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

Maude Adams in The Jesters.

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).

APRIL 1908

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

April 6-11:
Bijou: The Big Stick (Four Mortons)
Blaney’s: The Flaming Arrow*
Broadway: Classmates (Robert Edeson, Wallace Eddinger)
Columbia: Sweet Molly, O* (Dolly Kemper)
Folly: The Dancer and the King (Cecil Spooner)
Gotham: (P. G. Williams’ Stock Company) May Blossom
Grand Opera House: La Traviata (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: Lena Rivers (Beulah Poynter)
Montauk: The Jesters* (Maude Adams)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Ingomar
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Thelma
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Park, Royal

April 13-18:
Bijou: Happy Hooligan
Blaney’s: Sweet Molly O (Dolly Kemper)
Broadway: The Squaw Man (William Faversham)
Columbia: The Hired Girls’ Millions (Russell Brothers)
Folly: Lena Rivers (Beulah Poynter)
Gotham: (Percy G. Williams’ Stock Company) Leah, the Forsaken
Grand Opera House: The Bohemian Girl (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: Arizona
New Montauk: Lonesome Town* (C. William Kolb, Max M. Dill)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Heir to the Hoorah
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Young Wife
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Park, Royal

April 20-25:
Bijou: Montana* (Harry D. Carey)
Blaney’s: Our Cinderella* (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: The Hoyden* (Elsie Janis)
Columbia: The Boy Detective* (Harry Clay Blaney)
Folly: Arizona
Gotham: (P. G. Williams’ Stock Company) The Heart of Maryland
Majestic: Bandanna Land* (Walker and Williams)
New Montauk: Marrying Mary (Marie Cahill)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Heir of the Wallabout
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Park, Royal

April 27-May 2:
Bijou: Broadway After Dark
Blaney’s: A Nutmeg Match (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: Salomy Jane (Eleanor Robson)
Columbia: Kate Barton’s Temptation*
Folly: In Old Kentucky
Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) Blue Jeans
Majestic: George Washington, Jr.
New Montauk: The Talk of New York* (Victor Moore)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Hypocrites
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Queena