Photograph by White. Belasco’s Collection.
BENJAMIN F. ROEDER, BELASCO’S GENERAL BUSINESS MANAGER
employer, tenacity of purpose, familiarity with all the commercial details of theatrical affairs, but also excellent executive faculties, directness and celerity in the despatch of business and, on all subjects, the restful reticence of the reclusive clam. His services were often invaluable to Belasco.
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In person David Belasco was singular. His height was only five feet, six inches, and in later years he became rather stout, but in youth he was slender and graceful. His raiment was, almost invariably, black and in appearance much resembled that worn by Roman Catholic priests of the present day. His hair, originally black (not, as most hair so designated is, dark brown, but jet black), became first gray, then silver-white. His eyebrows were remarkably heavy and black and so remained. His eyes were extraordinarily fine—dark brown, large, and luminous—and his gaze was attentive and direct. I have not observed a countenance more singular, mobile, and expressive. When he chose he could make of it an inscrutable mask. But when indifferent or unaware of observation the changes of expression—shadows of his thoughts—would flit over his face with astonishing variety and rapidity, so that I have watched him when he would appear at one moment commonplace and dull—the next, highly distinguished, then kind—gentle—thoughtful—dreamy—ruminant—pensive—mischievous—pugnacious—alert—hard—cold—at moments, even malignant—boyish—playful—tender. On the rare occasions when passion mastered him (or when he chose to have it seem to do so—occasions always difficult to distinguish), his aspect became positively Mephistophelian....
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One of the mental advantages possessed by Belasco,—a qualification as precious as it is rare,—was the faculty of absorbing knowledge without effort. He learned all things with amazing ease. When little more than thirteen years old he had imbibed from an uncle, a visionary scholar, sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to enable him to conduct a religious service in that language, which he did, “without the punctuation,”—an achievement the difficulty of which will be appreciated only by Hebrew scholars. That faculty persisted in him always....