ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): MARCH 1901

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).

MARCH 1901

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

March 4-9:

Amphion: Quo Vadis
Bijou: A Guilty Mother
Columbia: A Runaway Girl
Criterion: Why Smith Left Home (Baker Stock Company)
Gayety: Lost River
Grand Opera House: A Wise Guy
Montauk: ‘Way Down East
Park: The Wages of Sin (Spooner Stock Company)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: The Ensign (Payton Stock Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty, Orpheum, Grand Opera House

March 11-16:

Amphion: Arizona
Bijou: Reaping the Whirlwind*
Criterion: A Celebrated Case (Baker Stock Company)
Gayety: Shore Acres
Grand Opera House: The Great Kellar, Magician
Montauk: Richard Carvel* (John Drew)
Park: Trilby (Spooner Stock Company)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: Camille; or, the Fate of a Coquette (Payton Stock Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum

March 18-23:

Amphion: Way Down East
Bijou: The Silver King
Columbia: Lady Huntworth’s Experiment* (Hilda Spong, Daniel Frohman’s Company)
Criterion: What Happened to Jones (Baker Stock Company)
Gayety: Across the Pacific (Harry Clay Blaney)
Grand Opera House: Shore Acres
Montauk: Richard Carvel (John Drew)
Park: Fanchon, the Cricket; East Lynne (Spooner Stock Company)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: A Flag of Truce (Payton Stock Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum

March 25-30:

Amphion: Henry V; A Parisian Romance; The First Violin; Beau Brummel; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Richard Mansfield)
Bijou: The Convict’s Daughter
Columbia: The Governor’s Son* (the Four Cohans)
Criterion: Alabama (Baker Stock Company)
Gayety: The Little Minister
Grand Opera House: Barbara Frietchie (Effie Ellsler)
Montauk: Sweet Nell of Old Drury (Ada Rehan)
Park: The War of Wealth (Spooner Stock Company)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: The Plunger; East Lynne (Payton Stock Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum