Belasco, David (1853–1931), born in San Francisco, where he first achieved recognition as actor, playwright, and producer, was intermittently associated with the New York stage during his youth, and after 1882 was constantly identified with it. He was famous not only for his plays, but also for his managership, discovery, and development of such actors as David Warfield and Mrs. Leslie Carter, his realistic stage settings, and his ability to obtain novel effects with newly invented electric lights. Many of his plays were written with collaborators:
Hearts of Oak (1879), adapted from an English melodrama, with
James A. Herne;
Lord Chumley (1888), a domestic drama, with Henry C. De Mille;
The Girl I Left Behind Me (1893), with Franklin Fyles;
The Return of Peter Grimm (1911), with Cecil B. DeMille;
Madame Butterfly (1900), Adrea⧫ (1904), and
The Darling of the Gods (1902), with John L. Long; and many other plays with these and other writers. Belasco's own plays include
The Heart of Maryland (1895), a Civil War drama;
Zaza (1898), adapted from the French;
DuBarry (1901); and
The Girl of the Golden West (1905). Six of his plays were collected and edited by M.J. Moses (1928).
