Volume 1 — “THE FIRST BORN.”—A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE.

While Belasco was in San Francisco he witnessed several performances of a play called “The First Born,” written by Francis Powers, which had been produced, May 10, under the management of his brother, Frederick Belasco, at the Alcazar Theatre, and he was so favorably impressed with its merits that he arranged to present that drama,—which ran for ten weeks in San Francisco,—in New York, in association with Charles Frohman. That arrangement was successfully consummated, at the Manhattan (previously the Standard) Theatre, October 5, 1897. “The First Born” is a tragic sketch of character and life in the Chinese quarter of old San Francisco,—a region with which the acquaintance of Belasco was peculiarly intimate and exact and one of which the mingled squalor and romance had always strongly attracted him. The posture of circumstances and experience depicted in that play is simple and direct. Man Low Yek, a rich Chinese merchant, has stolen Chan Lee, the wife of Chan Wang, also a Chinese and a dweller in the Chinatown. That ravagement Wang has borne with equanimity; but when Chan Lee, returning to San Francisco with her paramour, entices Chan Toy, their first born and only son, from him and in her endeavor to steal the child accidentally causes his death, the unfortunate Wang becomes at first an image of agonized paternal love and then an embodiment of implacable vengeance. The play is in two acts. In the first, Chinatown is shown in the bright light and bustle of a busy noonday and against that setting is displayed the sudden bereavement and afflicting anguish of the father. In the second, an alley-end in the same district is shown, with a glimpse of contiguous gambling hells and opium dens, under the darkening shadows of evening. There the inexorable avenger lounges, leaning against a door post,—apparently an idler smoking his evening pipe and talking with a Chinese girl, who leans from a window; in fact, vigilantly observant of Man Low Yek, visible within a shop, and intent on slaying him. The alley grows dark and becomes deserted. The neighboring houses are illumined. The chink of money and the bickering chatter of unseen gamblers are heard. A police officer saunters by and disappears. Man Low Yek comes forth from his shop, closing it after him. Then, suddenly, as he passes, Wang, with fearful celerity, leaps upon him wielding a hatchet, strikes him down, drags the dead body into convenient concealment, and is back again at his former loitering place, outwardly placid, before the fire in his pipe has had time to become extinguished.

Belasco’s presentment of this play in New York was a gem of histrionic illustration,—the grouping and movement of the players and the many super-numeraries, the employment of light and sound, every expedient alike of action and repose, every detail of dress, every accessory of scenic embellishment, all were so adroitly used and blended as to create an impression of perfect verisimilitude, and the spectator seemed to behold two veritable segments of Chinatown life. The acting, especially that of Mr. Powers as Chan Wang and of May Buckley as Loey Tsing, a Chinese girl who loves him, was exceptionally earnest and effective. This was the cast:

Loey TsingMay Buckley.

Chow PowEllen Cummins.

Chan LeeCarrie E. Powers.

Dr. Pow LenGeorge Osborne.

Man Low YekCharles Bryant.

Chan WangFrancis Powers.

Hop KeeJ. H. Benrimo.

Chum WoeHarry Spear.

KwakeeJohn Armstrong.

Duck LowGeorge Fullerton.

Sum ChowHarry Levain.

A Chinese RagpickerWalter Belasco.

A Provision DealerFong Get.

Chan ToyVenie Wells.

Way GetJoseph Silverstone.

Tourists— Ysobel Haskins.

Florence Haverleigh.

L. I. Fuller.

Hugo Toland.

“The First Born” was acted at the Manhattan Theatre in association with “A Night Session,” a farce derived from the French: later, other farces were performed with the Chinatown tragedy. Its success was decisive and it was acted in New York until December 11;—at the Manhattan from October 5 to November 6, and at the Garden Theatre (in association with an English version, by Benjamin F. Roeder, of “L’Été de St. Martin,” by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy) from November 29 onward. Belasco and Frohman, elated by their American victory with this play, were eager to repeat it in London. A second company was, accordingly, at once engaged, rehearsed, and brought forward at the Manhattan,—the original company sailing for England October 23, and emerging at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, November 6. The enterprising manager William A. Brady had, however, hastened to the British capital before them with another and similar play, called “The Cat and the Cherub,” which he presented at the Lyric Theatre, October 30, thus fore-stalling “The First Born” and causing its flat failure in London. It was withdrawn after one week, Belasco and Frohman losing about $20,000 on their undertaking.