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282 The Drama, 1860-1918 1914). In all of his productions, as a manager, Belasco has held the guiding hand. Though John Luther Long gave him the central materials for Madame Butterfly, The Darling of the Gods, and Adrea, the Belasco touch brought them to flower. This has been the invariable result of his collaboration. The one original play of his which best illustrates the mental interest of the man is The Return of Peter Grimm (2 January, 191 1), which deals with the presence of the dead. A related subject of interest was dual personality, which prompted his accept- ance of The Case of Becky (i October, 1912) by Edward Locke and The Secret (23 December, 1913) by Henri Bernstein. The latter revealed the expertness of Belasco as an adapter far better than his work on Hermann Bahr's The Concert (3 October, 1 9 10) or on The Lily (23 December, 1909) by Wolff and Leroux. Had Belasco not been a manager, the effect on his own work might have been different. As it is, he has sought variety, he has followed the changing times. His interest in emotion, in pic- turesque situation, in unusual atmosphere, in modern realism, is evident in the long list of plays by himself, and in other dramas he has produced. Sentiment for the past encouraged him to further the career of William C. De Mille, son of his early asso- ciate, and while The Warrens of Virginia (Belasco Theatre, 3 December, 1907) and The Woman (Republic Theatre, 19 Septem- ber, 191 1) — both superior to Strongheart — show the younger De Mille an adept at the game of the theatre, there is no doubt that Belasco was an agent in the success of these two dramas. The entire history of the American theatre within the past quarter of a century has been the continued struggle between the dramatist and the manager, resulting in the complete sur- render of the former to the dictates of the latter. The native plays given us have been variously pruned and patched until, like fashion patterns, they have fitted a particular "star," or until the goods have become salable, dependent on box-office demand. When the play became a reading as well as an acting "thing, "the dramatist first sensed that it was incumbent on him to turn out a literary product, enriched by style, and marked by conviction. If, however, one reads the early dramas of Augustus Thomas and Clyde Fitch, it will be realized how dexterously the American playwright profited by the French technician