ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): DECEMBER 1906

Robert Mantell as Richard III.

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).

DECEMBER 1906

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

December 3-8:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Moths
Blaney’s Amphion: At the World’s Mercy*
Broadway: The Prince of India*
Columbia: While ’Frisco Burns*
Folly: Eileen Asthore (Chauncey Olcott)
Grand Opera House: The Volunteer Organist
Majestic: Down the Pike (Johnny and Emma Ray)
New Montauk: Cymbeline (Viola Allen)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Life of Dora Thorne
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Train Robbers
Shubert: The Shulamite;* Mrs. Dane’s Defense (Lena Ashwell)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

December 10-15:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company)
Blaney’s Amphion: The Phantom Detective
Broadway: Alice Sit-by-the-Fire (Ethel Barrymore)
Columbia: When Girls Leave Home
Folly: Around the Clock (William Ritchie’s London Comedy Company)
Grand Opera House: Confessions of a Wife*
Majestic: Rufus Rastus (Ernest Hogan)
New Montauk: Caesar and Cleopatra (Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Gertrude Elliott)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Under Two Flags
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Hoodman Blind
Shubert: The Tourists*
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

December 17-22:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Scrap of Paper
Blaney’s Amphion: Big Hearted Jim*
Broadway: Brigadier Gerard* (Kyrle Bellew, Ida Conquest)
Columbia: The Governor’s Pardon*
Folly: Rufus Rastus (Ernest Hogan)
Grand Opera House: A Desperate Chance
Majestic: The Girl from Broadway* (Grace Edmond)
New Montauk: King Richard III; Othello; Hamlet; King Lear; Macbeth; The Merchant of Venice (Robert Mantell, Marie Booth Russell)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Othello
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Child Wife
Shubert: Taps; Hamlet (John E. Kellerd)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

December 24-29:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Aladdin and His Magic Lamp
Blaney’s Amphion: The Burglar’s Daughter
Broadway: Clothes* (Grace George)
Columbia: The Curse of Drink
Folly: The Girl and the Gambler (Florence Bindley)
Grand Opera House: Behind the Mask*
Majestic: Arrah-na-Pogue (Andrew Mack)
New Montauk: His House in Order* (John Drew)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Midnight Bell
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Night Before Christmas
Shubert: The Love Route*
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty