Who was Davis Belasco

David Belasco was one of the most famous men of the American theater. He was born in San Francisco in 1854. His parents came from England, and went to California because of the great Gold Rush of 1849. When he was still a child, young David became interested in acting and in writing plays. He appeared on the stage before he was ten years old. When he was only fourteen, he wrote a play called "Jim Mack, or The Regulator's Revenge," and he put it on in a hall in San Francisco.

By the time he left San Francisco, he had appeared in more than 170 parts, had written more than 100 plays, and had directed more than 300 plays. In those days, just as now, New York was the center of the theatrical world. When he was 29 years old, Belasco decided to go to New York and try his fortunes there. In New York he became an even bigger success than he had been in San Francisco. He gave up acting, and turned all his attention to writing and producing plays and to managing actors and actresses. One of the reasons that our plays today are so well produced and staged is that Belasco set such a fine example. Belasco worked up to the very end of his life. He died in 1931, when he was 77 years old.