ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): JANUARY 1903

Charmion, a controversial trapeze artist who did an aerial striptease from conventional Victorian streetwear to a leotard. She appeared this month at the Gayety.

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 adjunJct 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).

JANUARY 1903

January 5-10: Amphion: Notre Dame, with Bertha Galland; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Mam’zelle; Blaney’s: (Blaney’s All-Star Stock Company) The Factory Girl; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) La Tosca, with Melbourne McDowell, Florence Stone; Folly: Eight Bells, with the Byrne Brothers; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The Three Guardsmen; Grand Opera House: Robert Emmet; the Days of 1803, with Brandon Tynan; Montauk: The Stubbornness of Geraldine, with Mary Mannering; Park: The Road to Ruin; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Northern Lights; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Theatre Company) Man’s Enemy; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique; January 12-17: Amphion: The Mocking Bird, with Mabelle Gilman; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) At Old Fort Lookout; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) Giaconda, with Melbourne McDowell, Florence Stone; Folly: A Prince of Tatters, with Al H. Wilson; Grand Opera House: The Old Homestead, with Denman Thompson; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) On the Wabash; Montauk: The Crisis, with James K. Hackett; Novelty: Nobody’s Claim; Park: A Desperate Chance; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Night Off; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Theatre Company) Lady Nell; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum; January 19-24: Amphion: A Modern Magdalen, with Amelia Bingham; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Thoroughbred; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) The Empress Theodora, with Melbourne McDowell, Florence Stone; Folly: The Volunteer Organist; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) The Lost Paradise; Grand Opera House: Lost River; Montauk: The Cardinal, The Middleman, All for Her, David Garrick, Tom Pinch, with E.S. Willard; Novelty: Looping the Loop; Park: A Gambler’s Daughter; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Under Two Flags; Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company), A Royal Family; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Theatre Company) The Musketeers; Vaudeville/ burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum; January 26-January 31: Amphion: Mrs. Jack, with Alice Fischer; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Buckeye; Columbia: (Greenwall Stock Company) Fedora, with Malcolm McDowell, Florence Stone; Folly: Robert Emmet; the Days of 1803, with Brandon Tynan; Gotham: (Elite Stock Company) Held by the Enemy; Grand Opera House: Old Limerick Town, with Chauncey Olcott; Montauk: Imprudence, with William Faversham; Novelty: The Little Church Around the Corner; Park: The Scout’s Revenge; Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) The Planter’s Wife; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Gold Mine; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Theatre Company) The Diamond Breaker; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum