1906: OCTOBER

October 1906 saw several noteworthy theatrical happenings in Brooklyn. On the performance front, the usual contingent of well-known stars who shone with varying degrees of brightness arrived, some in the vehicles and character types to which they owed their fame, some in new additions to their growing repertory. They included Frank Daniels, Eva Tanguay, Fritzi Scheff, Joe Weber, Marie Dressler, James J. Corbett. Virginia Harned, Cecil Spooner, and Annie Russell, among others. The most interesting for our purposes are the latter two. But first, this.

On October Brooklyn Life took issue with the way star actors were handled so brazenly as objects of merchandise when their services were being sold. Ticket prices for the same actors, it was noted, ran up and down just like items in the stores, the prices rarely having any relation to intrinsic value. E.H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe, leading Shakespeareans, charged three dollars at the Montauk but were “knocked down” later in the season to a dollar and a half at the Broadway.  E.S. Willard’s price in Hartford was a dollar and a half, then a dollar at New York’s Grand Opera House (not Brooklyn’s), but then raised to two dollars a week later at the Montauk: three weeks, three different prices. Maxine Elliott charged two dollars at the Montauk before charging a dollar and a half at the Broadway. Arnold Daly may have said it was beneath him to play for less than two dollars in Philadelphia, but he charged a dollar and a half in Brooklyn. And so on, with more examples. “In short, it is not a question of quality but of what the public can be bulldozed into paying.” 

The writer insisted that very few current stars on American stages were worth two dollars, their salaries far exceeding their merit; most deserved to charge no more than a dollar and could adjust their extravagant expenditures accordingly. If theatergoers resisted the overcharging for a season or two, says the article, they would need “a powerful telescope to find in the theatrical firmament certain ‘stars’ who now fancy themselves planets.”

Cecil Spooner’s name will be familiar to readers who recall when she and her sister, Edna May Spooner, had costarred in Brooklyn as leading ladies for their mother’s Spooner Stock Company, mostly at the Bijou, for half a dozen years, performing countless roles in weekly stock. Each gained large followings among the local population, who were said to be afflicted with “Spooneritis.” Cecil had tried going out on her own as a touring star a couple of years earlier, but had returned when her career stumbled. She was now on her own again, while her sister monopolized leading roles at the Bijou.

Cecil brought her play, The Girl Raffles, to the Majestic for a two-week run, which did good business, her presence being deemed a “homecoming.” The play was a “musical melodrama,” set in New York, with the actress playing a mysterious girl called Raffles (the same name as that of a popular male stage character of the day), who helps her crooked uncle in his Lower East Side curio shop. There she gets involved with high life crooks and a handsome young detective who falls for her. Raffles eventually discovers she’s the daughter of the wealthy Lord Randolph, etcetera and so forth, as per the conventions of so much similar claptrap. But it gave Cecil plenty of opportunities for dancing and singing, supported by a large chorus of “comely maidens.”  

The other prominent actor-related news of the month concerned a revival of A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring Annie Russell. However, rather than playing one of the lovers, like Hermia, normally assigned to a leading actress, she undertook Puck. Although some actresses had played Puck in the past, the boyish role was still typically played by males (unlike today when female Pucks are common). Also, women who had played Puck were usually petite, given the tradition that he is a kind of elf. Russell, by comparison, was considered large, yet, as the Citizen rejoiced (October 23), “she is so delightfully elfish in manner, so thoroughly a sprite, that she quickly convinces the most critical of the audience of the naturalness and the success of her impersonation.” And the Standard Union added, “The conception of Puck, as a bat-winged, mouse-eared, fawn-like tricksy spirit is as original as it is quaint and delightful.” Russell's, in fact, was praised as the best performance in a production whose actors too often made mush out of Shakespeare’s lines.

The play that made news this month was The Kreutzer Sonata. Actually, I should say “the title,” as two plays by that name were presented in Brooklyn. This was when there was a big hubbub about the English version of Jacob Gordin, Yiddish playwright (and Brooklyn resident) as to which of two famous actresses, Bertha Kalich—who had given it at New York’s Lyric Theatre—or Blanche Walsh had the rights to do it. A loose adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name, adapted for Jewish characters, it was widely regarded as one of the more powerful tragic dramas of the day, although some found its depiction of lust morally rank. Both actresses gave strong performances, but Walsh, who had premiered it at the Manhattan Theatre, won the legal battle to its rights. Bertha Kalich had been scheduled to bring her version to the Shubert this month; it never happened. Meanwhile, Walsh brought hers to the New Montauk on October 13. 

On the other hand, a week earlier another Kreutzer Sonata opened at the Bijou, starring Edna May Cooper. This, however, was a new play by a local actress, Ullie Ackerstrom, who had made a more direct, non-Jewish, adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel. It insisted it was not another version of the Gordin play, with which it had “only a purely coincidental connection,” as Brooklyn Life reported.

Regardless of provenance, both Kreutzer Sonatas managed to fill seats despite the Standard Union declaring that “Brooklyn is not celebrated among cities for being a devotee to drama, although melodrama, and rural plays ever find a welcome.”  

News pertaining to the theatres was mainly concerned with Phillips’ Lyceum, in Williamsburg, catching fire and sustaining $25,000 in damages. On October 14, manager Phillips posted a note to his patrons in the Standard Union: “Fire from the adjoining [factory] building on Johnson Avenue has completely destroyed the roof of the stage only. The scenery has been damaged by water. The rest of the theatre is in perfect condition. Repairs and alterations now in progress. Will reopen in a few days. Money will be returned to patrons holding tickets.” It was actually about two weeks before the place reopened, but that was faster than one might have expected.

The fire broke out during a stock company rehearsal involving the entire company, none of whom was harmed. When the upper portion of the stage burst into flames, Phillips sliced the rope of the asbestos curtain with his pocket knife, which brought it down swiftly, saving the playhouse.  

Theatre managements in the news were not uncommon, especially when someone got in trouble for violating some statute or other. It might have been a fire regulation, for example, or perhaps the presentation of one of those so-called “sacred concerts” on Sunday nights that were endemic during these blue laws period. As we’ve seen, these concerts were really vaudeville shows using the concert loophole to earn money. This was the case in October with Blaney’s Amphion when Morris S. Schlesinger was arraigned for violating Section 277 of the Penal Code for allowing performers to appear in costume, something that was proscribed. When the manager admitted to having Sunday concerts, Magistrate O’Reilly of the Lee Avenue Court responded: “I do not think it a very nice spectacle to see little children waiting in front of the theater to get in. I think that six days in the week is sufficient in which to provide shows fer the public.” A hearing was set for November, and Schlesinger would be joined at it by another naughty manager, Charles Williams of the Novelty.

October 1-6, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Belle of Richmond

Blaney’s Amphion: A Bad Man from Mexico, with Walter Wilson

Broadway: As Ye Sow

Columbia: A Race for Life

Folly: The Ninety and Nine

Grand Family: The Sign of the Four

Grand Opera House: The Burglar’s Daughter

Majestic: The Girl Raffles, with Cecil Spooner

New Montauk: M’lle Modiste, with Fritzi Scheff

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Prodigal Son, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Queen of the Highway

Shubert: The Social Whirl, with Adele Ritchie

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty, Family 

October 8-13, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Stubbornness of Geraldine

Blaney’s Amphion: Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl

Broadway: The College Widow, with Evelyn Vaughan

Columbia: The Gypsy Girl, with Dolly Kemper

Folly: Breaking into Society, with the Four Mortons

Grand Family: The Black Hand

Grand Opera House: The Gambler of the West

Majestic: The Girl Raffles, with Cecil Spooner

New Montauk: The Kreutzer Sonata, with Blanche Walsh 

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Darkest Russia

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Gambler’s Daughter

Shubert:  Veronique, the Flower Girl, with Louise Gunning

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty, Family 

October 15-20, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Kreutzer Sonata

Blaney’s Amphion: Why Girls Leave Home

Broadway: Sergeant Brue, with Frank Daniels

Columbia: The Way of the Transgressor

Folly: The Folly of the West

Grand Family: The Road to 'Frisco

Grand Opera House: Home Folks

Majestic: A Good Fellow, with Eva Tanguay

New Montauk: Mr. Hopkinson

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) For Her Children’s Sake, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) (Closed because of fire damage)

Shubert: The Stolen Story

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

October 22-27, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) On Shannon’s Shore

Blaney’s Amphion: When the World Sleeps

Broadway: Twiddle Twaddle, with Joe Weber and company, including Marie Dressler

Columbia: The Great Jewel Mystery, with the Russell Brothers

Folly: The Burglar and the Lady, with James J. Corbett

Grand Family: Woman Against Woman, with Stewart Stock Company

Grand Opera House: The Queen of the Highbinders

Majestic: As Ye Sow

New Montauk: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Annie Russell (as Puck)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Monte Cristo, with Etta Reed Payton

Shubert: John Hudson’s Wife, with Hilda Spong

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty

October 29-November 3, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Leah Kleschna

Blaney’s Amphion: My Tom-Boy Girl, with Lottie Williams

Broadway: His Honor the Mayor

Columbia: When the World Sleeps

Folly: A Lucky Dog, with Nat M. Wills 

Grand Family: Beware of Men, with Stewart Stock Company

Grand Opera House: The Rocky Road to Dublin

Majestic: Me, Him and I

New Montauk: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, with Madge Carr Cook

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Out of the Fold, with Corse Payton, Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Rachel Goldstein

Shubert: The Love Letter, with Virginia Harned

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Imperial, Novelty