Tuesday, September 15, 2026

NOVEMBER 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).

NOVEMBER 1907                              

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

November 4-9:
Bijou: The Ninety and Nine (Bayone Whipple)
Blaney’s Amphion: The Rocky Mountain Express*
Broadway: The Spring Chicken (Richard Carle)
Columbia: A Millionaire’s Revenge
Folly: At Yale (Leila Dell Lennon)
Majestic: The Umpire* (Joseph Whitehead)
Montauk: The Straight Road* (Blanche Walsh)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Sag Harbor
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Ruled Off the Turf
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) ?
Shubert: The Girl of the Golden West (Blanche Bates)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham

November 11-16:
Bijou: The Gambler of the West
Blaney’s Amphion: The Cowboy and the Squaw
Broadway: Mary’s Lamb* (Harry Conor)
Columbia: The Four Corners of the Earth
Folly: The Ninety and Nine (Bayone Whipple)
Majestic: King Casey* (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Montauk: Anna Karenina* (Virginia Harned)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Siberia
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Woman’s Struggle
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) Macbeth (November 15, 16)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Lubin’s Park

November 18-23:
Bijou: Around the Clock
Blaney’s Amphion: Custer’s Last Fight
Broadway: The Ranger* (Dustin Farnum, Mary Boland)
Columbia: A Midnight Escape
Folly: Patsy in Politics (Billy B. Van)
Majestic: The Power that Governs* (Creston Clarke)
Montauk: The Road to Yesterday (Minnie Dupree)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) The Prodigal Son
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) By Right of Sword
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) Macbeth (November 19, 20)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Lubin’s Park

November 25-30:
Bijou: Convict 999
Blaney’s Amphion: Eight Bells (the Byrne Brothers)
Broadway: The Parisian Model (Anna Held)
Columbia: The Life of an Actress* (Leila Dell Lennon)
Folly: King Casey (Johnny and Emma Ray)
Majestic: The Old Homestead
Montauk: When Knights Were Bold* (Francis Wilson)
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Stock Company) Mistress Nell
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) At the World’s Mercy
Royal Italian: (Maiori Stock Company) ?
Shubert: (Clarendon Stock Company) The Love Route

Vaudeville/burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Novelty, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Grand Opera House, Gotham, Lubin’s Park

May 4-9, 1908











Bijou: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Campbell Stratton

Blaney’s: The Girl and the Detective, with Cecil Spooner

Broadway: The Parisian Model, with Anna Held

Columbia: Dora Thorne, with Corinne Snell

Folly: The County Fair, with Neil Burgess

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) The Plunger

Majestic: Buster Brown

Montauk: The Top o’ the World, with George W. Monroe

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Road to Yesterday

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Strange Adventures of Mrs. Brown

Vaudeville and burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Park

May 11-16, 1908















Bijou: Human Hearts

Broadway: Sapho, Carmen, with Olga Nethersole 

Folly: (shifts to vaudeville)

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) Shore Acres

Majestic: The Bishop’s Carriage, with Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Old Heidelberg

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Princess of Patches 

Vaudeville and burlesque: Keeney’s, Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety, Folly

May 18-23, 1908















Broadway: The Clansman

Folly: Bandanna Land, with Williams and Walker

Gotham: (Fuller Stock Company) Anna Karenina

Majestic: The Three of Us, Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Zira

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Slaves of Russia

Vaudeville and burlesque: Olympic, Orpheum, Star, Gayety

May 25-31, 1908














Broadway: The Man of the Hour

Majestic: The Governor and the Boss, with Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Girl from Williamsburg

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Parish Priest

Vaudeville and burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

June 2-7, 1908










Majestic: The Marriage of William Ashe, with Edna May Spooner

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Pearl of Savoy, with Corse Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Nobody’s Darling, with Madeleine Clark

Vaudeville and burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

June 9-14, 1908





Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Brown of Harvard

Vaudeville and burlesque: Orpheum, Star, Gayety

A few additional summertime beach resort amusement photos for 1908.






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