Belasco on Love

Last week, on the eve of the marriage of Operatic Actress Helen Gahagan and Melvyn Douglas, stars of David Belasco's Tonight or Never, Producer Belasco, filled with loving-kindness after three months on a sickbed, announced: "It was a case of love at first sight. I've seen many romances in the theatre, but none so fine, so oldfashioned, so honest.

... I make it a rule to bring together my future hero and heroine before I make my selection.

... I can't explain it, but I can sense how they will play together, in each other's arms, or kiss each other. ... If there is love at length, it must be decent. They have got to play straight with me and with each other."

Surprised, theatre folk waited to see if Helen Gahagan would be starred in another Belasco play, for tradition dictates that any Belasco leading lady who marries, automatically leaves his service. Examples: Leslie Carter, Blanche Bates, Frances Starr, Katharine Cornell, Mary Ellis, Lenore Ulric.

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