5. 1900: NOVEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER

The original Criterion Theatre, at Fulton and Grand, known in 1900 as Al Reeves's Music Hall, which soon failed. It then became the Brooklyn Garrick Theatre, which closed within two weeks of its opening.

 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 through May

1900: September through October

NOTE: because of technical issues related to the many images used, these entries will be limited to two months each.

The last two months of 1900 were very busy times for Brooklyn’s theatres, which showed considerable activity. For many weeks as many as six nonlegits offered vaudeville and/or burlesque, with additional shows of this nature, including minstrelsy, occasionally filling legit theatres. The numbers of such theatres fluctuated, though; the Park came back to life as a stock theatre under the aegis of the Baker Stock Company, while the former Criterion, lately run as a vaudeville enterprise called Al Reeves’ Music Hall, went bust. It was swiftly turned over to a group called the Schiller Stock Company, which, as the chronology shows, was barely alive before it was dead. But stock was doing well at Corse Payton’s Theatre, the old Lee Avenue Academy of Music, and the new stock group at the Park showed promise of surviving.

Leading players, including super stage stars, continued to visit, with names like Grace George and Blanche Walsh, both from Brooklyn, lighting up the borough’s playhouses, not to mention the great Richard Mansfield in his lavish production of Henry V, some of whose costumes are shown below. Among others whose names were more important than their vehicles were William Faversham, Margaret Anglin (before she was a grand lady of the stage), Mrs. Leslie Carter, Chauncey Olcott, champion pugilists James H. Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons (both having become theatrical draws), Herbert Kelcey and Effie Shannon, James K. Hackett, Anna Held, and Joseph Jefferson. E.H. Sothern was booked to do his new Hamlet but, sadly, became ill and had to cancel.

Many shows continued to return over and over, like The Village Postman, and Shore Acres, so the chronicle is forced to lean heavily on familiar goods, with fewer important new plays on the road than was healthy for a business that loves novelty. The fascination of the era for plays set in the Far East—so evident in the popularity of The Mikado—continued, as represented by the Chinese-based musical San Toy and David Belasco’s dramatization of Madame Butterfly, before Puccini got his operatic hands on it.  

Finally, just before 1900 ended, a luxurious new vaudeville theatre, the Orpheum, opened, a few steps from where the Majestic--later the BAM Harvey--would soon be built. See the next entry, 1901: January-February, for illustrations.

1.      November 5-10, 1900

Amphion: The Only Way, with Creston Clarke, Adelaide Prince

Bijou: Siberia

Columbia: Brother Officers, with William Faversham, Margaret Anglin

Gayety: The Behman Show (vaudeville)

Grand Opera House: The Sign of the Cross, with Charles Dalton

Montauk: More than Queen, with Blanche Walsh (replacing E.H. Sothern in Hamlet because of the star’s illness)

Payton’s: (stock) My Kentucky Home

Vaudeville and Burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Al Reeves’ Music Hall, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

2.      November 12-17, 1900

 

Amphion: The Old Homestead, with Denman Thompson

Bijou: Sporting Life

Columbia: The Belle of Bohemia, with Sam and Dick Bernard

Gayety: Le Voyage en Suisse

Grand Opera House: Kerry Gow, Shaun Rhue, with Joseph Murphy

Montauk: Zaza, with Mrs. Leslie Carter

Payton’s: (stock)Diplomacy

Vaudeville and Burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Al Reeves’ Music Hall, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty

3.      November 19-24, 1900

Amphion: Naughty Anthony, Madame Butterfly

Bijou: Mavourneen, with Chauncey Olcott

Columbia: Rip Van Winkle, Lend Me Five Shillings, The Rivals, The Cricket on the Hearth, with Joseph Jefferson III

Gayety: The Village Postmaster, with Archie Boyd

Grand Opera House: The Man of the West, with John J. Jeffries

Montauk: The Ambassador, The Maneuvers of Jane, Daniel Frohman’s Stock Company

Payton’s: (stock)The Charity Ball

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Al Reeves’ Music Hall. Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty

4.      November 26-December 1, 1900

Amphion: Hearts Are Trumps

Bijou: Mavourneen, with Chauncey Olcott

Brooklyn Academy of Music: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Columbia: Henry V, with Richard Mansfield

Gayety: Kerry Gow, Shaun Rhue, with Joseph Murphy

Grand Opera House: The Village Postmaster, with Archie Boyd

Montauk: Central Park, with the Rogers Brothers

Payton’s: (stock)Midnight Follies

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

5.      December 3-8, 19

Amphion: The Parish Priest, with Daniel Sully

Bijou: A Hot Old Time, with Johnny and Emma Ray

Brooklyn Garrick: (stock) A Soldier of the Empire, with the Schiller Stock Company (this was the renamed Al Reeves’ Music Hall, originally the Criterion, at Fulton and Grand, returning to legitimate theatre)

Columbia: The Cadet Girl, with Dan Daly

Gayety: Woman and Wine

Grand Opera House: Hearts of Oak

Montauk: San Toy, with Augustin Daly Musical Company, James T. Powers

Payton’s: (stock)Young Mrs. Winthrop

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

6.      December 10-15, 1900

Amphion: The Cadet Girl, with Dan Daly

Bijou: Superba

Brooklyn Garrick: (stock) We ‘Uns of Tennessee

Columbia: My Lady Dainty, with Herbert Kelcey, Effie Shannon

Gayety: King of the Opium Ring

Grand Opera House: Woman and Wine

Montauk: The Pride of Jennico, with James K. Hackett

Payton’s: (stock) Quo Vadis

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

7.      December 17-22, 1900

Amphion: Our New Minister

Bijou: The Honest Blacksmith, with Robert Fitzsimmons

Brooklyn Garrick: (stock) The Fatal Wedding scheduled, but theatre goes out of business first after two weeks

Columbia: Her Majesty, with Grace George

Gayety: Hearts of Oak

Grand Opera House: The Parish Priest, with Daniel Sully

Montauk: Sag Harbor, with James A. Herne

Payton’s: (stock) Don’t Tell My Wife

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

8.      December 24-29, 1900

Amphion: Sag Harbor, with James A. Herne

Bijou: In Wall Street, with Kelly and Mason

Brooklyn Academy of Music: George Thatcher’s Minstrel Company

Columbia: Hodge, Podge and Co., with Peter F. Dailey

Gayety: The Rebel, with Andrew Mack

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

Montauk: Papa’s Wife, with Anna Held

Park: (stock) Hoodman Blind (Baker Stock Company begins occupancy at Park)

Payton’s: (stock) Taken from Life

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

9.      December 31-January 5, 1901, in next entry