A HISTORY OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE: ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY (1898-1908): OCTOBER 1898

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 A HISTORY OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE: ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY (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).

OCTOBER 1898

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

October 3-8

Amphion: Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Carmen, The Masked Ball, Faust, Il Trovatore (Royal Italian Opera Company)

Bijou: The School for Scandal, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth (Louis James, Frederick Warde, Katherine Kidder

Columbia: The Idol’s Eye (Frank Daniel

Gayety: West’s Minstrelsy

Montauk: The Bride Elect*

Grand Opera House: Natural Gas

Park: Lost in New York

Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star

October 10-15:
Amphion: The Meddler (Stuart Robson)
Bijou: Shall We Forgive Her?,* East Lynne (Marie Wainwright)
Columbia: The Tree of Knowledge (James K. Hackett)
Gayety: Natural Gas
Grand Opera House: Tempest Tossed*
Montauk: A Virginia Courtship (William H. Crane)
Park: Confusion
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star

October 17-22:
Amphion: The Belle of New York (Dan Daly)
Bijou: In Old Kentucky
Columbia: The Serenade, Robin Hood (the Bostonians)
Gayety: Tempest Tossed
Grand Opera House: Monte Cristo, When Greek Meets Greek* (James O’Neill)
Montauk: Uncle Dick* (Sol Smith Russell)
Park (Park Stock Company): All the Comforts of Home
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star

October 24-29:
Amphion: War Correspondent* (Burr McIntosh)
Bijou: John Martin’s Secret*
Columbia: The Old Homestead (Denman Thompson)
Gayety: Monte Cristo, When Greek Meets Greek (James O’Neill)
Grand Opera House: A Hot Old Time (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Montauk: Cyrano de Bergerac* (Ada Rehan, Charles Richman)
Park: All the Comforts of Home
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star