A phenomenon of the nineteenth century, David Belasco became one of the most powerful people in the American theatre by the turn of the new century. After World War I, as the social and cultural upheavals of a new era forced changes upon the theatrical world, Belasco began to lose the influence he had enjoyed over nearly two generations of American theatregoers. Late nineteenth-century America was the age of the robber barons--of Rockefeller, Stanford, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and others who with strong wills, imagination, and aggressive policies determined the direction of American business enterprise. It was a period of expansion, invention, and intellectual as well as emotional confrontations. Belasco reached success by being liberally endowed with determination, inventiveness, and the commonsense approach of giving people the spectacle and excitement that seemed emotionally necessary and satisfying. Above all, the last half of the nineteenth century was an age of melodrama...