ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): APRIL 1900

This page is under construction as new images are added.

This blog is dedicated to preserving a curated record of theatre-related clippings drawn from the digitized pages of the four chief Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine of 1898-1908. Those sources, as they were called during these years, are: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times. At first, only Brooklyn Life printed photos; as time passed, the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned photo-based etchings 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 not only leading players but lesser ones, most of whose names are entirely forgotten today. Many depict burlesque and vaudeville acts that are often listed on the heading 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 I’m preparing for publication, ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908); Vol. I (1898-1903), Vol. II (1903-1908).

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES.

APRIL 1900

April 2-7: Amphion: Ein New Yorker Brauer, with Adolf Phillip and company; Bijou: Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Columbia: The Girl from Maxim’s; Gayety: The Gunner’s Mate; Grand Opera House: A Stranger in New York, with Corse Payton Comedy Company; Montauk: When We Were Twenty-One, with Nat C. Goodwin, Maxine Elliott; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty; April 8-14: Bijou: On the Stroke of 12; Gayety: A Female Drummer, with Johnstone Bennett; Grand Opera House: The Prodigal Daughter, Camille, The Parisian Princess, Aristocracy, Jim, the Penman, My Kentucky Home, Drifted Apart, Romeo and Juliet, Diplomacy, A Midnight Folly, The Plunger, with Corse Payton, Etta Reed (different plays daily at each matinee and evening performance); Montauk: Papa’s Wife, with Anna Held; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty; April 16-21: Amphion: A Romance of Athlone, with Chauncey Olcott; Bijou: The Bowery after Dark; Columbia: The Degenerates, with Lillie Langtry; Gayety: A Stranger in New York; Grand Opera House: The Galley Slave, East Lynne, Diplomacy, A Child of State, The Parisian Princess, The Plunger, A Midnight Folly, My Kentucky Home, The Prodigal Daughter, Sapho, A Gigantic Liar, with Corse Payton’s Comedy Company (different plays daily at each matinee and evening performance); Montauk: The Song of the Sword. The Sunken Bell (two performances), with E.H. Sothern, Virginia Harned; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty; April 22-28: Amphion: From Broadway to Tokio, with Fay Templeton; Bijou: A Young Wife; Columbia: Oliver Goldsmith, Stuart Robson; Gayety: McFadden’s Row of Flats Grand Opera House: The Parisian Woman, Jim, the Penman, A Gigantic Liar, Sapho, The Prodigal Daughter, Drifted Apart, Romeo and Juliet, Diplomacy, Aristocracy, The Plunger, A Child of State, My Kentucky Home, with Corse Payton’s Comedy Company; Montauk: Wheels within Wheels; Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty