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

MARCH 1908

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

March 2-7, 1908
Bijou: Panhandle Pete*
Blaney’s: Little Heroes of the Street*
Broadway: The Lion and the Mouse (Edmund Breese)
Columbia: Parted on Her Bridal Tour
Folly: The Volunteer Organist
Grand Opera House: Carmen (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: The Big Stick* (Four Mortons)
New Montauk: The Squaw Man (William Faversham)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Undesirable Citizen
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Dora Thorne
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Park, Royal

March 9-14, 1908
Bijou: Bedford’s Hope
Blaney’s: The Phantom Detective
Broadway: Fifty Miles from Boston* (Edna Wallace Hopper)
Columbia: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (W. H. Martin’s Company)
Folly: The Big Stick (Four Mortons)
Grand Opera House: Rigoletto (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: The Vanderbilt Cup (Genevieve Victoria)
New Montauk: The Morals of Marcus* (Marie Doro, C. Aubrey Smith)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Held by the Enemy
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Wife for Wife
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Park, Royal

March 16-21, 1908
Bijou: McFadden’s Flats
Blaney’s: The Outlaw’s Christmas
Broadway: Caught in the Rain (William Collier)
Columbia: Young Buffalo, King of the Wild West
Folly: The Vanderbilt Cup (Genevieve Victoria)
Grand Opera House: Aida (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: His Last Dollar (David Higgins)
New Montauk: Her Sister* (Ethel Barrymore)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) An Enemy to the King
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Pawn Ticket No. 210
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Park, Royal

March 23-28, 1908
Bijou: Under Southern Skies
Blaney’s: Anita, the Singing Girl* (Agnes Cameron)

Broadway: Macbeth, Richard III, Richelieu, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello (Robert Mantell, Marie Booth Russell)

Columbia: The Outlaw’s Christmas
Folly: His Last Dollar (David K. Higgins)
Grand Opera House: Lucia di Lammermoor (Aborn Opera Company)
Majestic: Wine, Woman and Song (Bonita

New Montauk: Sapho, Carmen, The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, “The Enigma,”* “The Showman’s Wife,”* Camille (Olga Nethersole)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Woman in the Case
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Christian
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Park, Royal

March 30-April 4, 1908
Bijou: Billy the Kid (Joseph Santley)
Blaney’s: The Hired Girl’s Millions* (John and James Russell)
Broadway: The Rogers Brothers in Panama (Rogers Brothers)
Columbia: The Two Orphans (Helen Ormsbee)
Folly: Broadway After Dark
Grand Opera House: Fra Diavolo (Aborn Opera Company)
Gotham: (P. G. Williams’ Stock Company) Sapho
Majestic: Wine, Woman and Song (Bonita)
New Montauk: Classmates* (Robert Edeson, Wallace Eddinger)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Mrs. Temple’s Telegram
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Drunkard’s Daughter