David Warfield, before he emerged as one of the finest actors of his generation, had a 20 year struggle for a successful career. He began working in saloon theatres in San Francisco, hitched onto a touring company as an utility actor and general factotum, reached New York and gradually built his professional reputation. He spent a few seasons as a low comic with Weber & Fields, specializing in Jewish dialect, then began a long, prestigious and profitable association with one of Broadway's legendary producer-directors, David Belasco.
