JANUARY 1908

 

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).

JANUARY 1908

 

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

January 6-11:
Bijou: Deadwood Dick’s Last Shot*
Blaney’s Amphion: Chinatown Charlie
Broadway: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Blanche Chapman)
Columbia: The Phantom Detective
Folly: The Wizard of Oz
Grand Opera House: Il Trovatore (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: O’Neill of Derry* (Chauncey Olcott)
Montauk: The Red Mill* (David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Three of Us
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Thorns and Orange Blossoms
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Gotham, Royal

January 13-18:
Bijou: And a Child Shall Lead Them* (Belle Jeanette)
Blaney’s Amphion: The Candy Kid (Ray Raymond)

Broadway: In Mizzoura; A Gilded Fool; An American Citizen; The Master Hand (Nat C. Goodwin

Columbia: The Boy with the Boodle* (Louisa Horner)
Folly: The Shoemaker (Lew Welch)
Grand Opera House: The Fortune Teller (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: Strongheart (Edgar Selwyn)
Montauk: My Wife* (John Drew, Billie Burke)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) A Lady of Quality
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Dangerous Women
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) ?
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham

January 20-25:
Bijou: The Lost Trail* (Frederick Smith)
Blaney’s Amphion: The Dancer and the King; The Girl Raffles (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: The Bondman* (Wilton Lackaye)
Columbia: A Fighting Chance*
Folly: Kellar, the Magician (Howard Thurston)
Grand Opera House: The Mikado (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: The Ham Tree (McIntyre and Heath)
Montauk: Salomy Jane* (Eleanor Robson)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Heart of Maryland
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) At Piney Ridge
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) ?
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham

January 27-February 1:
Bijou: Sapho
Blaney’s Amphion: The Card King of the Coast*
Broadway: Brewster’s Millions (Edward Abeles)
Columbia: The Curse of Drink
Folly: Since Nellie Went Away*
Grand Opera House: H.M.S. Pinafore (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: Kellar, the Magician (Howard Thurston)
Montauk: The Gay White Way* (Jefferson De Angelis, Blanche Ring, Alexander Carr)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Taken from Life
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Smugglers
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham

December 30-January 5, 1908

January 6-11, 1908

January 13-18, 1908

January 20-25, 1908

January 27-February 1, 1908