ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): APRIL 1901

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.\

MARCH 1901

April 1-6: Bijou: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with Milt G. Barlow Company; Brooklyn Academy of Music: L’Aiglon, Camille, Sarah Bernhardt, Coquelin (three performances); Columbia: The Girl from Up Here, with Edna May, Charles Frohman Musical Comedy Company; Gayety: The Bowery After Dark, with Terry McGovern; Grand Opera House: Quo Vadis; Montauk: Hamlet, Camille, with E.H. Sothern, Virginia Harned; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Pearl of Savoy; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Nell Gwynne; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum; April 8-13: Amphion: Der Millionen Schwab, German light opera, with Adolf Phillip; Bijou: On the Suwannee River; Criterion: (Baker Stock Company) Friends; Columbia: To Have and to Hold, with Isabel Irving; Gayety: Human Spiders; Grand Opera House: The Little Minister; Montauk: David Harum, with William H. Crane; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Butterflies; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Midnight Bell; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum; April 15-20: Bijou: The Dangers of Paris; Columbia: The Lash of a Whip, The Shades of Night; Criterion: (Baker Stock Company) Too Much Johnson; Gayety: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with Al W. Martin’s Company; Grand Opera House: A Trip to Chinatown; Montauk: David Harum, with William H. Crane; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) That Girl from Paris, East Lynne; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Belle of Richmond; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum; April 22-27: Amphion: Richard Carvel, with John Drew; Bijou: The Tide of Life; Criterion: (Baker Stock Company) The Late Mr. Jones; Gayety: Sons of Ham, with Bert Williams, George Walker; Grand Opera House: Sapho, with Sadie Martinot; Montauk: Fiddle-Dee-Dee, and burlesques of The Gay Lord Quex and A Royal Family, with Weber and Fields, De Wolf Hopper, John T. Kelly, Lillian Russell, David Warfield; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Galley Slave; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Romeo and Juliet; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum; April 29-May 4: Bijou: The Still Alarm, with Harry Lacy; Columbia: Ben Hur; Criterion: (Baker Stock Company) The Man from Mexico; Gayety: Sapho, with Sadie Martinot; Grand Opera House: Old Jed Prouty, with Richard Golden; Montauk: Are You a Mason?; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) A Soldier of the Empire; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Sporting Duchess; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum