#david belasco

[kingoftheclaudes]

Propaganda

Lee Gentry (Crime Without Passion) - SAUL GOODMAN WHO?? Lee is the OG 'hot lawyer' and I love him and his stupid little mustache. The fact that I would will purposefully try to get thrown in jail for a chance he'd defend me says something about me but I don't care. ALSO THE TOP HAT AND TUXEDO COMBO? (see attached) Deceased.

David Belasco (Lady with Red Hair) - The floof should speak for itself, guys c'mon!

This is round one for The King of The Claudes tournament and other matchups can be found here!

Additional Propaganda under the cut!

Lee Gentry

THIS IS WHERE THIS STUPID GIF COMES FROM AHH!!!

David Belasco

[jackspanto]

How about a walk in the rain while I tell you how I met Mr. David Belasco? Meet me at Grand Central, East 42nd and Vanderbilt

[captainknell]

I guess no one here has heard of him. But this was in the front of that poor, falling apart book, Napoleon by JT Herbert Baily. David Belasco was a famous playwright, producer, and innovator in stage lighting in America. And apparently he used to own my book! If only I could ask him what the heck happened to it!

(More of it's sad condition below)

Hopefully in the next week or two we can take it to Cincinnati for some help!

[careful-disorder]

David Belasco, Childs' Restaurant Scene in The Governor’s Lady - Wikimedia

"A Belasco production is nothing if not realistic in every detail... "

[suetravelblog]

Madama Butterfly Slovene National Opera Ljubljana

[kayflapper]

Lenore Ulric was a star of the Broadway theatre as well as Hollywood films of the silent-film and early sound era. Discovered in 1913 by theater director David Belasco, who would go on to manage her stage career.

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss on Bringing Robot Love to Broadway With ‘Maybe Happy Ending’

Chances are the multi-talented Darren Criss is as cross-eyed as the rest of us are with the twists and turns his career has taken over the past 13 years. In 2009, he began in television with six years of Glee, playing the lead singer of the Warblers, and helping power a Warblers focused soundtrack album to Number 2 on the Billboard album chart. Then in 2018 he switched fromsinging to spree killing, giving a stunning, steel-plated performance as Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. That got him a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy and set people to thinking there might be a serious actor lurking inside that singer.

Before that could be settled, the singer reemerged, as a replacement in a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, raking in $4 million during his three weeks. That was followed with an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theater and a stint in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theater.

Two years ago, the actor was back when producer Jeffrey Richards hired him for some deep-dish David Mamet drama, American Buffalo. Now Richardshas returned Criss to the Belasco, and singing, for an original Broadway musical, Maybe Happy Ending—a very original musical, in that it’s about the love life of robots in Seoul circa 2064.

You’ll not find much of that Glee guy you know and love in the character Criss plays in Maybe Happy Ending, a lonely Helperbot robot who putters aimlessly about his tiny apartment, listens to jazz and devotes all his TLC to a favorite pot plant. That changes swiftly when a female form of Helperbot, Claire (Helen J Shen), drops by to borrow his charger. Sparks fly, then conversation, and inevitably a kind of amorous connection.

Despite the nuts and bolts, what we have here is basically a rom-com, with a charming book and score by a couple of NYU classmates.

Actually, there are two books and two scores, one in English, one in Korean. Will Aronson, 43, of New Haven, composed the music, and Hue Park, 41 of South Korea wrote the lyrics. Once they did that, they put their heads together and wrote “connecting tissue”—a play in praise of love’s rejuvenating effects. Even robots at the end of their warranty are susceptible.

Evidently, Hue won the toss because the Korean version premiered first—in Seoul, where the story is set—and proved to be such a success that stateside productions were put together. The English edition made its first U.S. appearance two years ago at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, where The New York Times’ Jesse Green deemed it “Broadway-ready.” Thus, we now have a live-action robot show going strong on West 44th.

The terror of doing this kind of production, Criss confesses, is that actors are afraid they’ll look like cartoons of their character, taking big, blocky robot steps around the stage. “The show has no listed choreographer,” he tells Observer. But he feels he has that situation well in hand. He and director Michael Arden “have taken a particular interest in making sure the physicality is distinct,” he says. “And I’d be remiss not to mention  a teacher at Juilliard, Moni Yakim, who had some Zoom discussion with us about this.

“It’s kind of a cocktail of those three things: Moni’s suggestions, Michael’s pursuit of perfection and my own interest in physical theater. It’s a skill set that I’ve never been able to utilize—at least to this level. When I was in college, I took a semester off so that I could study physical theater at the Accademia dell’Arte, the performing arts school in Arezzo, Italy.”

A cast of four inhabit the show: Dez Duron, Marcus Choi, Criss, and Shen. You may detect a little kinetic energy between Criss and Shen. That’s because they both attended the University of Michigan—albeit, not at the same time. “She graduated about two seconds ago, and I may have graduated a little longer ago than that,” concedes Criss.

“She graduated two years ago, and 10 years ago my name was up on the marquee at the Belasco Theater. And to be able to come back to the Belasco—but this time to share that billing with a fellow Michigan grad—is a very special moment for me. I’m now the upper-class man to the freshman of Helen J Shen. This is her Broadway debut. It’s a big moment for her, and getting to see her through that on stage—to call that a job is really a special thing for me.”

The enthusiasm Criss brings to the stage is practically palpable—and he still remembers where it came from: encountering Robin Williams at an impressionably early age in the 1992 animated Disney flick, Aladdin, in which his outrageous Genie-jiving was almost heart-stoppingly hilarious.

“I was probably six or seven—and I noticed how this audience connected with each other and with this Genie on the screen. I was very taken with that idea, and I wanted to give people what this Genie was giving them. Then, I found out the voice of that Genie was Robin Williams, who was such a prominent figure out in San Francisco, where I grew up. That made it an accessible concept: ’Oh, Mr. Williams is an actor. I’d like to be an actor, too.’ So I hopped right on it.”

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Evelyn Preer

Evelyn Preer (née Jarvis; July 26, 1896 – November 17, 1932), was an African American pioneering screen and stage actress, and jazz and blues singer in Hollywood during the late-1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the Black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."

She was the first Black actress to earn celebrity and popularity. She appeared in ground-breaking films and stage productions, such as the first play by a black playwright to be produced on Broadway, and the first New York–style production with a black cast in California in 1928, in a revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.

Evelyn Jarvis was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 26, 1896. After her father, Frank, died prematurely, she moved with her mother, Blanche, and her three other siblings to Chicago, Illinois. She completed grammar school and high school in Chicago. Her early experiences in vaudeville and "street preaching" with her mother are what jump-started her acting career. Preer married Frank Preer on January 16, 1915, in Chicago.

At the age of 23, Preer's first film role was in Oscar Micheaux's 1919 debut film The Homesteader, in which she played Orlean. Preer was promoted by Micheaux as his leading actress with a steady tour of personal appearances and a publicity campaign, she was one of the first African American women to become a star to the black community. She also acted in Micheaux's Within Our Gates (1920), in which she plays Sylvia Landry, a teacher who needs to raise money to save her school. Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

In 1920, Preer joined The Lafayette Players a theatrical stock company in Chicago that was founded in 1915 by Anita Bush, a pioneering stage and film actress known as “The Little Mother of Black Drama". Bush and her troupe toured the US to bring legitimate theatre to black audiences at a time when theaters were racially segregated by law in the South, and often by custom in the North and the interest of vaudeville was fading. The Lafayette Players brought drama to black audiences, which caused it to flourish until its end during the Great Depression.

She continued her career by starring in 19 films. Micheaux developed many of his subsequent films to showcase Preer's versatility. These included The Brute (1920), The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921), Deceit (1923), Birthright (1924), The Devil’s Disciple (1926), The Conjure Woman (1926) and The Spider's Web (1926). Preer had her talkie debut in the race musical Georgia Rose (1930). In 1931, she performed with Sylvia Sidney in the film Ladies of the Big House. Her final film performance was as Lola, a prostitute, in Josef von Sternberg's 1932 film Blonde Venus, with Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich. Preer was lauded by both the black and white press for her ability to continually succeed in ever more challenging roles, "...her roles ran the gamut from villain to heroine an attribute that many black actresses who worked in Hollywood cinema history did not have the privilege or luxury to enjoy." Only her film by Micheaux and three shorts survive. She was known for refusing to play roles that she believed demeaned African Americans.

By the mid-1920s, Preer began garnering attention from the white press, and she began to appear in crossover films and stage parts. In 1923, she acted in the Ethiopian Art Theatre's production of The Chip Woman's Fortune by Willis Richardson. This was the first dramatic play by an African-American playwright to be produced on Broadway, and it lasted two weeks. She met her second husband, Edward Thompson, when they were both acting with the Lafayette Players in Chicago. They married February 4, 1924, in Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1926, Preer appeared on Broadway in David Belasco’s production of Lulu Belle. Preer supported and understudied Lenore Ulric in the leading role of Edward Sheldon's drama of a Harlem prostitute. She garnered acclaim in Sadie Thompson in a West Coast revival of Somerset Maugham’s play about a fallen woman.

She rejoined the Lafayette Players for that production in their first show in Los Angeles at the Lincoln Center. Under the leadership of Robert Levy, Preer and her colleagues performed in the first New York–style play featuring black players to be produced in California. That year, she also appeared in Rain, a play adapted from Maugham's short story by the same name.

Preer also sang in cabaret and musical theater where she was occasionally backed by such diverse musicians as Duke Ellington and Red Nichols early in their careers. Preer was regarded by many as the greatest actress of her time.

Developing post-childbirth complications, Preer died of pneumonia on November 17, 1932, in Los Angeles at the age of 36. Her husband continued as a popular leading man and "heavy" in numerous race films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and died in 1960.

Their daughter Edeve Thompson converted to Catholicism as a teenager. She later entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana, where she became known as Sister Francesca Thompson, O.S.F., and became an academic, teaching at both Marian University in Indiana and Fordham University in New York City.

Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

[illyanarasputinfan]

Is there a particular story arc featuring Magik that you consider to be your favorite?

Magik #1 (1983) MARVEL

Fall of the New Mutants ranks high on my list of story arcs centered around Magik. Belasco stole Illyana from her family as a child with one goal in mind, to use her to release the Elder Gods. Magik was kidnapped, abused, and manipulated for the sole purpose of becoming the catalyst for their destruction of creation.

New Mutants #21 (2011) MARVEL

Magik deceives everyone that she loves and puts earth at risk by recruiting David Haller / Legion to use his mutant powers to negate the existence of the Elder Gods from reality. Legion obliterates the gods, and returns the stolen pieces of Illyana and Pixie’s souls to them in exchange for his freedom.

New Mutants #25 (2011) MARVEL

Illyana’s plan succeeds, but it comes with a price. For manipulating the X-Men in her personal quest for vengeance against the Elder Gods, Magik is imprisoned in a mutant detention center known as the X-Brig, located miles beneath the island headquarters of the X-Men in San Francisco.

Dave Wilkins

The entirety of Illyana’s existence up to this point was dedicated to battling the demonic corruption of her soul, and preventing an apocalypse by her former mentor’s deities. For years, I wondered what would happen once five Bloodstones were created and placed into the Beatrice Medallion. This event unfolds in Fall, and it is epic. Illyana’s revenge against her captor’s ancient gods after years of build-up is satisfying, if bittersweet. Zeb Wells really crafted an iconic moment in Magik’s character biography.

[sillyname30]

Darren Criss on Bringing Robot Love to Broadway With ‘Maybe Happy Ending’

The star of the new musical on learning to move like a machine and how he first caught the acting bug.

Chances are the multi-talented Darren Criss is as cross-eyed as the rest of us are with the twists and turns his career has taken over the past 13 years. In 2009, he began in television with six years of Glee, playing the lead singer of the Warblers, and helping power a Warblers focused soundtrack album to Number 2 on the Billboard album chart. Then in 2018 he switched fromsinging to spree killing, giving a stunning, steel-plated performance as Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. That got him a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy and set people to thinking there might be a serious actor lurking inside that singer.

Before that could be settled, the singer reemerged, as a replacement in a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, raking in $4 million during his three weeks. That was followed with an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theater and a stint in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theater.

Two years ago, the actor was back when producer Jeffrey Richards hired him for some deep-dish David Mamet drama, American Buffalo. Now Richardshas returned Criss to the Belasco, and singing, for an original Broadway musical, Maybe Happy Ending—a very original musical, in that it’s about the love life of robots in Seoul circa 2064.

You’ll not find much of that Glee guy you know and love in the character Criss plays in Maybe Happy Ending, a lonely Helperbot robot who putters aimlessly about his tiny apartment, listens to jazz and devotes all his TLC to a favorite pot plant. That changes swiftly when a female form of Helperbot, Claire (Helen J Shen), drops by to borrow his charger. Sparks fly, then conversation, and inevitably a kind of amorous connection.

Despite the nuts and bolts, what we have here is basically a rom-com, with a charming book and score by a couple of NYU classmates.

Actually, there are two books and two scores, one in English, one in Korean. Will Aronson, 43, of New Haven, composed the music, and Hue Park, 41 of South Korea wrote the lyrics. Once they did that, they put their heads together and wrote “connecting tissue”—a play in praise of love’s rejuvenating effects. Even robots at the end of their warranty are susceptible.

Evidently, Hue won the toss because the Korean version premiered first—in Seoul, where the story is set—and proved to be such a success that stateside productions were put together. The English edition made its first U.S. appearance two years ago at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, where The New York Times’ Jesse Green deemed it “Broadway-ready.” Thus, we now have a live-action robot show going strong on West 44th.

The terror of doing this kind of production, Criss confesses, is that actors are afraid they’ll look like cartoons of their character, taking big, blocky robot steps around the stage. “The show has no listed choreographer,” he tells Observer. But he feels he has that situation well in hand. He and director Michael Arden “have taken a particular interest in making sure the physicality is distinct,” he says. “And I’d be remiss not to mention  a teacher at Juilliard, Moni Yakim, who had some Zoom discussion with us about this.

“It’s kind of a cocktail of those three things: Moni’s suggestions, Michael’s pursuit of perfection and my own interest in physical theater. It’s a skill set that I’ve never been able to utilize—at least to this level. When I was in college, I took a semester off so that I could study physical theater at the Accademia dell’Arte, the performing arts school in Arezzo, Italy.”

A cast of four inhabit the show: Dez Duron, Marcus Choi, Criss, and Shen. You may detect a little kinetic energy between Criss and Shen. That’s because they both attended the University of Michigan—albeit, not at the same time. “She graduated about two seconds ago, and I may have graduated a little longer ago than that,” concedes Criss.

“She graduated two years ago, and 10 years ago my name was up on the marquee at the Belasco Theater. And to be able to come back to the Belasco—but this time to share that billing with a fellow Michigan grad—is a very special moment for me. I’m now the upper-class man to the freshman of Helen J Shen. This is her Broadway debut. It’s a big moment for her, and getting to see her through that on stage—to call that a job is really a special thing for me.”

The enthusiasm Criss brings to the stage is practically palpable—and he still remembers where it came from: encountering Robin Williams at an impressionably early age in the 1992 animated Disney flick, Aladdin, in which his outrageous Genie-jiving was almost heart-stoppingly hilarious.

“I was probably six or seven—and I noticed how this audience connected with each other and with this Genie on the screen. I was very taken with that idea, and I wanted to give people what this Genie was giving them. Then, I found out the voice of that Genie was Robin Williams, who was such a prominent figure out in San Francisco, where I grew up. That made it an accessible concept: ’Oh, Mr. Williams is an actor. I’d like to be an actor, too.’ So I hopped right on it.”

[kingoftheclaudes]

Claude Rains Character Masterlist!

Here's a handy-dandy guide of all the wonderful characters Claude Rains has portrayed over a nearly seven decade long career. We encourage all to have a gander at all these invisible men, prefects of police, fathers, criminal masterminds, otherworldly beings, and men of history alike! Each link will take you to a picture of that specific character, so even if you're not familiar with them, you can send in propaganda anyhow (such as 'what a lovely wig!', 'astonishing facial hair!', or even 'such a beautiful hat!'). We also realize that two of these characters share a name - John Stevenson (from The Last Outpost and Strange Holiday, respectively), so when submitting propaganda for these characters, please indicate which one! We will try our best to sort through the submissions regardless!

List is in chronological order, however, we are omitting for reasons explained in the pinned post the characters of Clarkis from Build Thy House and The Mayor from The Pied Piper of Hamelin!

(1933) The Invisible Man - Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man

(1934) Crime Without Passion - Lee Gentry

(1934) The Man Who Reclaimed His Head - Paul Verin

(1935) The Mystery of Edwin Drood - John Jasper

(1935) The Clairvoyant/The Evil Mind - Maximus

(1935) The Last Outpost - John Stevenson

(1936) Hearts Divided - Napoleon Bonaparte

(1936) Anthony Adverse - Marquis Don Luis

(1937) Stolen Holiday - Stefan Orloff

(1937) The Prince and the Pauper - Earl of Hertford/Edward Seymour

(1937) They Won't Forget - D.A. Andrew 'Andy' J. Griffin

(1938) White Banners - Paul Ward

(1938) Gold Is Where You Find It - Colonel Christopher 'Chris' Ferris

(1938) The Adventures of Robin Hood - Prince John

(1938) Four Daughters - Adam Lemp

(1939) They Made Me a Criminal - Detective Monty Phelan

(1939) Juarez - Emperor Louis Napoleon III

(1939) Sons of Liberty - Haym Solomon

(1939) Daughters Courageous - Jim Masters

(1939) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - Senator Joseph Harrison Paine

(1939) Four Wives - Adam Lemp

(1940) Saturday's Children - Henry Halevy

(1940) The Sea Hawk - Don José Álvarez de Córdoba

(1940) Lady with Red Hair - David Belasco

(1941) Four Mothers - Adam Lemp

(1941) Here Comes Mr. Jordan - Mr. Jordan

(1941) The Wolf Man - Sir John Talbot

(1942) Kings Row - Dr. Alexander Tower

(1942) Moontide - Nutsy

(1942) Now, Voyager - Dr. Jaquith

(1942) Casablanca - Captain Louis Renault

(1943) Forever and a Day - Ambrose Pomfret

(1943) Phantom of the Opera - Erique Claudin/The Phantom

(1944) Passage to Marseille - Captain Freycinet

(1944) Mr. Skeffington - Job Skeffington

(1945) Strange Holiday - John Stevenson

(1945) This Love of Ours - Joseph Targel

(1945) Caesar and Cleopatra - Julius Caesar

(1946) Notorious - Alexander Sebastian

(1946) Angel on My Shoulder - Nick

(1946) Deception - Alexander Hollenius

(1947) The Unsuspected - Victor Grandison

(1949) The Passionate Friends - Howard Justin

(1949) Rope of Sand - Arthur 'Fred' Martingale

(1949) Song of Surrender - Elisha Hunt

(1950) The White Tower - Paul DeLambre

(1950) Where Danger Lives - Frederick Lannington

(1951) Sealed Cargo - Captain Skalder

(1952) The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By/The Paris Express - Kees Poppinga

(1956) Lisbon - Aristides Mavros

(1959) This Earth is Mine - Phillipe Rambeau

(1960) The Lost World - Professor George Edward Challenger

(1961) Battle of the Worlds - Professor Benson

(1962) Lawrence of Arabia - Mr. Dryden

(1963) Twilight of Honor - Art Harper

(1965) The Greatest Story Ever Told - Herod the Great

[themusicaldesk]

From left, David Belasco, Arturo Toscanini and Giacomo Puccini, during one of the composer’s two formative visits to New York City.

[captainknell]

Just curious, have you guys heard of this guy?

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Mary Pickford by Truus, Bob & Jan too! Via Flickr: Vintage Swedish postcard. Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, No. 1236. Mary Pickford (1892-1979) was a legendary silent film actress and was known as 'America’s sweetheart.' She was a founder of United Artists and helped establish the Academy. Mary Pickford was born Gladys Mary Smith in 1892, in Toronto, Canada. She was the sister of actor/director Jack Pickford and stage/screen actress Lottie Pickford. Pickford began performing at the age of five on the stage and was known for a time as 'Baby Gladys.' After touring in different shows and productions for more than nine years, she went to New York to conquer Broadway. In 1907, she made her Broadway debut in The Warrens of Virginia. David Belasco, the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name, Mary Pickford. In 1909, Pickford got into film, working for D. W. Griffith, a director and head of the Biograph Company (American Mutoscope & Biograph). That same year, 'the girl with the curls' appeared in 40 films for Biograph (According to some sources even 51 films). In January 1910, Griffith moved his operation to California, and Pickford went with him. Actors were not listed in the credits of the Biograph pictures. Audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. Exhibitors in turn capitalized on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring 'The Girl with the Golden Curls' or 'The Biograph Girl' was inside. Pickford left Biograph in December 1910. The following year, she starred in films at Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). Unhappy with their creative standards, Pickford returned to work with Griffith in 1912. Some of her best performances were in his films, such as Friends, The Mender of Nets, and The Female of the Species. In 1913, she moved on to Adolph Zukor who had formed one of the first American feature film companies: Famous Players in Famous Plays later known as Paramount Pictures. Hearts Adrift (1914) made her irresistible to moviegoers. The film was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film marked the first time Pickford’s name was featured above the title on cinema marquees.Tess of the Storm Country was released five weeks later. Biographer Kevin Brownlow observed that the film "sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world." Over the years, her fame grew as well as her salary. 'Little Mary' became an international star, beloved for her beauty and charm. She often appeared on screen in young girl roles, even when she was an adult. Some of Mary Pickford’s greatest films were a collaborative effort with her friend and writer-director Frances Marion. Together they worked on such hits as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) and Poor Little Rich Girl (1917). She also worked as a producer and co-founded United Artists, with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., who would become her second husband. She had been married to actor Owen Moore since 1911 and divorced him in 1920 to be with Fairbanks. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks married in 1920, becoming one of Hollywood’s earliest supercouples. Fans adored the pairing, and the couple were known to host fabulous events at their home, called Pickfair, which were attended many of the leading figures in film. In the 1920s, Pickford continued to score more box-office hits with Polyanna (1920) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1922). Ernst Lubitsch came to America at Mary's invitation to direct Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924), but when he arrived he had changed his mind and would not do it (it was eventually directed by Marshall Neilan). Instead, he and Mary made Rosita (1923) together. She was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927. Around this time, the film industry was changing and talking pictures were on the rise. In 1929, Pickford starred in her first talkie Coquette, which explored the dark side of a wealthy family. She won an Academy Award for her work on the film. Still she was never quite able to recreate the phenomenal success she had in the silent pictures with the sound films. Her last film was Secrets (1933). Mary Pickford retired from the screen in 1933 but continued to produce. In 1936, she divorced Douglas Fairbanks. A year later, she married her third husband, actor and bandleader Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. They stayed together until her death and adopted two children. Mary Pickford died in 1979 in Santa Monica, California. Sources: The Biography.com website, Wikipedia and IMDb.

[thinkingimages]

On February 17, 1904, Giacomo Puccini premiered what is now considered one of the greatest operas of all time at the renowned La Scala opera house in Milan: Madama Butterfly. Interestingly, while Puccini felt throughout his life that it was among his best works, his first version of Madama Butterfly was famously a fiasco; he revised and re-premiered on May 28th of that year with the version we know and love today. On the anniversary of the work’s release, 115 years later, CR remembers the tragic origins of Madama Butterfly and how it influenced one of the most storied Parisian fashion houses of all time.

Based on the short story “Madam Butterfly” by John Luther Long, the subsequent play it inspired by David Belasco, and, arguably, the novel Madame Chrysanthème byPierre Loti, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly follows the story of the cavalier Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a U.S. naval officer stationed in Japan, who marries a former geisha, Cio-Cio San. He obtains a 999-year lease on a house in Nagasaki harbor and places her there, able to end both the lease and the marriage with a month’s notice. Shortly after they wed, Pinkerton abandons Cio-Cio San, only to return three years later with an American wife. When Cio-Cio San learns Pinkerton wants to take the son he fathered with her back to America, Cio-Cio San ends her life. It is a heart-wrenching tale of love and betrayal that has inspired countless art forms since its premieres in 1904, like plays (including M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, which comments on the gender and racial inequities in the original story), film, and, of course, fashion...

cr fashion book