Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-27
.HE friendship between Messrs.
Warfield and Belasco, damaged
five years ago by business dis
Il. agreements, has been restored

%H HE friendship between MeSsrs.
Warfieldi and Belasco, damaged
five years ago by business dis
4. agreements, has been restored
through the mellowing agency
of time and is now as ardent as 1t was
In the days of THE Music Master. I"
Each has forgiven the other his sup
posed inflrmities, having made them
greater than they were, and reconcile
alton cologneS the atmosphere and
blues the dismal skies of Broadway.
Even to those who did not regard the
severance seriously, suspecting it to be
but a children's tiff, the reunion is a
glad event The alliance of the two
Davids has been too glorious a partner
ship to be Interrupted even for trice
by obstacles of q box office character.
Sentimental influences are said to
have exerted themselves on behalf of
amity. Mr.. Warfield has been III for a
long time In the POSTGRADUATE Hos
pital, and has had an invalid's leisure
in which to contemplate his golden
past. In his reminiscent moments he
must have recalled how, hand-in-glove
with Mr.. Belasco, he came up from
"The Auctioneer" to Shakespeare
Shylock, winning fame and treasure en-
route. He must have remembered how
he and the other David stood shoulder
10 SI1OulQeI III bIl6 Uhtbic WIFI SlCCdy
Klaw a. Erlanger over the profits OF
1.-THE Auetioneer," miracles of loyalty
to one another, despite the financial
sacrifice involved. Perhaps he thought
of one late night m Chicago, when,
advised to do so by me and Ashton
Stevens, he telegraphed Mr.. Belacvo
that he would not play the bad play
"Vanderdecken" in New York. Al
though that Flying Dutchman drama
was crippled pet of Mr.. Belasco, in
which he had invested much money he
abandoned it at Mr.. Warfield's behest,
and within an hour wired back, ''As you
like, my dear David Warfield. As YOU
like" Ten words.
The scism o. rupture Of the Belasco-
Warfield concord happened when MI.
Warfield's fears were aroused that Mr..
Belasco had mot shared their earnings
with the rigorous rectitude usual in
show business. These terrorS, of course,
were but the hallucination of an honest
though temperamental artist sensi-
tive to suspicion. They tell me that Mr..
Warfield used 10 sit In the Lambs Club,
across the street from the BelaSco
Theater, muttering eloquent maledic-
tons against his former pal, until he
was soothed by calmef men. Meantime
Mr.. Belasco, patient and propitiatory,
waited to make his excuse. Not long
ago he sent a, bouquet and message
to Mr.. Warfield upon his bed of con-
valescence. The gifts were received
gratefully, and later, 1t is said, though
Broadway sayings are sometimes unde-
pendable, the twain we're, ,cemented
again In bonds of brotherhood and lln-
derstanding.
Mr.. Belasco, who was rs last week,
Is as alert to the dramas changing
horizons as the youthful Arthur Hop
kins or Brock Pen1berton. He was as
vigorously advanced last year In "A
Bachelor Father and cts Wise
Child as he was a generation or two
ago in "zaza" or THE Heart of Mary
land" Mr.. Warfield is still a fine
actor. competent to impersonate char
acters beyond the casual proficiency OF
most of today,s good performers. Now
that peace prevails over his recent inn
broglio with the old master, he should
come forth again, as Mr.. Gillette did
after q period of retreat And II Be-
lasco doesn't want him, George Tyler
does. :
IRON Prof. William Lyon Phelps of
yale I received the appended let
ter, in which the pill of admonition is
coated with the strip Of tolerance:
"Dear Percy Hammond: Reading
your articles Is one of my best habits,
and was fiattered to see in your essay
of july Is that you expect me to be
teaching at Yale in the year 1880.
Alas! an unavoidable engagement else