David James (born David Belasco; 1839 – 2 October 1893) was an English comic actor and one of the founders of London's

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

. He was born in London to a family of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

origin. He made his stage debut as a child actor at the

Princess's Theatre, London The Princess's Theatre or Princess Theatre was a theatre in Oxford Street, London. The building opened in 1828 as the "Queen's Bazaar" and housed a diorama by Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts. It was converted into a theatre and opened in 18 ...

, then managed by

Charles Kean Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868), was an English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays. Life Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean (''ne ...

. As a young man. he appeared in various

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

s. One of his best roles during that time was as Mercury in

Francis Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Cox and Box''. The son of ...

's ''Ixion'', which he performed in its 1863 premiere at the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

.''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

'' (1906)
"James, David (David Belasco"
Retrieved 9 February 2014. Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L. (2011)
''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History''
p. 471. Palgrave Macmillan. In 1870 he joined

Henry James Montague Henry James Montague was the stage name of Henry John Mann, (January 20, 1843 – August 13, 1878), an American actor born in England. Biography Montague was born January 20, 1843, in Staffordshire, England. After playing as an amateur he ...

and

Thomas Thorne Thomas Thorne (1841–1918) was an English actor and theatre manager. Thomas Thorne was one of the founding managers of London's Vaudeville Theatre, along with David James and Henry James Montague, and performed leading roles in many of the p ...

as the first managers of the newly opened Vaudeville Theatre where his greatest success was as Perkyn Middlewick in

Henry James Byron Henry James Byron (8 January 1835 – 11 April 1884) was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor. After an abortive start at a medical career, Byron struggled as a provincial ...

's ''

Our Boys ''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of '' Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-r ...

'' which opened on 16 January 1875 and ran for over 1300 performances. He left the Vaudeville Theatre in 1881 to work at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote ...

, followed by a stint at the Lyceum Theatre. In 1886, he became a member of Charles Wyndham's company at the

Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...

. Shortly before his death in 1893, ''Our Boys'' was revived for him. Unlike Thomas Thorne, his partner at the Vaudeville who died penniless and insane, David James died leaving a fortune of £41,000 (an enormous sum in those days), which went to his

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and other Jewish charities.''New York Times'' (18 January 1914)
"Fortunes of the Stage"
Retrieved 9 February 2014. His son was an actor who also performed under the name David James.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, David English male stage actors English male musical theatre actors English theatre managers and producers 1839 births 1893 deaths 19th-century English male actors 19th-century British male singers 19th-century British Jews Jewish British male actors 19th-century English businesspeople