NOVEMBER 1906

 

Fritzie Scheff and William Pruette in M'lle Modiste.

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).

NOVEMBER 1906

 

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

 

November 5-10:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Young Wife
Blaney’s Amphion: The Gypsy Girl (Dolly Kemper)
Broadway: M’lle Modiste (Fritzi Scheff)
Columbia: Queen of the Convicts (Selma Herman)
Folly: Queen of the Highbinders
Grand Opera House: The Girl and the Gambler (Florence Bindley)
Majestic: The Old Homestead
New Montauk: Alice Sit-By-the-Fire (Ethel Barrymore)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Pudd’nhead Wilson

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Northfield Bank Robbery, or the Younger Brothers

Shubert: Julie Bon-Bon (Louis Mann, Clara Lipman)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

November 12-17:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Galley Slave
Blaney’s Amphion: Queen of the Convicts (Selma Herman)
Broadway: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Madge Carr Cook)
Columbia: At Cripple Creek
Folly: Home Folk
Grand Opera House: The Bells; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Othello (Thomas E. Shea)
Majestic: Red Feather
New Montauk: The Walls of Jericho (James K. Hackett)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Rupert of Hentzau
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company)
Shubert: Before and After (Leo Ditrichstein)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

November 19-24:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Out of the Fold
Blaney’s Amphion: A Southern Vendetta (Jessie May Hall)
Broadway: The Genius (Nat C. Goodwin)
Columbia: The Cow Puncher

Folly: “The Bells”; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Fool’s Revenge; Othello; Napoleon the Great (Thomas E. Shea)

Grand Opera House: A Midnight Escape
Majestic: Eileen Asthore (Chauncey Olcott)
New Montauk: Mamselle Sallie (Katy Barry, John Slavin)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Octoroon
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Life That Kills
Shubert: Mrs. Temple’s Telegram (William Morris, Harry Conor)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

November 26-December 1:
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Masque of the White Rose
Blaney’s Amphion: The Hall-Room Boys
Broadway: The Clansman
Columbia: The Phantom Detective
Folly: The Girl Raffles (Cecil Spooner)
Grand Opera House: Around the Clock (Ritchie London Comedy Company)
Majestic: Eileen Asthore (Chauncey Olcott)
New Montauk: The Vanderbilt Cup (Elsie Janis)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Blue Jeans (Etta Reed Payton)
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Silver King
Shubert: Brown of Harvard (Henry Woodruff)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

November 5-10, 1906

November 12-17, 1906

November 19-24, 1906

November 26-December 1, 1906