By
Samuel L. Leiter
For comprehensive background on Brooklyn’s pre-20th-century 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 and the present blog will be occupying my attention until live theatre in Brooklyn begins to fade over the early decades of the 20th century, dying out by the 1930s.
The entries in this blog began as annual ones, for 1898 and 1899. Because of the large amount of memory used, which made editing them problematic, subsequent entries were shortened so they covered only several months at a time, but these too needed to be shortened. Thus, beginning with 1901: September, all entries cover a single month. The quickest way to find any of these entries is probably to click on the following link, where links to everything prior to its date are provided:
Links to all of 1902’s posts can be found here.
Links to all of 1903’s posts can be found here.
March 1904 was a standout month in Brooklyn theatre history,
with so much to write about I’m going to have to restrain myself from excessive
verbosity. Let’s begin with the frequent reportage that a new Brooklyn Academy
of Music was close to be being realized, at least on paper. Brooklyn elites
longed for a place of cultural eclecticism to house theatre (amateur and
professional), lectures, opera, concerts, social and political gatherings, etc.,
but experience showed that—despite the need of so many groups for such a place—its
profitability was borderline and it would be difficult to get a small number of
capitalists to put up the large sum needed. Instead, multiple small
shareholding contributors would be required.
With Borough President Littleton leading the charge, viable locations
were tossed about, one strong possibility being at Fulton and DeKalb. One
difficulty in deciding on a location was the ongoing widening of nearby
Livingston Street and the completion of Flatbush Avenue Extension in
preparation for opening of the Manhattan Bridge at the northernmost part of
Flatbush Avenue. This activity was also delaying a decision on the fate of the Montauk
Theatre, on the east side of Flatbush at Fulton. No one even hinted at what the
eventual decision on this matter would be, but it would be historic. Regardless,
the powers that be were not sure if the new academy should be a free-standing
cultural center or integrated into an office building or hotel.
And, while we’re on the subject of new theatres, we must talk
about Brooklyn’s welcoming of its latest quality playhouse, the 1,800-seat Broadway
Theatre, at the busy junction, of Broadway and Stockton Street (close to Myrtle
Avenue) on the border of the borough’s Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
This placed it apart from the borough’s theatrical hotspots, but it was easily
accessible via surface transportation and converging “L” lines, as is true in
2025. Theatregoers in Brooklyn Heights could get there in 18 minutes, while it
would then have taken them 40 minutes to reach the new Majestic Theatre in New
York. “This, of course, for a single rather than a double faw09re and without
change of cars,” said the Citizen. Among the theatre’s advanced features
was a sunken orchestra pit, an idea introduced to hide the orchestra at the
Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.
With a policy calling for “First-class productions at
popular prices,” albeit prices would be adjusted in keeping with the quality of
the offerings, it opened to a full house on March 21 with the very popular, spectacular,
famously tuneful hit operetta Babes in Toyland, its score by Victor
Herbert. (Pictures of the theatre and show are below.) The dedicatory speech
was presented by Borough President Littleton.
The new theatre, designed by J.B. McElfatrick and Son on a plot
155 by 89 feet, was deemed very safe from fire, and its seats were comfortable,
its aisles wide, and its lobbies commodious. For those requiring more detail on
not only the technical details but the furnishings and decorative scheme, considered
less ornate and more in keeping with “modern” tastes than those of earlier
theatres, I direct them to the Citizen of March 13. It was run by Leo C.
Teller, brother-in-law of star comedian Joe Weber (who would soon appear there
with Lew Fields), and it cost $275,000.
Production-wise, Brooklyn was involved in a couple of
unusual shows. Topping the list in historical interest is a play related to a
great artistic controversy about the recent highly successful Metropolitan
Opera House production of Richard Wagner’s religious opera, Parsifal,
his final work. An international brouhaha erupted when Cosima Wagner, the late
composer’s wife, objected to the play being done anywhere than in Wagner’s own
theatre at Bayreuth, but, in December 1903, the Met’s Heinrich Conried did it
anyway, given the looseness of copyright laws concerning German work. It was
considered a monumental event in New York’s musical life, even though Wagner
purists and the German public were enraged by what they considered the opera’s desecration.
Soon American producers began considering an
English-language version, the first to get the job done being Henry W. Savage. Even
before it was performed, however, Brooklyn stock theatre manager Corse Payton
mounted an English script in March that allowed the actors to speak the words
as dialogue, not sing them as lyrics, albeit with Wagner’s score heard as
incidental music. Apparently, other managers had also attempted “dramatic” adaptations,
but none went as far as this in adding so much of Wagner’s music. W.H. Lytell’s
English rendering also contained more scenes than Wagner’s original. In
mid-February, for example, there was one in Hartford, CT, with Adelaide Fitz
Allan as Kundry. The Brooklyn version, a “play with music,” ran two weeks at Payton’s
Lee Avenue Theatre, the first time any play there had an extended run. Despite extensive
research and writing about the Met-Bayreuth controversy, it seems that no one
has described the Brooklyn production since it was performed.
The enterprising Payton—whose best seats sold for 50 cents, 1/20th
of what people paid at the Met—went all out for this endeavor. He even hired 25
members of the Met’s original chorus so they could sing several full scenes,
including the entire Grail scene. To accompany them, the regular theatre
orchestra was increased to 25. Elaborate scenery employing nine artists was painted.
Payton’s resident director, scene designer, and electrician closely studied the
Met production. His cast, none known outside the stock company, included Kirk
Brown as Parsifal, Grace Fox as Kundry, Harry Roche as Amfortas, Robert Elliott
as Klingsor, Joseph Girard as Guruemanz, and Richard Crolius as Titurel.
The production was, to a large degree, a success, both
critically and commercially. It received more newspaper coverage than any other
of Payton’s productions. However, this entry is already longer than I intended
and, while I have much more to say about the specifics of the production, I’ll put
off further discussion of Corse Payton’s Parsifal for another time and
forum.
Also of exceeding interest in March 1904 was the joint appearance
of two of the most admired stage stars of the era, Ada Rehan, leading lady of the
late Augustin Daly’s revered New York stock company during its golden years, and
Otis Skinner, one of finest and most versatile leading men of the day. They
appeared at the Amphion as Shylock and Portia in The Merchant of Venice,
Charles Surface and Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, and Petruchio
and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, a perfect series of classical drama
and comedy on which to demonstrate their art.
They appeared in Brooklyn following a surprisingly
profitable run at New York’s Lyric Theatre, showing how desperate audiences were
for high-quality classic comedy revivals. The presence of the 47-year-old Rehan,
considered the premiere comedy actress of the American stage, was especially
welcome, since Brooklyn had never witnessed her Portia. Her presence alone was
significant given the speculation that her recent long absence from the stage
might become permanent. Then, when she agreed to resume her career, there were
worries her star had dimmed and that the public wouldn’t be interested, and
finding a theatre to present her was not an easy task. Therefore, her
triumphant return at the Lyric in these plays was celebrated loudly, and bookings
elsewhere quickly opened up. Abetting their success were the original sets and
costumes that had adorned these plays under Daly’s management. A local journalist
warned that if there were a single vacant seat, “Brooklyn theater-goers ought
to be ashamed of themselves.”
On March 27, the Citizen summed up their repertory success
in these words:
Miss Rehan’s Lady Teazle . . . has
never been surpassed, and seldom if ever equaled. Her Katherine is almost as
famous. Indeed, the performance of the “Taming of the Shrew” was perhaps the
happiest of the three productions, for in this Mr. Skinner as Petruchio appeared
to equal advantage. . . . His buoyant humor,
inherent grace and artistic finish combined to make the most attractive and the
most convincing Petruchio ever seen on the stage. . . . In “The School for Scandal,”
. . . Miss Rehan, of course, was the conspicuous figure. Not so, however, in “The
Merchant of Venice,” where Mr. Skinner’s impersonation of Shylock was the
dominant factor. . . . He exhibits profound insight in his revelation of the
hopeless depravity of the Jew’s character, the smallness of his soul.
Other important theatrical things were on people’s minds,
like the growing interest in staging Shakespeare with minimal rather than
maximal scenery, a discussion prompted by the recent performances of English
actor-manager Ben Greet in Manhattan; the ever-increasing need for new plays,
including “problem plays,” i.e., those with serious social themes; the inability
to sway prolific producer Charles Frohman away from his preoccupation with dramatic
“mush”; and the recent wave of distinguished actors—concerned about disturbing
the illusion—refusing “to respond to curtain calls and demands for speeches,” a
subject discussed by E.H.B. in the Citizen of March 27, based on an
article in the Dramatic Mirror. The demand for speeches was especially
to be condemned, said the writer, because “thinking people” cannot fathom “why
an actor should mix speechmaking with his regular duties on the stage.” The star
most to be commended for his fastidiousness in these matters was Richard
Mansfield.
Amphion: The Earl of Pawtucket, with Lawrence D’Orsay
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Esmeralda
Columbia: The Power of the Cross, with Hermine Shone
Folly: Kellar, the Magician
Gotham: Her Marriage Vow
Grand Opera House: Robert Emmet
Montauk: Babette, with Fritzi Scheff
Novelty: Child Slaves of New York
Park: Queen of the White Slaves
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Hank
of Harvard
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) East Lynne
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star,
Orpheum, Unique, Gayety, Watson’s, Keeney’s Fulton Street
2.
March 7-12, 1904
Amphion: An English Daisy
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Delmonico’s at Six
Columbia: The Man Who Dared, with Howard Hall
Folly: Robert Emmet
Gotham: On the Bridge at Midnight
Grand Opera House: Quincy Adams Sawyer
Montauk: The Spenders, with William H. Crane
Novelty: Through Fire and Water
Park: Queen of the Highway
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Captain
of the Nonsuch, with Corse Payton
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Merchant of
Venice, with William C. Holden. Emma Bell
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star,
Orpheum, Unique, Gayety, Watson’s, Keeney’s Fulton Street
3.
March 14-19, 1904
Amphion: Glittering Gloria
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Colleen Bawn
Columbia: Driven from Home, with Patrice
Folly: Quincy Adams Sawyer
Gotham: For His Brother’s Crime, with Montgomery
Irving
Grand Opera House: Terence, with Chauncey Olcott
Montauk: The Girl with the Green Eyes, with Clara Bloodgood
Novelty: The Man Who Dared, with Howard Hall
Park: An Heiress of Millions
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Parsifal
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Alone in London
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star,
Orpheum, Unique, Gayety, Watson’s, Keeney’s Fulton Street
4.
March 21-26, 1904
Amphion: The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the
Shrew, The School for Scandal, with Ada Rehan, Otis Skinner
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Princess of Patches
Broadway Theatre: Babes in Toyland
Columbia: The Smart Set, all-Afrtican American vaudeville company
Folly: Sis Hopkins, with Rose Melville
Gotham: When Women Love
Grand Opera House: Terence, with Chauncey Olcott
Montauk: Nancy Brown, with Marie Cahill
Novelty: On the Bridge at Midnight
Park: The James Boys in Missouri
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Parsifal
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Nell Gwynne
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star,
Orpheum, Unique, Gayety, Watson’s, Keeney’s Fulton Street
5.
March 28-April 2, 1904g
Amphion: Der Herr Senator, Die Haubenlerche, Johannisfeur,
Jugend, Kabale und Liebe, Die Soubrettenschule, German
repertory, with Heinrich Conrieds’s German Dramatic Company
Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Orphan Heiress
Broadway Theatre: A Pair of Pinks, with Ward and
Vokes
Columbia: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with Gussy Hart
Folly: By Right of Sword, with Ralph Stuart
Gotham: New York Day by Day
Grand Opera House: Busy Izzy, with George Sidney
Montauk: Dolly Varden, with Lulu Glaser
Novelty: The Orphan’s Prayer
Park: The Bowery After Dark, with Terry McGovern
Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton Lee Avenue Stock Company) Turned
Up, with Corse Payton
Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Lynwood
Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Star,
Orpheum, Unique, Gayety, Watson’s, Keeney’s Fulton Street
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