Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.
ELSIE LESLIE AS THE _PAUPER-PRINCE_, IN “THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER”]
expectation that the labor would prove onerous was amply justified. He finally beat the play into an acceptable shape, but his trials with the company were exasperating. Belasco, naturally amiable and ordinarily both diffident and shy, can be, and when fully roused often is, unpleasant on the stage. There came a time when he lost all patience with “The Prince and the Pauper” company, and, at a dress rehearsal, about three o’clock in the morning, called the company on the stage and, singly and collectively, “in good set terms” and with expletive sarcasm, gave assurance to everybody present that “except the little girl there is not one, no, _not one_ of the lot of you that knows how to act--or anything else!” This comprehensive denunciation did not redound to his advantage or endear him to the management of the Lyceum. However, he finally got the company drilled into respectable shape and the play was successfully produced in New York, January 20, 1890, at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran till March 1.
Belasco, relieved of responsibility as to “The Prince and the Pauper,” turned at once to the instruction of his pupil, Mrs. Carter, and for a short time rehearsed her on the Lyceum stage. He had, however, hardly begun the rehearsals, for the holding of which he had, in equity, given so much more than it was worth, when the bargain was, in a singularly disgraceful manner, repudiated,--Belasco receiving from the manager of the theatre the following terse communication:
“The Lyceum Theatre, New York, “February 26, [1890]
“The Stockholders request me not to have Mrs. Carter rehearse on our stage any more.
Belasco’s resentment was, naturally and properly, very bitter. He had been for some time conscious that he was effectively “cabined, cribbed, confined” at the Lyceum. He had also been for some time in negotiation with A. M. Palmer, looking to a presentation of the play which he had in mind as a starring vehicle for Mrs. Carter. He wrote immediately, in response to Mr. Frohman:
“Your note in reference to Mrs. Carter received. When Mr. Palmer was informed that the stockholders objected to Mrs. Carter’s use of the Lyceum stage, he placed both his theatres at my disposal. Therefore, she will trouble their over-sensitive natures no more. As far as I myself am concerned, rest assured I shall not forget their petty treatment of me.