The New York herald., 1920-01-18
Wizard of the Stage Chats on the
Memories That Come from
His Rare Treasures.
By MARY WATTS.

West Forty-fourth street. Before
one goes through the magic door
and not everybody can do that-it requires
Ia password almost as difficult to find as
those of the old Arabian Nights tales
ono is in the world of the theatre. back
stage, where the wheels go around.
There are long. narrow stairs to be
climbed from the street, stairs which lead
past the famous Belasco green room. with
the star on the door of the dressing room
which only star is permitted to enter.
There are the great wings. vast back stage
spaces, dark and unpeopled in the day.
time, and there are rows of busy offices
where typewriters click and telephones
buzz and callers debate the affairs Of this
everyday world.
Then one comes to the magic door. It is
not a large door and it is quite unpreten-
tious in architecture and decoration. But
| IL 1t swings back a magic realm is dis
closed. a quite unexpected realm which
Ionly the initiated can know about-and into
which those of US who are susceptible to
form and color and effects Of beauty must
Iclcp Will a Itdli1hIiOi IiidI IL CdNio DSio~>-
co had not been dramatist and a pro-
ducer he would probably have been an ar
tist, perhaps an interior decorator. and
contributed equally to the beauty OF life
by the creation of wonderfully fascinating 6
decorative effects in homes and public
buildings
1.-THE studio deserves its name because
of its purpose. 1t is here that most OF the
Belasco dramas are dreamed out and that
all OF them are brought to perfection. But
in reality this magic realm above the Bel
asco Theatre is not a single studio, but an
apartment of eleven rooms. From one end
to the other this large apartment has been
decorated according to Mr.. Belasco's own
taste and filled with collection of beau
tiful and interesting objects that thrill and
satisfy the sense of color and appeal to the
imagination by their romantic or historic
Significance.
All There Is Old.
Everything is old in these wonderful
rooms. Dimly beautiful objects appeal to
one from every side. Time has laid its
lsoftening hand upon velvets and woods and
brocades that once CLEANED in kings pail
aces or mediaeval churches. One treads
upon rugs worn thin by the feet of Sultans.
In cabinets and alcoves and unexpected
inches old carvings in wood sand ivory.
stone and marble seem to hold themselves
in delicate reserve, suggesting a beauty
which they are reluctant to thrust upon
an unappreciative world.
The professional decorator might well
consult Mr.. Belasco on the use of waste
spaces. There are little corridors connect
ing some OF the rooms in the magic realm
which would have been the despair of the
usual homemaker. And there are many
lfire-escapes in this New York wonderland.
fire-escapes which would have badly be-
trayed the secrets OF the realm and let the
dreamer straight down into unromantic
Forty-fourth street II 1t had not been for
the Belasco magic
But through the operation OF this magic
the corridors and passages have become
wonderful little grottoes and tiny shrines
from which glow the pale magniflcence OF
golden images or in which lovely marbles
are withdrawn into a stained glass seclu-
sion. And the commonplace fire-escapes
become beautiful little balconies, whose
tiny spaces. hedged around with evergreen
give the illusion of Italian gardens. from
which moonlight sheds It's pale radiance
over the Belasco studio. Owing 10 some
further exercise of tho Belasco magic, nc
matter what the weather may be doing In
Forty-fourth street. II is always moonlight
In the Bclasco studio.
! Some men prefer TO work in bare quar-
ters where there is nothing to distract
tnefn from their thoughts, Dut MT. belaScc
does much of his work in one of the
smaller rooms OF the studio, room
crowded full OF beautiful objects OF his
toric value. He sits In a little old chair
which every one else finds most uncom-
| Portable, and writes at an old table which
the average business man would regard a!
unfit for anything but the family garret
There is great fireplace in this room, 9
fireplace OF blue and white Spanish tilel
which has its own picturesque story. i
was stolen from the Alhambra and wa.
part of the Stanford White collection. It,
history is known, and when the Belascc
magic is working overtime the owner oi
the mantel may easily see stealing away
in the moonlight the three Spanish slaves
who were killed in their attempts TO ge
this rare treasure away from it's origina
setting.
The Mystic Lights.
| Tho light entering through golden glass
in the roof falls upon a golden lion in 9
golden hoop, which hangc from the dome
If, in turn. the Spanish slaves who farec
so i'll in their attempts 20 steal away the
/ tiles could speak out of their dead past e
the golden lion tho beast might have q
tale 10 tell them.
That lon,n said Mr.. Belasco. who has 9
considerable weakness for this particular
treasure. hung AZ the door OF an inn II
Paris Marie Antoinettc passed tho dooi
of the inn wheniehe went 20 the suillcin'
aud 90 did pu Barr1, II was that va,