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

Robert Loraine in Man and Superman.

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).

FEBRUARY 1906

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

February 5-10, 1906:
Bijou: The Lost Paradise (Spooner Stock Company)
Broadway: The Mayor of Tokio* (Richard Carle)
Folly: How Baxter Butted In (Sidney Toler)
Grand Opera House: How Hearts Are Broken*
Majestic: The Grafter* (Hap Ward)
New Montauk: Wonderland* (Lottie Faust)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: By Right of Sword (Payton Stock Company)
Phillips’ Lyceum: The African King (Lyceum Stock Company)
Shubert: The Bishop (D.H. Thompson)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial

February 12-17, 1906:
Bijou: The Village Postmaster (Spooner Stock Company)
Broadway: The Rollicking Girl* (Sam Bernard)
Folly: The Street Singer (Florence Bindley)
Grand Opera House: Behind the Mask*
Majestic: Dockstader’s Minstrels
New Montauk: Moonshine (Marie Cahill)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: The Still Alarm (Payton Stock Company; Etta Reed Payton)
Phillips’ Lyceum: The James Boys in Missouri (Lyceum Stock Company)
Shubert: The Prince Chap* (Cyril Scott)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial

February 19-24, 1906:
Bijou: The Wedding March (Spooner Stock Company)
Broadway: Her Great Match (Maxine Elliott)
Folly: Kellar, the magician
Grand Opera House: Texas (Mabel Dixey)
Majestic: Trilby (Wilton Lackaye)
New Montauk: Man and Superman* (Robert Loraine, Ida Conquest)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: A Romance of Coon’s Hollow (Payton Stock Company)
Phillips’ Lyceum: Jim Bludso (Lyceum Stock Company)
Shubert: Before and After* (Leo Ditrichstein)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial, Novelty

February 26-March 3, 1906:
Bijou: Never Again (Spooner Stock Company)
Broadway: The College Widow
Folly: Texas (Mabel Dixey, Charles D. Coburn)
Grand Opera House: The Volunteer Organist (Violet Houck)
Majestic: The Runaways (George “Honey Boy” Evans)
New Montauk: The Toast of the Town* (Viola Allen, Isabel Irving)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: Zaza (Payton Stock Company)
Phillips’ Lyceum: Dangers of Working Girls (Lyceum Stock Company)
Shubert: Old Lavender (Edward Harrigan)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial, Novelty