The Life of David Belasco; Vol. 2

by William Winter; William Jefferson Winter

Satirical and amusing use has been made in various works of fiction of the old, or elderly, parent who behaves in an inappropriately youthful manner. Charles Mathews built the capital old farce (I wonder if anybody else ever recalls it now?) of “My Awful Dad!” around that idea: Collins utilized it when he sketched Madame Pratolungo’s “Evergreen Papa.” It is one of the expedients of comicality in “Years of Discretion,” a farcical comedy by Frederick Hatton and Fanny Locke Hatton which Belasco presented, November 4, 1912, at the Empire Theatre, Syracuse, New York, and at the Belasco Theatre, New York, on December 12, following. In that entertaining play a buxom widow of fifty, Mrs. Farrell Howard by name, growing intolerably weary of a humdrum life, leaves the little rural town where she resides and repairs to New York,—where, with the aid of hair dye, tight lacing and a fashionable dressmaker, she puts on the semblance of a gay young woman and recklessly participates in frivolous dissipations, fascinating many ardent males and scandalizing her somewhat sedate and priggish son. At the last she consents to marry one of her numerous admirers, to whom she is honestly attached. After a little struggle with vanity and the fear of losing his regard she confesses to him that, with her, things are not what they seem; that she is not really a roguish young woman eager for social festivity, but rather an elderly one who has grown tired of it, who is inclined to be stout and is extremely uncomfortable by reason of restrictive stays and tight shoes. She is surprised and delighted when he, in turn, confesses to rheumatism, years equal to hers, and a strong preference for easy old slippers instead of dancing pumps. They then agree to abandon a projected honeymoon trip around the world, to which both of them have looked forward with dread, and to take their ease sensibly, in the home surroundings which they prefer.—This was the cast of “Years of Discretion”:

Christopher Dallas	Lyn Harding.
Michael Doyle	Bruce McRae.
John Strong	Herbert Kelcey.
Amos Thomas	Robert McWade, Jr.
Farrell Howard, Jr.	Grant Mitchell.
Metz	E. M. Holland.
Mrs. Farrell Howard	Effie Shannon.
Mrs. Margaret Brinton	Alice Putnam.
Anna Merkel	Mabel Bunyea.
Lilly Newton	Ethel Pettit.
Bessie Newton	Myrtle Morrison.

“THE TEMPERAMENTAL JOURNEY.”

Leo Ditrichstein adapted “The Temperamental Journey” from a French original called “Pour Vivre Heureux,” by André Rivoire and Yves Mirande, and Belasco produced it, for the first time, at the Lyceum Theatre, Rochester, New York, August 28, 1913, and, September 4, following, for the first time in New York, at the Belasco Theatre. It is an unusually clever, sometimes humorous, sometimes bitterly satirical, farce blent with elements of comedy and constructed around the struggles and tribulations of a sincere, capable, “temperamental,” and unappreciated painter named Jacques Dupont,—a part that was admirably acted (with discretion, humor, feeling, and even a touch of passion) by Mr. Ditrichstein. Notwithstanding the merit of his art Dupont is unable to sell his paintings. In a moment of despair, having been meanly upbraided for his ill-fortune by his wife,—a shallow, selfish hypocrite,—Dupont resolves to destroy himself. He writes a farewell letter to his wife, which he leaves with his clothes on the shore and, forgetful of the fact that he is a capital swimmer, flings himself into the waters of Long Island Sound to drown. The immersion so much refreshes him that he changes his mind about dying, swims lustily, and, being hauled on board of a sailing craft, makes a voyage to Halifax. Upon returning home a fortnight or so later he finds his hypocritical wife and friends, indulging to the full in “the luxury of woe,” about to hold funeral services over a dead body which they receive as his; and, also, he finds that his paintings, previously the objects of contumely, are selling for high prices,—public interest having been inspired by the pathetic circumstances of his supposed suicide. After observing from an unsuspected coign of vantage in their home his hypocritical “widow’s” ready acceptance of the embraces of one of his “friends,” and after witnessing with ironic contempt the funeral over what are supposed to be his remains, Dupont betakes himself to Paris, where he paints many landscapes. After an interval of three years he returns to America, representing himself to be a collector of pictures, named Lenoir, who has gathered together a large number of paintings by the defunct Dupont—whose works now sell for enormous sums. He finds his “widow” married to his former “friend” and the mother of a child by him, and also he finds that person to be industriously engaged in forging paintings by Dupont. During an auction sale of his works Dupont, stung by manifestations of injustice, sordid meanness, and duplicity, declares his identity and rebukes those who have wronged and contemned him. Then, for the sake of the child, he agrees to arrange for a divorce from his unworthy wife,—signifying his purpose, in due course, to unite himself in matrimony to a loving young girl who has befriended him in his earlier afflictions and remained faithful to his memory while supposing him to be dead.

The opportunity for gibes and railings provided by the successive postures of circumstance thus indicated are obvious and many. Yet, at best, the comicality evoked by them is bitter and painful.—“The Temperamental Journey,” which was much admired and exceptionally successful, was cast as follows:

Jacques Dupont		Leo Ditrichstein.
Prof. Babcock Roland		Henry Bergman.
Vernon Neil		Frank Connor.
Billy Shepherd		Richie Ling.
Dorval		Edouard Durand.
Howard Locke		Julian Little.
Carrington McLiss		Lee Millar.
Tamburri		M. Daniel Schatts.
Roy		Edwin R. Wolfe.
Max		Earle W. Grant.
Edna	Prof. Roland’s	Carree Clarke.
Eleanor	Pupils.	Anna McNaughton.
Marjorie		Dorothy Ellis.
Lina		Annette Tyler.
Messenger		William Dixon.
Delphine		Isabel Irving.
Maria		Josephine Victor.
Fanny Lamont		Cora Witherspoon.
Teresa		Gertrud Morisini.
Maid		Alice Jones.

A REVIVAL OF “THE AUCTIONEER.”

An incident of the theatrical season of 1913-’14 which requires passing record here is the revival by Belasco of “The Auctioneer,”—a play which, in all essentials, was original with him and which for this revival he again revised, making it somewhat more closely-knit and effective than it was when first he brought forward David Warfield in it. “The Auctioneer” was acted at the Knickerbocker Theatre, New York, September 30, 1913, with the following cast: