by
Samuel L. Leiter
The Empire Theatre, originally the
Bedford Avenue or simply Bedford Theatre, had to come down when the
Williamsburg Bridge was built, as noted in the previous entry.
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.
The final months of the 1900-1901
season had a few surprises before it trickled to an end. Two new stock companies
joined the fray, the Aubrey Stock Company at the Grand Opera House, and the
Brennan Stock Company at the Amphion, their fates yet to be decided. Brooklyn’s
combination houses, whose programs were mainly road shows, were losing ground
to the rising tide of stock.
Adding yet another vaudeville venue to
the already overloaded nonlegit offerings was Haverly’s Musee, which opened on Smith
Street near Fulton on May 20, offering continuous entertainment from 10:30 A.M.
to 10:30 A.M., its premises offering “a chamber of horrors, some mysterious
tableaux, a ladies’ orchestra and singers, dancers and comedians,” said the Eagle.
Among the wax figures were Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, President McKinley,
Vice President Roosevelt, Willie McCormic (a kidnapped youth), Spanish Sharpshooters,
a Boxer execution in China, the fall from the Brooklyn Bridge of Chief Engineer
Charles E. Bedell, and other interesting figures and events. The proprietor was
veteran showman J.H. Haverly, who already had a close relationship with
Brooklyn, and who, over the previous four decades, may have been in charge, at
one time or another, of more theatrical enterprises—including major minstrelsy
companies (both black and white—than anyone else of his time.
Brooklyn’s stages were now dominated
by the growing fads for stock and vaudeville. New plays were losing ground for
the moment, and those that arrived were tiresomely formulaic, although there
was a hint of dramaturgical experimentation in the single performance allotted,
as an experiment, to a double bill of a poetic play based on a poem by Robert Browning,
In a Balcony, and another by poet William Butler Yeats, Land
of Heart’s Desire, the cast led by rising star Otis Skinner. Also getting
one performance was a significant revival of The Merchant of Venice starring
Nat C. Goodwin as Shylock and Maxine Elliott as Portia, with several other
important actors, like Effie Ellsler, in the cast.
By early June, the regular season was,
for all intents and purposes, over, except for a few stragglers. The month had
shown only a small number of unusual offerings, two of them receiving only a
single performance, in contrast to the four week run of the colossal production
of Ben Hur before it went off on
a lengthy tour that meant it might not be seen in these parts again for two
years.
And with
the warm weather rushing in, people rushed to the shore to enjoy light musical comedies
and operettas at Bergen, Manhattan, and Brighton Beach, not chronicled here.
1.
May 6-11, 1901
Amphion: Closed temporarily
Bijou: Romance of Coon Hollow
Columbia: Ben Hur
Criterion: (Baker Stock Company) Whose
Baby Are You?
Gayety: Old Jed Prouty, with
Richard Golden
Grand Opera House: My Lady, with
Eva Tanguay
Montauk: All on Account of Eliza,
with Louis Mann and Clara Lipman
*Montauk: (May 7 matinee only), In
a Balcony, Land of Heart’s Desire, with Otis Skinner, Eleanor Robson,
Sarah Cowell LeMoyne
Park: (Spooner Stock Company) Because
She Loved Him So
Payton’s: (Payton Theatre Company) Woman
Against Woman.
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde &
Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty, Orpheum
1.
May
13-18, 1901
Amphion: The
Girl We Love, with Charles Dickson, Lillian Burkhart
Bijou:
Closed for season
Columbia: Ben
Hur (fourth and final week)
Criterion:
(Baker Stock Company) Charley’s Uncle
Gayety: The
Still Alarm, with Harry Lacy
Grand
Opera House: The Charity Ball, with Aubrey Stock Company
Montauk: Lohengrin,
Lucia di Lammermoor, Castle Square Opera Company
Park: (Spooner
Stock Company) The Two Orphans
Payton’s: (Payton
Theatre Company) Hazel Kirke, A Gilded Fool
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Novelty (closes for
season), Orpheum, Haverly’s Musee opens: wax museum and vaudeville
2.
May
20-25, 1901
Columbia: Temporarily
closed
Criterion:
(Baker Stock Company) The Blundering Mr. Budds (world premiere)
Gayety: The
Honest Blacksmith, with Robert Fitzsimmons
Grand
Opera House: (Aubrey Stock Company) Men and Women
Montauk: Carmen,
Faust, with Castle Square Opera Company
Park:
(Spooner Stock Company) Hazel Kirke, The Buckeye
Payton’s:
(Payton Theatre Company) A Runaway Wife
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Orpheum, Haverly’s
Musee
3.
May
26-June 1, 1901
Amphion:
(Brennan Stock Company) The Hunchback
Columbia: The
Merchant of Venice, with Nat C. Goodwin, Maxine Elliott (one performance,
May 20). Closes for season
Criterion:
(Baker Stock Company) Nancy Hanks
Gayety:
Closed for season
Grand
Opera House: (Aubrey Stock Company) We ‘Uns of Tennessee
Montauk: La
Boheme, Martha, with Castle Square Opera Company
Park:
(Spooner Stock Company) Barbara Frietchie
Payton’s: (Payton
Theatre Company) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Star, Orpheum, Haverly’s
Musee
4.
June
3-8, 1901
Criterion:
Vaudeville, with White Rats, while Aubrey Stock Company takes summer off
Grand
Opera House: Closed for season
Montauk: Il
Trovatore, The Bohemian Girl, with Castle Square Opera Company
Park: (Spooner
Stock Company) Caste
Payton’s:
(Corse Payton Stock Company replacing local Payton Theatre Company; third such
visit) Eagle’s Nest
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s (closed for season), Brooklyn Music Hall, Star,
Orpheum, Haverly’s Musee
5.
June
10-15, 1901
Montauk: Diplomacy,
with Charles Frohman’s Empire Stock Company, including William Faversham,
Margaret Anglin (June 13, one night only)
Park:
(Spooner Stock Company) For Fair Virginia
Payton’s:
(Payton Theatre Company) The Little Minister
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Brooklyn Music Hall (closes), Star, Orpheum, Haverly’s Musee
(closes), Criterion (doing vaudeville temporarily)
6.
June
17-22, 1901
Criterion:
Brennan Stock Company for a week before theatre closes for season
Park:
(Spooner Stock Company) Becky Bliss, the Circus Girl
Payton’s: (Payton
Theatre Company) Closed for season
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Star, Orpheum (closes)
7.
June
24-29, 1901
Park: (Spooner
Stock Company): “A Happy Pair,” A Child of the Regiment; closes for
season
Vaudeville
and burlesque: Star
The summer
season at the beaches—Bergen, Manhattan, and Brighton—was now well underway. As
usual, we will take our leave of these warm-weather divertissements, mainly of vaudeville
and musical comedy types, until the fall season kicks off in the next
installment. These ads from June 30, 1901, should give an idea of Brooklyn’s oceanside
entertainment. As can be seen, the Star was still open, but would close a week later.
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