That night, when the few friends who gathered each evening at Frohman's bedside had gone, Belasco entered the sick-room at the Knickerbocker. Frohman was so weak that he could hardly raise his hand. Belasco went to him, took his right hand in both of his, and the old comrades put together again the thread of their friendship just where it had been broken twelve years before.
They talked over the old days. Frohman, whose mind was always on the theater, suddenly said:
"Let's do a play together, David."
"All right," said Belasco.
"You name the play. I will get the cast, and we will rehearse it together," added Frohman.
Out of this reconciliation came the magnificent revival of "A Celebrated Case," by D'Ennery and Cormon. The cast included Nat Goodwin, Otis Skinner, Ann Murdock, Helen Ware, Florence Reed, and Robert Warwick. On Frohman's recovery he undertook the rehearsals. Belasco came in at the end, but he had little to do.
COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD
CHARLES FROHMAN and DAVID BELASCO
A photograph taken in Boston April 3, 1915, just after the two had renewed their partnership, ending a separation of twenty years.