ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): OCTOBER 1899

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).

OCTOBER 1899

October 2-7:
Bijou: Two Little Vagrants (Mildred Holland)
Columbia: His Excellency, the Governor*
Gayety: Courted into Court* (Billy Clifford, Maud Huth)
Grand Opera House: A Wise Guy* (Edmund Hayes, Emily Lytton)
Montauk: Zaza* (Mrs. Leslie Carter)
Park: The Chimes of Normandy, Martha (Jaxon Opera Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire

October 9-14:
Bijou: Shore Acres
Columbia: Phroso* (Odette Tyler)
Gayety: A Wise Guy (Edmund Hayes, Emily Lytton)
Grand Opera House: The Last of the Rohans* (Andrew Mack)
Montauk: Zaza (Mrs. Leslie Carter)
Park: Il Trovatore (Jaxon Opera Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire

October 16-21:
Amphion: The Moth and the Flame (Herbert Kelcey, Effie Shannon)
Bijou: Hearts of Oak*
Columbia: The Musketeers* (James O’Neill)
Gayety: The Village Postmaster (Archie Boyd)
Grand Opera House: A Hot Old Time (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Park: Faust (Jaxon Opera Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire

October 23-28:
Amphion: The Musketeers (James O’Neill)
Bijou: Through the Breakers
Columbia: The Smugglers of Bayadez,* The Serenade, Rob Roy, Robin Hood (the Bostonians)
Gayety: A High Toned Burglar* (Dolan and Lenharr)
Grand Opera House: Courted into Court (Billie Clifford, Maud Huth)
Montauk: Rupert of Hentzau (James K. Hackett)
Park: H.M.S. Pinafore, Cavalleria Rusticana (Jaxon Opera Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire

October 30-November 4:
Amphion: The Cuckoo
Bijou: The Policy Players* (Bert Williams, George Walker)
Columbia: The Rounders* (Thomas Q. Seabrooke)
Gayety: The Last of the Rohans (Andrew Mack)
Montauk: The Little Minister (Maude Adams)
Park: Carmen (Jaxon Opera Company)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Grand Opera House