Belasco appeared with the Gardners, at Egyptian Hall (No. 22 Geary Street, near Kearny), on February 16, as The Destroyer, in “The Haunted House”; Valentine, in an epitome of the “Faust” story (introducing the Duel Scene between Faust and Valentine), and Mr. Trimeo, in “The Mysterious Inn.” On the next night he performed as Avica, Spirit of Avarice, in “A Storm of Thoughts,” and Phil Bouncer, in “The Persecuted Traveller,” as well as in “The Haunted House.” On February 20 he personated Our Guest, in “Our Mysterious Boarding House,” and on April 2, Mark, in “The Prodigal’s Return.” Belasco wrote all those plays, specially for use in Gardner’s “Egyptian Mystery,”—as the entertainment was called,—and at least two others,—“Wine, Women, and Cards,” and “The Christmas Night; or, The Convict’s Return.” I have not found casts of the last named two, or record of the dates on which they were first produced. Belasco, besides playing the parts as above enumerated,
From the Albert Davis Collection.
A playbill of “The Egyptian Mystery,” at Egyptian Hall, San Francisco, 1877. Belasco wrote all the plays named and recited “Little Jim.” He was, also, actually the stage manager.
also gave various recitations at Egyptian Hall, with musical accompaniments,—among them his favorite “The Maniac,” “The Maiden’s Prayer,” and “Little Jim, the Collier’s Lad.” Recalling his alliance with Gardner, he writes the following bit of informative reminiscence: “Our ’Mystery’ attracted much attention. ’Egyptian Hall,’ if I remember correctly, had been a shop and was fitted up for our ’show’ by Gardner. I remember that the Faust and Valentine Duel Scene made a great sensation, because my sword seemed to go right through the body of Faust. And the recitations were very effective, too. When I gave ’Little Jim’ spirits seemed to float here and there, illustrating the sentiments of the lines. Our little theatre was packed night after night, and before the end of the engagement I was obliged to write about eight pieces for Gardner. I have often been asked if this was my first endeavor to experiment with stage lights. It was not. Some time before I had been working with locomotive headlights, and I had discovered the ease with which I could get certain effects by placing tin pans before oil lamps. Then it occurred to me that by means of colored silks,—my own forerunner of gelatine slides,—I could add further variations to colored lights, and it was after this experience that I began to pay particular attention to the charm of stage lighting and to the inventions which, since then, have been so wonderfully developed.”
A REMINISCENCE OF HELENA MODJESKA.
The engagement at Egyptian Hall lasted until the middle of April; then Belasco travelled with the Gardners and their “Mystery,” presenting the entertainments above mentioned and variations of them, until the end of July. From August to about October he appears to have been connected with the California Theatre: on August 18 he appeared there, in a performance given for the benefit of A. D. Billings, as John O’Bibs, in Boucicault’s “The Long Strike” (billed on that occasion as “The Great Strike”), and as the Earl of Oxford, in the Fifth Act of “King Richard III.” At this time, also, he witnessed the first appearance (August 20, 1877) on the American Stage of that lovely actress and still more lovely woman,—the gentle, beautiful, and ever lamented Helena Modjeska. She had gone to California, 1876, as one of a party of eight persons, Polish emigrants, who attempted to form a colony there, somewhat on the model of the Brook Farm movement. That attempt failing, Modjeska was compelled to turn again to the Stage,—in Poland she had been among the leaders of the dramatic profession,—and after much difficulty she finally obtained, through the interest of Governor Salomon of California, a trial hearing by Barton Hill, stage manager for McCullough, at the California Theatre.
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