ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): APRIL 1902

Cecil Spooner of the Spooner Stock Company.

This blog is dedicated to preserving a curated record of theatre-related images drawn from the digitized pages of the four chief Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine of 1898-1908. The sources, as they were called during these years: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times. At first, only Brooklyn Life provided photos, but as time passed the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned their 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 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 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 (McFarland: 2024).

APRIL 1902

March 31-April 5: Amphion: Janice Meredith, with 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, magician; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The Black Flag; Grand Opera House: Yon Yonson, with 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, with Grace George; Bijou: Happy Hooligan; Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with Sidney Toler; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) Under Two Flags; Folly: Yon Yonson, with Knute Erickson; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The New Magdalen; Grand Opera House: The Old Homestead, with Denman Thompson; Montauk: Maid Marian, with 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, with Adolf Phillips Company; Bijou: Man’s Enemy; or, the Wedding Bells, with Agnes Herndon; Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Electrician; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) The Sporting Duchess; Folly: Sis Hopkins, with Rose Melville; Gotham: (Gotham Elite Stock Company) In Peril; Grand Opera House: When We Were 21, with William Morris; Montauk: When Knighthood Was in Flower, with 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), with Adolf Phillips Company; Bijou: The Convict’s Daughter; Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Royal Box and the 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, with Johnny and Emma Ray; Montauk: The Rogers Brothers in Washington, with the Rogers Brothers; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) Alabama; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Ingomar; Phillips’s 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, with the Rogers Brothers; Bijou: When London Sleeps; Blaney’s: (Blaney All-Star Stock Company) The Silent Witness; Columbia: Pirates of Penzance, Cavalleria Rusticana, with Murray-Lane Company; Folly: The Convict’s Daughter; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) Passion’s Slave; Grand Opera House: The Governor’s Son, with the Four Cohans; Montauk: The Way of the World, with Elsie De Wolf, John Mason, Sarah Cowell Lemoyne; Park: (Spooner Stock Company) The Amazons; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Lend Me Five Shillings, The Daughter of the Reservoir; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Brooklyn Academy of Music