MAY-JUNE 1904

Brooklyn-born star Robert Edeson in Ranson's Folly.

This blog is dedicated to preserving a curated record of theatre-related images drawn from the digitized pages of the four chief Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine of 1898-1908. The sources, as they were called during these years: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times. At first, only Brooklyn Life provided photos, but as time passed the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned their photo-based etchings 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 not only leading players but 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 I’m preparing for publication, ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908); Vol. I (1898-1903), Vol. II (1903-1908).

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES (McFarland: 2024).

MAY 1904

May 2-7: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Lady from Laramie; Broadway: The Sign of the Cross; Columbia: Sapho, East Lynne, Camille, with Richard Buhler; Folly: Wedded but No Wife; Gotham: Queen of the Highway; Grand Opera House: The Peddler, with Joe Welch; Montauk: Ranson’s Folly, with Robert Edeson, Laura Hope Crews; Park: A Hidden Crime; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Payton’s Traveling Company; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) Little Lord Fauntleroy; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s, Novelty; May 9-14: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Adrienne Lecouvreur; Broadway: The Show Girl; Columbia: King of Detectives; Folly: Out of the Fold, with Sylvia Bidwell; Grand Opera House: Kellar, the magician; Montauk: Red Feather, with Grace Van Studdiford; Park: The Signal Lights of Port Arthur; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) The Crimes of New York; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety; Keeney’s: May 16-21: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Bachelor’s Romance; Broadway: The Governor’s Son, with the Four Cohans; Folly: Shadows of a Great City; Park: The Little Mother; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) Camille; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s, Columbia

1. May 2-7, 1904

2.      May 9-14, 1904

3.      May 16-21, 1904

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APRIL 1904

Viola Allen as Viola in Twelfth Night.

This blog is dedicated to preserving a curated record of theatre-related images drawn from the digitized pages of the four chief Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine of 1898-1908. The sources, as they were called during these years: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Standard Union, and Brooklyn Daily Times. At first, only Brooklyn Life provided photos, but as time passed the newspapers, beginning with the Citizen, abandoned their photo-based etchings 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 not only leading players but 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 I’m preparing for publication, ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908); Vol. I (1898-1903), Vol. II (1903-1908).

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES (McFarland: 2024).

APRIL 1904

April 4-9: Amphion: Way Down East; Association Hall: Everyman, with Ben Greet Players, Edith Wynne Matthison; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Our Red Riding Hood; Broadway: Week split between vaudeville and Whoop-De-Doo, with Weber and Fields, Lillian Russell, Louis Mann (Thurs, Friday, two on Saturday); Columbia: Cleopatra, with Melbourne MacDowell; Folly: A Midnight Marriage, with Florence Bindley; Gotham: Human Hearts; Grand Opera House: A Son of Rest; Montauk: Twelfth Night, with Viola Allen; Novelty: Queen of the Highway; Park: The Great Train Robbery; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Danites; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) Saved from the Sea; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s; April 11-16: Amphion: Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, with Bertha Galland; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Marie Antoinette; Broadway: The Fortune Teller; Columbia: The Village Postmaster; Folly: A Son of Rest, with Nat M. Wills; Gotham: The Man Who Dared, with Howard Hall; Grand Opera House: Sis Hopkins, with Rose Melville; Montauk: Glittering Gloria; Novelty: Across the Pacific, with Harry Clay Blaney; Park: Tracy the Bandit; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Two Orphans; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) The World against Her; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s; April 18-23: Amphion: The Battle of the Butterflies, with the Century Players; Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Good Fellow;Broadway: Arizona; Columbia: La Tosca, with Melbourne MacDowell; Folly: Queen of the White Slaves; Gotham: The Village Parson; Grand Opera House: An Irish Gentleman, with Andrew Mack; Montauk: Her Own Way, with Maxine Elliott; Novelty: The Two Sisters; Park: Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Lady of Lyons; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) The Dice of Death; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s; April 25-30: Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Hearts of the Blue Ridge; Broadway: Sky Farm; Columbia: The Prisoner of Zenda, with Richard Buhler; Folly: Terence, with Chauncey Olcott; Gotham: An Orphan’s Prayer; Grand Opera House: The Awakening of Mr. Pipp, with Charlie Grapewin; Montauk: The Proud Prince, with E.H. Sothern, Cecilia Loftus; Novelty: Human Hearts; Park: A Midnight Marriage, with Florence Bindley; Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Lost Paradise, Thelma, Michael Strogoff, The Two Colonels, Over the Hills to the Poorhouse, with a Corse Payton road company; Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Theatre) On the Stroke of Twelve; Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star, Novelty, Watson’s, Unique, Gayety, Keeney’s

1.      April 4-9, 1904

2.      April 11-16, 1904

3.      April 18-23, 1904

4.      April 25-30, 1904