VARIOUS PRODUCTIONS—MISCELLANEOUS RECORD: “WHAT’S WRONG.”—“THE VANISHING BRIDE.”—“THE LOVE THOUGHT.”—“ALIAS.”
During the last five years [that is, the five years preceding April, 1917] Belasco has made productions of various plays which do not require extended consideration, though they must be specified and briefly described in this Memoir in order to complete the record of his labors. Those plays are “The Governor’s Lady,” “Years of Discretion,” “The Temperamental Journey,” “What’s Wrong,” “The Man Inside,” “The Vanishing Bride,” “The Phantom Rival,” “The Boomerang,” “The Love Thought,” “Seven Chances,” “Alias,” “The Little Lady in Blue,” and “The Very Minute.”
Of these, “What’s Wrong,” by Frederick Ballard; “The Love Thought,” by Henry Irving Dodge; “The Vanishing Bride,” adapted by Sydney Rosenfeld from a German original called “Tantalus,” by Leo Kastner and Ralph Tesmar; and “Alias” (based on a story by John A. Moroso and originally called “The Treadmill”), by Willard Mack, are plays to which Belasco gave trial productions, and all of which, except “The Vanishing Bride,” he purposes to present in New York hereafter, when they have been smoothed and polished and are deemed by him to be ready for metropolitan presentment. “What’s Wrong” was brought out at the National Theatre, Washington, D. C., May 4, 1914; “The Vanishing Bride” at Long Branch, New Jersey, July 27, the same year; “The Love Thought,” at the Parsons Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut, April 26, 1915; and “Alias,” first under its original title, at the Apollo Theatre, Atlantic City, May 8, 1916, then, February 5, 1917, at the Belasco Theatre, Washington. “The Vanishing Bride” would have been produced in New York soon after its trial had not Belasco found Mr. Rosenfeld (who is an industrious and moderately clever writer but flatulent with self-conceit) excessively fractious and troublesome to deal with. “I had spent $18,000 on that play,” Belasco has told me, “and I know it could be made a success, because it has excellent material in it. But life is too short for disputes with Mr. Sydney Rosenfeld. I am always glad to do my best for the men and women, writers or actors, who work with me, but I am not willing to wrangle and fight with them for the privilege of doing so! Therefore, I preferred to pocket my loss and let the piece go—with my blessing and the hope that its adapter will find a more satisfactory producer.”
The casts of the trial productions enumerated are here appended:
CAST OF “WHAT’S WRONG.”
| George H. Smith | Frederick Burton. | |
| Perry Dodge | Richie Ling. | |
| Eddie | William Dixon. | |
| Woodrow | Percy Helton. | |
| Heavy | Henry Weaver. | |
| Bill | Farm hands | J. W. Kennedy. |
| Red | Russell Simpson. | |
| Jennie Brown | Janet Beecher. | |
| Mrs. Perry Dodge | Maidel Turner. | |
| Mrs. Lee-Hugh, S.P.A.I.H. | Louise Sylvester. | |
| Phoebe Snow | Dorothy Walters. | |
| Flossie | Susanne Willa. | |
| Agnes | Grace Vernon. | |
| Tillie | Jane Shore. |
CAST OF “THE VANISHING BRIDE.”
| Zachary Hollis | Thomas A. Wise. |
| Dick Hollis | Howard Estabrook. |
| Baron Von Berndorff | Gustav Von Seyffertitz. |
| Eric Von Berndorff | Frank Gillmore. |
| Phelim O’Hara | Denman Maley. |
| An Upholsterer | Conrad Cantzen. |
| A Postman | Lee Metford. |
| Letty Von Berndorff | Janet Beecher. |
| Eva, the bride | Ottola Nesmith. |
| Eileen O’Hara | Angela Keir. |
| Mrs. Miller | Margaret Seddon. |
| Anna | Edith Houston. |
CAST OF “THE LOVE THOUGHT.”