3. 1900: JANUARY THROUGH MAY

 

By

Samuel L. Leiter

For further background on Brooklyn’s theatre history please see my book, Brooklyn Takes the Stage: Nineteenth-Century Theater in the City of Churches (McFarland: 2024) and my blog, “Annals of the Brooklyn Stage.” The latter is a week by week description of theatre activity in Brooklyn; obviously, it will expand rather slowly because so much must be described.

For previous entries, click on:

1898

1899

1900: JANUARY-MAY

1900: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

1900: NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

1901: JANUARY-FEBRUARY

1901: MARCH-APRIL

1901: MAY-AUGUST

1901: SEPTEMBER 

1901: OCTOBER

1901: NOVEMBER

1901: DECEMBER

The first half of 1900, which was the second half of the 1899-1900 theatrical season, had several interesting developments for Brooklyn theatre. In late 1899, the Criterion Theatre, long used only for amateur theatrical groups (with which Brooklyn was well represented, even being famous for them), was renamed the Eagle Theatre, for professional performances, but it lasted only two weeks before closing on December 11. This left seven theatres, one of which, the Park, was now devoted to a company doing light or comic opera. But, even with the growing popularity of various kinds of operatic shows, it couldn’t turn a profit and went out of business at the beginning of the year, leaving only six legitimate theatres for the remainder of the season, other than when the Brooklyn Academy of Music was rented for a theatrical production. An article regarding the Park’s demise is appended below.

Those six theatres remained the Amphion and Gayety, the only legit theatres in Williamsburg, and, in the Western District, the Bijou, the Columbia, and the Grand Opera House. Often, especially at the Gayety and the Grand Opera House, the bill was occupied by a touring vaudeville, burlesque, or minstrel company, but the dedicated theatres for those genres were still Hyde & Behman’s, the Brooklyn Music Hall, the Empire, the Star, and the Novelty. Some of the legit theatre’s best-known stars, like Clara Morris, appeared in those venues, doing 20–30-minute plays.

The listings below however, show only the shows at the legitimate theatres, along with their stars (either when so designated or when I spot a future star in the cast, like Ethel Barrymore). On the other hand, the ads for each week’s shows provide considerable information on who and what was on at the nonlegit theatres, with Hyde & Behman’s being the most prominent, even including illustrations. Great theatrical names of the period visiting Brooklyn in the Spring season of 1900 included Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, from England, Mr. and Mrs. Kendal, also from the UK, Julia Marlowe, Henry Miller, Viola Allen, and the Four Cohans (including son George M.).

While the lighter forms of theatrical entertainment dominated the stages, there were several strong dramas, usually of the romantic melodrama type, available, and a small number of classic revivals, either in repertory by a traveling star, or in productions like Romeo and Juliet, starring Maude Adams. 

Some plays were testing the boundaries of what was permissible on stage, most notably Sapho, starring Olga Nethersole, which was closed by the police in New York and led to a major law suit against its star, who showed up with it in Brooklyn later in the season. Interestingly, it followed a tamer production of the play starring Etta Reed as part of the repertory of an important new stock company. The question of censorship of “dirty plays,” among them The Degenerates, starring Lillie Langtry, was now a matter of widespread concern, discussed at length in the popular press.

Reed belonged to company headed by Corse Payton, who did a 12-play repertory at the Grand Opera House, doing a different play at each matinee and evening performance for several weeks. His ads promised that he would return in the fall to take over the Lee Avenue Academy of Music in the Eastern District, an historic event in Brooklyn theatre that led to a 15-year run of cheaply priced theatre;  it is even referenced in Betty Smith’s famous semi-autobiographical novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943).

Also of importance this season was the introduction of photography to illustrate the Sunday theatrical pages, replacing line drawings and other forms of illustration. Photos had been in use in the weekly Brooklyn Life magazine for several years, but the Brooklyn Citizen, on March 25, inaugurated the practice in the popular press. It was not, however, taken up immediately by its three chief rivals, the Eagle, Times-Union, or Daily Times. Unfortunately, time has dulled the photos, as their digitized versions reveal. As with the ads and other forms of illustration reproduced here, these images probably have never been reproduced anywhere else following their initial appearance. And, as the ads make clear, theatrical programs were increasingly presenting early movies—mostly of real-life events, like major boxing matches—under such names as cinematograph and biograph.

This note from Brooklyn Life of March 10, 1900, may interest readers.

1.      December 31. 1899-January 5, 1900

Amphion: Sporting Life

Bijou: A Female Drummer, with Johnstone Bennett

Brooklyn Academy of Music: Percy Williams’s Second Big Vaudeville Carnival

Columbia: The Great Ruby

Gayety: Hyde’s Comedians

Grand Opera House: A Stranger in a Strange Land

Montauk: The Tyranny of Tears, with John Drew; Jubilee vaudeville concert, December 31

Park: Faust, American Standard Opera Company; Park goes out of business and closes

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

2.      January 8-13. 1900

Amphion:  The Dairy Farm

Bijou: The King of Rogues

Columbia: Henry Irving and Ellen Terry repertory: Robespierre, The Merchant of Venice, “The Amber Heart” (with Terry) and “Waterloo” with Irving, “Nance Oldfield” (with Terry), “The Bells” (with Irving)

Gayety: The Floor Walkers, with Ward and Vokes

Grand Opera House: William H. West’s Big Minstrel Jubilee

Montauk: Why Smith Left Home

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

3.      January 15-20, 1900

Amphion:  The Girl of the Barracks, with Louis Mann and Clara Lipman

Bijou: Shaun Rhue, Kerry Gow, with Joseph Murphy

Columbia: Barbara Frietchie, with Julia Marlowe

Gayety: William H. West’s Big Minstrel Show

Grand Opera House: The Floor Walkers, with Ward and Vokes

Montauk: The Man in the Moon, Jr.\

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

4.      January 21-26, 1900

Amphion: The Man in the Moon, Jr., with Sam Bernard

Bijou: In Old Kentucky

Columbia: Barbara Frietchie, with Julia Marlowe

Gayety: Behman’s Show (vaudeville)

Grand Opera House: Finnigan’s Ball

Montauk: The First Violin, Cyrano de Bergerac, Beau Brummel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Richard Mansfield

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

5.      January 28-February 3, 1900

 

Amphion: The Christian, with Viola Allen

Bijou: King of the Opium Ring

Columbia: Rupert of Hentzau, with James K. Hackett

Gayety: Finnigan’s Ball

Grand Opera House: At Piney Ridge, with David Higgins

Montauk: Miss Hobbs, with Annie Russell

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

6.      February 5-10, 1900\

 

Amphion: The Village Postmaster, with Archie Boyd

Bijou: At Piney Ridge, with David Higgins

Columbia: The Only Way, with Henry Miller

Gayety: The Great Train Robbery

Grand Opera House: Miss B. Shaughnessy, with George H. Monroe

Montauk: The Singing Girl, with Alice Nielsen Opera Company

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

7.      February 12-17, 1900

Amphion: His Excellence, The Governor, with Ethel Barrymore

Bijou: Mistakes Will Happen, with Charles Dickson

Columbia: The Only Way, with Henry Miller

Gayety: The Last of the Rohans, with Andrew Mack

Grand Opera House: The Village Postmaster, with Archie Boyd

 Montauk: The Belle of New York

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

8.      February 19-24, 1900

Amphion: Phroso, with Odette Tyler

Bijou: The Dairy Farm

Brooklyn Academy of Music: Vaudeville

Columbia: Wall Street, with the Rogers Brothers

Gayety: Dodge’s Trip to New York

Grand Opera House:

Montauk: Sister Mary, with May Irwin

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

9.      February 27-March 4, 1900

Amphion: A Greek Slave

Bijou: A Guilty Mother

Columbia: Chris and the Wonderful Lamp, with Edna Wallace Hopper

Gayety: Primrose and West’s Great American Minstrels

Grand Opera House: A Wise Guy, with Hayes and Lytton’s Comedians

Montauk: ‘Round New York in 80 Minutes, with the Koster and Bial Big Company (vaudeville)

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

10.  March 4-9, 1900

Amphion: ‘Round New York in 80 Minutes, with the Koster and Bial Big Company (vaudeville)

Bijou: Why Smith Left Home

Columbia: Phroso, with Odette Tyler

Gayety: A Wise Guy, with Hayes and Lytton’s Comedians

Grand Opera House: Primrose and West’s Big American Minstrels

Montauk: A Runaway Girl, with James T. Powers

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

11.  March 11-16, 1900

 

Amphion: Das 5te Rad, Maria Stuart, Jugend Freunde, Als Ich Wiederkam, Im Weissen Roess’l, with Conrieds’s Irving Place Stock Company (German light opera)

Bijou: Across the Pacific, with Howard Hall, Harry Clay Blaney

Columbia: The Charlatan, with De Wolf Hopper

Gayety: King of the Opium Ring

Grand Opera House: Shenandoah

Montauk: The Surprises of Love

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

12.  March 19-24, 1900

Amphion: The Carpet Bagger, with Tim Murphy

Bijou: The Policy Players, with Bert Williams and George Walker

Columbia: The Ameer, with Frank Daniels

Gayety: Shenandoah

Grand Opera House: By the Sad Sea Waves, with Mathews and Bulger

Montauk: The Elder Miss Blossom, with Mr. and Mrs. Kendal

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

13.  March 26-March 31, 1900

 

Amphion: The Parish Priest, with Daniel Sully

Bijou: In Old Kentucky

Columbia: Erminie, with Francis Wilson

Gayety: By the Sad Sea Waves, with Mathews and Bulger

Grand Opera House: The Gunner’s Mate

Montauk: A White Lie, A Son’s Inheritance, with Mr. and Mrs. Kendal

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

14.  April 2-7, 1900

 

Amphion: Ein New Yorker Brauer (A New York Brewer), with Adolf Phillip and company

Bijou: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Columbia: The Girl from Maxim’s 

Gayety: The Gunner’s Mate

Grand Opera House: A Stranger in New York, with Corse Payton Comedy Company

Montauk: When We Were Twenty-One, with Nat C. Goodwin, Maxine Elliott

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

15.  April 8-14, 1900

Amphion: Closed for the week

Bijou: On the Stroke of 12

Columbia: Closed for the week

Gayety: A Female Drummer, with Johnstone Bennett

Grand Opera House: The Prodigal Daughter, Camille, The Parisian Princess, Aristocracy, Jim, the Penman, My Kentucky Home, Drifted Apart, Romeo and Juliet, Diplomacy, A Midnight Folly, The Plunger, with Corse Payton, Etta Reed (different plays daily at each matinee and evening performance)

Montauk: Papa’s Wife, with Anna Held

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

16.  April 16-21, 1900

Amphion: A Romance of Athlone, with Chauncey Olcott

Bijou: The Bowery after Dark

Columbia: The Degenerates, with Lillie Langtrya

Gayety: A Stranger in New York

Grand Opera House: The Galley Slave, East Lynne, Diplomacy, A Child of State, The Parisian Princess, The Plunger, A Midnight Folly, My Kentucky Home, The Prodigal Daughter, Sapho, A Gigantic Liar, with Corse Payton, Etta Reed (different plays daily at each matinee and evening performance)

Montauk: The Song of the Sword, with E.H. Sothern, Virginia Harned

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

17.  April 22-28, 1900

Amphion: From Broadway to Tokio, with Fay Templeton

Bijou: A Young Wife

Columbia: Oliver Goldsmith, Stuart Robson

Gayety: McFadden’s Row of Flats

Grand Opera House: The Parisian Woman, Jim, the Penman, A Gigantic Liar, Sapho, The Prodigal Daughter, Drifted Apart, Romeo and Juliet, Diplomacy, Aristocracy, The Plunger, A Child of State, My Kentucky Home, with Corse Payton, Etta Reed (performing daily matinees and evenings with a different play at each performance)

Montauk: Wheels within Wheels

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

18.  April 30-May 5, 1900

 

Amphion: Closed for season

Bijou: Shore Acres

Columbia: Coralie and Co., Dressmakers

Gayety: Man’s Enemy

Grand Opera House: see previous week’s offerings, with Corse Payton Comedy Company

Montauk: The Maneuvers of Jane

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

19.  May 7-12, 1900

Bijou: Yon Yonson, with Gus Hill

Columbia: Closed for season

Gayety: Across the Pacific, with Howard Hall, Howard Clay Blaney

Grand Opera House: McFadden’s Row of Flats

Montauk: Regular season closed. Brief season of light opera with Castle Square Opera Company begins. See ad of May 7, above.

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

20.  May14-19, 1900

Bijou: The City of New York, with Annie Ward Tiffany

Brooklyn Academy of Music: Quo Vadis

Gayety: Sapho, with Olga Nethersole

Grand Opera House: Closes for season

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall (closes), Empire (closes), Star, Novelty

For the last two weeks of the regular season, only the Sunday ads are presented. Both Quo Vadis and Sapho were historically interesting productions that I hope one day to describe elsewhere.

In view of the censorship ruckus kicked up by Sapho, this note from Brooklyn Life may be of interest:

21.  May 21-26, 1900

22.  May 28-June 2, 1900

 

At this point, with the nearly complete lack of theatrical advertising, we can consider the regular theatre season closed. The theatres in Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Brighton Beach were opening as summertime alternatives, mostly showing comic operas, and we will have to wait until late August or September before our familiar haunts reopen. For a brief background on these shorefront resorts, see the first entry for this blog—1898.

The next entry will cover the fall season of 1900 through December 31.