David Belasco

But actually, we have a pretty l- uh, big...

We have more evidence because of the things that he said, that Madama Butterfly, the opera, was a direct adaptation of a stage play that he saw by David Belasco- [laughs]

Oh

... that he had seen in London.

Madame Butterfly has a long chain of origin.

While in London in 1900, Puccini saw the one-act play Madame Butterfly, A Tragedy of Japan, written by American playwright David Belasco, which was an adaptation of John Luther Long's short story, Madame Butterfly, from 1898.

Long's story was partially inspired by an 1887 French novel by Pierlotti called Madame Chrysanthem.

Though Puccini did not speak English, Belasco's play made enough of an impression that he decided he wanted to base an opera on it.

wyckoff invented what was called lasky lighting or rembrandt kereskuro in cinema um so as many of you know, during the very early period of American filmmaking, the emphasis was on visibility rather than expressivity of images.

However, DeMille and Wyckoff innovated this expressive lighting in Hollywood following the Broadway pioneer, David Belasco's stage.

Velasco himself, he was following, you know, European tradition of, you know, Rembrandt's treatment of light so that, you know, the character's emotion, psychological states can be, you know, enhanced by the lighting.

And in this case especially, the low-key lighting, the utilizing low-key lighting for both atmospheric and psychological purpose enhanced the mysterious and ominous character of Cesar Hayakawa.

One was this: I thought if I were to treat Death as a fellow who couldn't understand why people were afraid of him, since his job was only to escort them from one world to another, that those who saw the play might cheer up a little.

I thought they might go out of the theater stepping a few inches higher than when they came in, which was what Mr. DeMille and David Belasco achieved with their fantasy on death, The Return of Peter Grimm.

That, to my mind, is what every play or motion picture should make an audience do, step a little higher, whether the theme is comedy or tragedy

The adaptation of Mr. Casella's play must've been a very difficult task

Edwin Montague.

Played Othello for David Velasco, Macbeth for Daniel Froben, Richard III for Charles Dilligan, and Uncle Goodheart for

NBC.

It's like asking Arturo Toscadini to play Goodnight Irene.