ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): APRIL 1905

Minnie Maddern Fiske

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).

APRIL 1905

April 3-8: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Girl I Left Behind Me; Broadway: The Second Fiddle, with Louis Mann; Columbia: (American Stock Company) The Octoroon; Folly: Busy Izzy, with George Sidney; Gotham: Her First False Step; Grand Opera House: Terence; Majestic: The Wizard of Oz, with Montgomery and Stone; Montauk: Woodland; Novelty: The Village Parson; Park: On the Suwanee River; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Faust; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Why He Divorced Her; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Nassau, Star, Keeney’s, Amphion, Garden; April 10-15: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Aristocracy; Broadway: Babes in Toyland; Columbia: (American Stock Company) Faust; Folly: Siberia; Gotham: Queen of the Highway; Grand Opera House: How He Won Her; Majestic: Lew Dockstader’s Minstrels; Montauk: The Little Minister; Novelty: Wedded and Parted; Park: No Wedding Bells for Her; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Texas Steer; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Alone in the World; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Nassau, Star, Keeney’s, Amphion, Garden; April 17-22: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Wages of Sin; Broadway: Little Johnny Jones, with George M. Cohan; Columbia: (American Stock Company) All for a Woman; Folly: Desperate Chance; Gotham: The Gypsy Girl, with Dolly Kemper; Grand Opera House: The New Eight Bells; Majestic: In Dahomey, with Williams and Walker; Montauk: Higgledy Piggledy, The College Widow, with Weber Star Stock Company, Marie Dressler, Trixie Friganza; Novelty: The Span of Life;

Park: A Little Outcast; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Royal Slave; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Deserted at the Altar; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s, Amphion, Garden; April 24-29: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Jack and the Beanstalk; Broadway: A Message from Mars, with Charles Hawtrey; Columbia: (American Stock Company) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Folly: Wedded, but No Wife, with Selma Herman; Gotham: The Village Parson; Grand Opera House: Sis Hopkins, with Rose Melville; Majestic: In Dahomey, with Williams and Walker; Montauk: King Richard III, The Misanthrope, Ivan the Terrible, Beau Brummel, A Parisian Romance, The Merchant of Venice, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde, with Richard Mansfield; Novelty: Human Hearts; Park: The Curse of Drink; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Pearl of Savoy; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Working Girl’s Wrongs; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s, Amphion, Garden