Her career changed, however, after she took a small part in a Stockwell Stock Company production in which her mother was appearing in San Francisco.

Mary Elitch stated that "Very special inducements were made to tempt the star from the attractions of New York, and she came to me with ten trunks full of beautiful gowns and gorgeous costumes for the characters she was to portray.

Thereafter devoting herself to the productions of David Belasco, she won great success in The Darling of the Gods (1902), The Girl of the Golden West (1905), Nobody's Widow (1910) by Avery Hopwood, and after World War I in The Famous Mrs. Fair (1919).

Bates retired in 1926, settling with her husband in San Francisco, but she returned to the stage in 1933 in a supporting role in The Lake.

[1] In 1902, H.M. Caldwell Company, New York and Boston, published a lavish souvenir book, Blanche Bates Edition of "Under Two Flags" by Ouida, with handsome illustrated covers, and numerous photographs[3] from the play version (written by Paul M. Potter) starring Bates.