David Belasco

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David Belasco

David Belasco (born July 25, 1853 in San Francisco , California , † May 14, 1931 in New York City ) was an American playwright , director , theater producer and screenwriter .

Life

Belasco was born to Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from London during the California Gold Rush . In 1882 he moved to New York City , where he worked as a stage master and theater writer. His plays were so successful that from 1895 he was able to work as an independent theater producer. With the attention to detail of his stage sets and his developed lighting technology, he was a pioneer of naturalistic theater in the USA.

Belasco was a major exponent of American melodrama . On Broadway he produced more than 100 pieces from his pen. He is best known in German-speaking countries for Giacomo Puccini's operas Madama Butterfly and La fanciulla del West , which are based on his melodramas. About 40 of his plays were filmed.

In 1902, Belasco took over the Theater Republic (today's New Victory Theater ) on 42nd Street as the first theater of its own . In 1910 he bought a theater on 44th Street, which is still called the Belasco Theater today . Many theaters in other cities are named after him.

literature

  • Samuel Louis Head: From Belasco to Brook. Representative Directors of the English-Speaking Stage , New York: Greenwood Press 1991. ISBN 0-313-27662-5

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Belasco, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American playwright, director, theater producer, and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1931
Place of death New York City