ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): JANUARY 1904

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).

JANUARY 1904

January 4-9: Amphion: Red Feather, with Grace Van Studdiford; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Will She Divorce Him?; Columbia: For His Brother’s Crime, with Montgomery Irving; Folly: Drink, with Charles Warner; Gotham: The Stain of Guilt; Grand Opera House: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “The Bells,” Richelieu, with Thomas E. Shea; Montauk: Cousin Kate, with Ethel Barrymore; Novelty: Nobody’s Claim; Park: Trinity Chimes; Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) Drifted Apart; Payton’s Lee Avenue: The Darling of the Gods, with Blanche Bates, George Arliss; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Dangers of Paris; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Watson’s, Orpheum; January 11-16: Amphion: Pretty Peggy, with Grace George; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Strangers in a Strange Land; Columbia: Paul Revere, with Richard Buhler; Folly: A Desperate Chance; Gotham: Too Proud to Beg; Grand Opera House: The Queen of the White Slaves; Montauk: The Office Boy, with Frank Daniels; Novelty: For His Brother’s Crime, with Montgomery Irving; Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) The Young Wife; Park: Rachel Goldstein; Payton’s Lee Avenue: Prof. Samri Baldwin, “The White Mahatma”; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Lost in New York; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Watson’s, Orpheum; January 18-23: Amphion: Carmen, Lohengrin, Il Trovatore, Tannhaeuser, Otello, The Bohemian Girl, with Henry W. Savage English Grand Opera Company; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Lady Betty’s Courtship; Columbia: Zaza, with Eugenie Blair; Folly: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “The Bells,” Richelieu, Banished by the King, with Thomas E. Shea; Gotham: Through Fire and Water; Grand Opera House: Arrah-na-Pogue; Montauk: The Pretty Sister of Jose, with Maude Adams; Novelty: Her First False Step; Park: A Working Girl’s Wrongs; Payton’s Fulton Street: Prof. Samri Baldwin, “The White Mahatma”; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Denise; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Heart of Stone; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Watson’s, Orpheum; 4. January 25-30: Amphion: The Triumph of an Empress, with Mildred Holland; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Camille; Columbia: McFadden’s Flats; Folly: The Worst Woman in London; Gotham: Driven from Home, with Patrice; Grand Opera House: Soldiers of Fortune; Montauk: The Man from Blankley’s, with Charles Hawtrey; Novelty: The Stain of Guilt; Park: The Game Keeper; Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) Prof. Sami Baldwin, “The White Mahatma”; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) My Friend from India; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Old Sleuth; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Watson’s, Orpheum