ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): APRIL 1902

Cecil Spooner of the Spooner Stock Company.

This blog is dedicated to preserving a record of Brooklyn theatre theatre-related images based largely on publication in nearly a half-dozen contemporary Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine (Brooklyn Life) of 1898-1908. It also lists the week-by-week productions at each legitimate theatre from January 1898 through December 1908. It is adapted from my earlier blog, BROOKLYN THEATRE FROM 1898: AN ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY and is intended as a supplement to a forthcoming two-volume book also called ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908).

The book covers everything related to Brooklyn theatre during the first decade of the former city's first decade as a borough of Greater New York, including plays, playhouses, productions, people, producing policies, scandals, lawsuits, 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.

To find a specific month, please use the search box in the upper left corner. May-June and August-September are always joined, so searches for one of those months should be, for example, May-June 1906.

Samuel L. Leiter

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

APRIL 1902

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

March 31-April 5:
Amphion: Janice Meredith (Mary Mannering)
Bijou: The Penitent*
Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) Master and Man
Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) Under Two Flags
Folly: Kellar the magician
Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The Black Flag
Grand Opera House: Yon Yonson (Knute Erickson)
Montauk: Florodora
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) A Young Wife
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Northern Lights
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Down on the Farm
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum

April 7-12:
Amphion: Under Southern Skies (Grace George)
Bijou: Happy Hooligan
Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Sidney Toler)
Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) Under Two Flags
Folly: Yon Yonson (Knute Erickson)
Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The New Magdalen
Grand Opera House: The Old Homestead (Denman Thompson)
Montauk: Maid Marian* (the Bostonians)
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) Because She Loved Him So
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Men and Women
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Under Two Flags
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum

April 14-19:
Amphion: New York in Wort und Bild (Adolf Phillips Company)
Bijou: Man’s Enemy; or, the Wedding Bells (Agnes Herndon)
Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Electrician
Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) The Sporting Duchess
Folly: Sis Hopkins (Rose Melville)
Gotham: (Gotham Elite Stock Company) In Peril
Grand Opera House: When We Were Twenty-One (William Morris)
Montauk: When Knighthood Was in Flower (Julia Marlowe)
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Maid of the Mill
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Eagle Tavern*
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Under Two Flags
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum

April 21-26:
Amphion: Ein New Yorker Brauer; Der Corner Grocer (in German; Adolf Phillips Company)
Bijou: The Convict’s Daughter

Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Royal Box; balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet

Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) A Celebrated Case
Folly: Dangers of Paris
Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The Pearl of Savoy
Grand Opera House: A Hot Old Time (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Montauk: The Rogers Brothers in Washington (the Rogers Brothers)
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) Alabama
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Ingomar
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Romany Rye
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum

April 28-May 3:
Amphion: The Rogers Brothers in Washington (the Rogers Brothers)
Bijou: When London Sleeps
Blaney’s: (Blaney All-Star Stock Company) The Silent Witness
Columbia: The Pirates of Penzance; Cavalleria Rusticana (Murray-Lane Company)
Folly: The Convict’s Daughter
Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) Passion’s Slave
Grand Opera House: The Governor’s Son (the Four Cohans)
Montauk: The Way of the World* (Elsie De Wolf, John Mason, Sarah Cowell LeMoyne)
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Amazons