ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): MAY-JUNE 1907

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).

MAY-JUNE 1907

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

May 6-11:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Duchess of Devonshire
Blaney’s Amphion: The Dancer and the King* (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: The Walls of Jericho (James K. Hackett)
Columbia: From Broadway to the Bowery*
Folly: Billy the Kid (Joseph Santley)
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) The Power of the Cross
Grand Opera House: The Two Orphans
Majestic: Buster Brown
New Montauk: Mrs. Warren’s Profession* (Mary Shaw)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Zaza
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Confessions of a Wife
Shubert: The Three of Us*
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

May 13-18:
Blaney’s Amphion: The Girl from Texas (Cecil Spooner)
Broadway: Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Mary Shaw)
Columbia: For a Human Life*
Folly: The Outlaw’s Christmas
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) Oliver Twist
Majestic: Eileen Asthore (Chauncey Olcott)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) When We Were Twenty-One
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The King of the Desert
Shubert: The Other Girl (Thomas W. Ross)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

May 20-25:
Blaney’s Amphion: His Terrible Secret; or, the Man-Monkey* (William H. Turner)
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) A Stranger in a Strange Land
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Carmen
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Little Outcast
Shubert: The White Hen* (Louis Mann, Louise Gunning, Lotta Faust)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

May 27-June 1:
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) Quo Vadis
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Mills of the Gods
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Lured from Home, or Fallen by the Wayside
Shubert: The Girl of the Golden West* (Blanche Bates)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Gayety, Star, Orpheum (comic opera season begins with Wang)

June 3-8:
Broadway: The Lion and the Mouse
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) The Silver King
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) East Lynne
Shubert: The Girl of the Golden West (Blanche Bates)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Gayety, Orpheum (Carmen)

June 10-15:
Broadway: About Town (Lew Fields, Peter F. Dailey, Blanche Ring, Louise Dressler)
Gotham: (Hal Clarendon Stock Company) The Octoroon
Orpheum: The Mikado
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Hearts Aflame

June 17-22:
Orpheum: The Chimes of Normandy