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
- Works by David Belasco in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available for users from Germany )
- David Belasco in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- David Belasco in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Madame Butterfly by David Belascos, first performance 1900
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 |