MAY-JUNE 1908

This blog is dedicated to preserving a record of Brooklyn theatre history and theatre-related images based largely on coverage in the nearly half-dozen daily Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine (Brooklyn Life) of 1898-1908. It is a vastly expanded, upgraded, and corrected version of my blog, BROOKLYN THEATRE FROM 1898: AN ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY, which is gradually being dismantled as this one is being constructed. It covers everything related to Brooklyn theatre, including plays, playhouses, productions, people, producing policies, scandals, law suits, fires, accidents, brawls, ethnic theatres, crimes, religious attacks, rivalry with Manhattan, and so on. The focus is on legitimate theatre but considerable attention is paid to developments in vaudeville and burlesque as well. 

The main newspaper sources, using the names by which they were known during these years, were the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times; occasionally, other local sources were called on. At first, only Brooklyn Life provided photos, but as time passed the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned their photo-based engravings and line drawings for photos. Each entry is devoted to one or two months during the decade. A list of the month’s offerings precedes the illustrations, most of which are identified within the original image. The performers include both leading players and lesser ones, most of whose names are entirely forgotten today. Many depict burlesque and vaudeville acts who are often listed on the ads that begin each weekly group of images. The production lists designate titles of shows at the legitimate theatres only; burlesque and vaudeville theatres are listed only by name to show that they were active. If a theatre is missing it was either permanently or temporarily closed. 

It is hoped that this blog will be a useful adjunct to a two-volume book of the same title I’m preparing for publication. 

To find a specific item, please use the search box in the upper left corner. You ca also go to a particular month by searching for it, i.e., February 1905. The project hopes to be complete sometime in 2026 when it reaches 1908. 

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES (McFarland: 2024).

MAY-JUNE 1908

 

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

 

May 4-9:

Blaney’s: The Girl and the Detective* (Cecil Spooner)

Broadway: The Parisian Model (Anna Held)

Columbia: Dora Thorne (Corinne Snell)

Folly: The County Fair (Neil Burgess)

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) The Plunger

Majestic: Buster Brown

New Montauk: The Top o’ the World* (George W. Monroe)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Company) The Road to Yesterday

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Strange Adventures of Mrs. Brown

Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Park

 

May 11-16:

Bijou: Human Hearts

Broadway: Sapho, Carmen (Olga Nethersole)

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) Shore Acres

Majestic: The Bishop’s Carriage (Edna May Spooner)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Old Heidelberg

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Princess of Patches 

Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Folly

 

May 18-23:

Broadway: The Clansman

Folly: Bandanna Land (Bert Williams and George Walker)

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) Anna Karenina

Majestic: The Three of Us (Edna May Spooner)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Zira

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Slaves of Russia

Vaudeville/burlesque: Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety

 

May 25-31:

Broadway: The Man of the Hour

Majestic: The Governor and the Boss (Edna May Spooner)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Girl from Williamsburg

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Parish Priest

Vaudeville/burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

 

June 2-7:

Majestic: The Marriage of William Ashe, with Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Pearl of Savoy

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Nobody’s Darling, with Madeleine Clark

Vaudeville/burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

May 4-9, 1908

May 11-16, 1908

May 18-23, 1908

May 25-31, 1908

Majestic: The Governor and the Boss, with Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Girl from Williamsburg

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Parish Priest

Vaudeville and burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

June 2-7, 1908

June 9-14, 1908

A few additional summertime beach resort amusement photos for 1908.

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