatest successes as a playwright were Madame Butterfly (1900, based on a story by J.L. Long) and The Girl of the Golden West (1905), both turned into operas by Puccini. Belasco's work was primarily in melodrama, and though the literary worth of his plays was slight, he was able to satisfy the contemporary demand for spectacular staging. His production of The Merchant of Venice (1922), with david warfield as Shylock, was regarded as the finest artistic achievement of his career. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Winter, The Life of David Belasco (1918); L. Marker, David Belasco: Naturalism in the American Theatre (1975). (Bernard Grebanier / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)