NOVEMBER 1905

This blog is dedicated to preserving a record of Brooklyn theatre history and theatre-related images based largely on coverage in the nearly half-dozen daily Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine (Brooklyn Life) of 1898-1908. It is a vastly expanded, upgraded, and corrected version of my blog, BROOKLYN THEATRE FROM 1898: AN ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY, which is gradually being dismantled as this one is being constructed. It covers everything related to Brooklyn theatre, including plays, playhouses, productions, people, producing policies, scandals, law suits, 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. 

The main newspaper sources, using the names by which they were known during these years, were the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times; occasionally, other local sources were called on. At first, only Brooklyn Life provided photos, but as time passed the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned their photo-based engravings 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 both leading players and 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 of the same title I’m preparing for publication. 

To find a specific item, please use the search box in the upper left corner. You ca also go to a particular month by searching for it, i.e., February 1905. The project hopes to be complete sometime in 2026 when it reaches 1908. 

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES (McFarland: 2024).

NOVEMBER 1905 

November 6-11:

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Robert Emmet

Broadway: Little Johnny Jones, with George M. Cohan

Folly: Girls Will Be Girls, with Al Leech

Grand Opera House: Edmund Burke, with Chauncey Olcott

Majestic: Checkers, with Hans Robert

New Montauk: The Pearl and the Pumpkin

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Village Postmaster

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Her Mad Marriage

Shubert-Park: Sweet Kitty Bellairs, with Bertha Galland (opened Saturday, November 4)

Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Amphion, Unique, Nassau, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Gotham, Alcazar, Keeney’s 

November 13-18:

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Nutmeg Match

Broadway: Rip Van Winkle, with Thomas Jefferson                      

Folly: Queen of the Highbinders

Grand Opera House: Napoleon the Great, Richelieu, “The Bells,” Othello, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Thomas E. Shea

Majestic: In New York*

New Montauk: The College Widow,* with Frances Ring

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Price of Honor

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Worst Woman in London

Shubert-Park: The Genius and the Model*

Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Amphion, Unique, Nassau, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Gotham, Alcazar, Keeney’s 

November 20-25:

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall

Broadway: David Garrick, The Brighter Side, The Middleman, The Fool’s Revenge, The Professor’s Love Story, Tom Pinch, with E.S. Willard

Folly: Napoleon the Great, Richelieu, “The Bells,” Othello, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Thomas E. Shea

Grand Opera House: Me, Him and I
Imperial: (stock company) Lord and Lady Algy

Majestic: The Belle of the West,* with Florence Bindley

New Montauk: Mrs. Leffingwell’s Boots*

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) More Than Queen

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Girl Engineer

Shubert-Park: Mrs. Temple’s Telegram, with William Morris

Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Amphion, Unique, Nassau, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Gotham, Alcazar, Keeney’s, Garden 

November 27-December 2: 

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Wife

Broadway: The Pearl and the Pumpkin

Folly: Me, Him and I

Grand Opera House: Simple Simon Simple

Imperial: (stock company) Lord and Lady Algy

Majestic: Down the Pike, with Johnny and Emma Ray

New Montauk: Miss Dolly Dollars,* with Lulu Glaser

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Arrah-na-Pogue

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Why Girls Go Wrong

Shubert-Park: The Winning Girl*

Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Amphion, Unique, Nassau, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Gotham, Alcazar, Keeney’s 

  November 6-11, 1905

November 13-18, 1905

November 20-25, 1905.

November27-December 2, 1905