ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): DECEMBER 1903

Sir Henry Irving as Dante, Lena Ashwell as Pia. Painting by Edward King.

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).

DECEMBER 1903

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

November 30-December 5:
Amphion: The Tenderfoot* (Richard Carle)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Blue Letter*
Columbia: A Hot Old Time (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Folly: Our Bridget’s Dream (George W. Monroe)
Gotham: A Fight for Millions
Grand Opera House: A Prince of Tatters (Al H. Wilson)
Montauk: Mice and Men* (Annie Russell)
Novelty: A Human Slave*
Park: The Christian
Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) The Mantle of Charity*
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Octoroon
Phillips’s Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Convict’s Stripes
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Orpheum, Unique, Watson’s

December 7-12:
Amphion: Checkers* (Thomas W. Ross)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Lottery of Love
Columbia: The Wayward Son*
Folly: A Prince of Tatters (Al H. Wilson)
Gotham: On the Stroke of 12
Grand Opera House: The Old Homestead (Denman Thompson)
Montauk: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nat C. Goodwin)
Novelty: From Rags to Riches
Park: Ole Oleson (Ben Hendricks)
Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) Two Nights in Rome
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Monte Cristo
Phillips’s Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Buffalo Mystery
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Orpheum, Unique, Watson’s

December 14-19:
Bijou: Saratoga
Columbia: Alfonse and Gaston
Folly: A Ragged Hero
Grand Opera House: The Ninety and Nine*
Montauk: The Runaways* (Fay Templeton)
Novelty: A Fight for Millions
Palm Garden: (Rialto Stock Company) The Last Shot* (Thursday, December 17)
Park: Escaped from Sing Sing
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Mary, Queen of Scots*
Phillips’s Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Span of Life
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Orpheum, Unique, Watson’s

December 21-26:
Amphion: The Rogers Brothers in London (Rogers Brothers)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Sweet Nell of Old Drury
Columbia: Child Slaves of New York*
Folly: Wedded and Parted
Gotham: The Great White Diamond
Grand Opera House: The Worst Woman in London* (Nora Dunblane)
Montauk: Dante*; “Waterloo”; The Bells; The Merchant of Venice; Louis XI (Sir Henry Irving)
Novelty: Too Proud to Beg*
Park: Peck and His Mother-in-Law Abroad*
Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) The Prince of Liars
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) All the Comforts of Home
Phillips’s Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Beware of Men
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Orpheum, Unique, Watson’s

December 28-January 2:
Amphion: The Runaways (Fay Templeton)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Our Cinderella*
Columbia: To Be Buried Alive*
Folly: The Old Homestead (Denman Thompson)
Gotham: From Rags to Riches
Grand Opera House: Drink (Charles Warner)
Montauk: Three Little Maids* (Frohman and Edwardes’ London Musical Comedy Company)
Novelty: At Cripple Creek
Park: The Heart of a Hero
Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) Jim, the Penman
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Vanity Fair
Phillips’s Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Angel of the Alley
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Orpheum, Unique, Watson’s