ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): JANUARY 1904

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).

JANUARY 1904

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

January 4-9:
Amphion: Red Feather* (Grace Van Studdiford)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Will She Divorce Him?
Columbia: For His Brother’s Crime* (Montgomery Irving)
Folly: Drink (Charles Warner)
Gotham: The Stain of Guilt*
Grand Opera House: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; “The Bells”; Richelieu (Thomas E. Shea)
Montauk: Cousin Kate* (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* (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 (Grace George)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Strangers in a Strange Land
Columbia: Paul Revere (Richard Buhler)
Folly: A Desperate Chance
Gotham: Too Proud to Beg
Grand Opera House: The Queen of the White Slaves*
Montauk: The Office Boy* (Frank Daniels)
Novelty: For His Brother’s Crime (Montgomery Irving)
Park: Rachel Goldstein
Payton’s Fulton Street: (Payton Fulton Street Stock Company) The Young Wife
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 (Henry W. Savage English Grand Opera Company\

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Lady Betty’s Courtship*

Columbia: Zaza (Eugenie Blair)

Folly: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; “The Bells”; Richelieu; Banished by the King* (Thomas E. Shea)

Gotham: Through Fire and Wate

Grand Opera House: Arrah-na-Pogue

Montauk: The Pretty Sister of Jose* (Maude Adams

Novelty: Her First False Ste

Park: A Working Girl’s Wrong

Payton’s Fulton Street: Prof. Samri Baldwin, “The White Mahatma

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Denise

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Heart of StoneVaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Gayety, Unique, Watson’s, Orpheu

January 25-30:
Amphion: The Triumph of an Empress* (Mildred Holland)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Camille
Columbia: McFadden’s Flats
Folly: The Worst Woman in London
Gotham: Driven from Home* (Patrice)
Grand Opera House: Soldiers of Fortune
Montauk: The Man from Blankley’s* (Charles Hawtrey)
Novelty: The Stain of Guilt
Park: The Game Keeper*