59. David Belasco and the Belasco Theatre

Is This a Ghost?

In our first and almost certainly only installment of Child Actors of the California Gold Rush, we dig into the early life of Broadway legend David Belasco. Then we talk about his mid-life, then his end-life, and then it gets really good in the afterlife. If you've been waiting dramatically for the ghosts of Broadway to mystically appear, then my friend, this is the episode for you.

This is the story of the haunted Belasco Theatre. Come for the ghost, stay for the Kleenex Dumpster of gin, nerd mobs, Neil deGrasse Tyson ruins everything, carbonated stew, and, you know, buttholes at the mall.

Sources:

• https://nyghosts.com/belasco-theater-2/

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Belasco

• https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-theatre/The-American-theatre

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatrical_Syndicate

• https://shubert.nyc/theatres/belasco/

• https://shubert.nyc/theatres/lyceum/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Belasco

• https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111326/the-hippodrome-london

• https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/02/23/100052251.html?pageNumber=23