ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): OCTOBER 1904

Brooklyn-born Walter Hampden (born Dougherty), future star, at 25.

News of his London success reached Brooklyn this month, although he would not be seen on a Brooklyn stage until January 1909 when he appeared in The Servant in the House at the New Montauk.

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 1904

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

October 3-8:
Amphion: (Spooner Stock Company #2) That Girl from Texas* (Cecil Spooner)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company #1) Romeo and Juliet (Edna May Spooner)
Broadway: The Road to Kenmare* (Andrew Mack)
Columbia: (Columbia Stock Company) Mrs. Jack
Folly: A Prisoner of War
Gotham: Shadows of a Great City
Grand Opera House: Wedded and Parted
Majestic: Girls Will Be Girls* (Al Leech, Three Rosebuds)
Montauk: The Maid and the Mummy
Novelty: Why Women Sin
Park: Why Girls Leave Home
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Christian
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Flag of Truce
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Orpheum, Gayety, Keeney’s

October 10-15:
Amphion: (Spooner Stock Company #2) When Knighthood Was in Flower (Edna May Spooner)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company #1) A Night at the Circus (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: The Secret of Polichinelle*
Columbia: (Columbia Stock Company) Thelma
Folly: Two Little Sailor Boys*
Gotham: The Charity Nurse
Grand Opera House: The Street Singer*
Majestic: King Dodo

Montauk: Othello; Carmen; Il Trovatore; Lohengrin; La Bohème; Tannhäuser; I Pagliacci (Savage Grand Opera Company)

Novelty: Deserted at the Altar
Park: Child Slaves of New York
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Galley Slave
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Forbidden Marriage
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Orpheum, Gayety, Keeney’s

October 17-22:
Amphion: (Spooner Stock Company #2) A Night at the Circus (Cecil Spooner)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company #1) In the Palace of the King (Edna May Spooner)
Broadway: The Earl of Pawtucket (Lawrence D’Orsay)
Columbia: (Columbia Stock Company) The Three Musketeers
Folly: King Dodo
Gotham: From Rags to Riches (Joseph Santley)
Grand Opera House: David Harum
Majestic: Shore Acres (Mrs. James A. Herne)
Montauk: The Admirable Crichton (William Gillette)
Novelty: A Fight for Love (Bob Fitzsimmons)
Park: Lighthouse by the Sea
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Cumberland, ’61
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Captain Impudence
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Orpheum, Gayety, Keeney’s

October 24-29:
Amphion: (Spooner Stock Company #2) In the Palace of the King (Edna May Spooner)
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company #1) The Charity Waif (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: The Virginian (Dustin Farnum)
Columbia: (Columbia Stock Company) Jim Bludso
Folly: More to Be Pitied Than Scorned* (Lydia Powell)
Gotham: Kidnapped in New York (Barney Gilmore)
Grand Opera House: The Female Detectives (Russell Brothers)
Majestic: Down the Pike* (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Montauk: The Yankee Consul* (Raymond Hitchcock)
Novelty: Why Girls Leave Home
Park: Her Mad Marriage*
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Children of the Ghetto
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Fallen Among Thieves
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Orpheum, Gayety, Keeney’