ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): DECEMBER 1899

This site remains under construction as new images are provided.

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.

DECEMBER 1899

December 4-9: Amphion: Who Killed Cock Robin?, with Thomas Q. Seabrooke; Bijou: A Romance of Athlone, with Chauncey Olcott; Columbia The Old Homestead, with Denman Thompson; Grand Opera House: Superba; Montauk: A Rich Man’s Son, with William H. Crane; Park: Erminie, with American Standard Opera Company; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire; December 11-16: Amphion: Cyrano de Bergerac, with Francis Wilson; Bijou: The Gunner’s Mate; Columbia: A Stranger in a Strange Land; Gayety: Superba; Grand Opera House: Secret Service; Montauk: The Girl in the Barracks, with Louis Mann and Clara Lipman; Park: Erminie, with American Standard Opera Company; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire; December 18-23: Bijou: A Trip to Coontown, with Cole and Johnson; Columbia: The Sign of the Cross, with William Greet’s London Company and Charles Dalton; Gayety: Sis Hopkins, with Rose Melville; Grand Opera House: The Rising Generation, with Billy Barry; Montauk: More Than Queen, with Julia Arthur; Park: Girofle Girofla, with American Standard Opera Company; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire; December 25-30: Amphion: Because She Loved Him So, with J.E. Dodson; Bijou: The Queen of Chinatown; Brooklyn Academy of Music: Becky Sharp, with Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske; Columbia: The Christian, with Viola Allen; Gayety: A Stranger in a Strange Land; Grand Opera House: Hyde’s Comedians; Montauk: The Tyranny of Tears, with John Drew; Park: Iolanthe, with American Standard Opera Company; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Grand Opera House