1905: FEBRUARY

 

by

Samuel L. Leiter

For comprehensive background on Brooklyn’s pre-20^th-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 20^th 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: 

1901: DECEMBER 

Links to all of 1902’s posts can be found here.

Links to all of 1903’s posts can be found here.

Links to all of 1904's post can be found here: 

February 1905 was a solid theatrical month in Brooklyn. Along with the usual claptrap from the combinations and stock companies came half-a-dozen premiere stars. Few plays of the time were more than conventional time-passers, but if headed by a luminous actor or actress they stood a good chance of putting fannies in seats. The most distinguished plays done by visiting stars were a pair of Shakespeare’s, one familiar, the other not seen locally in around 15 years. The latter was The Winter’s Tale, the former Twelfth Night, and both starred Viola Allen, one of the foremost actresses of the day. Another even more veteran star, dashing light comedian John Drew, headed the cast of an item called The Duke of Killicrankie [sic], while rocketing young singing-dancing, acting-writing-producing star George M. Cohan brought his recent hit musical, Little Johnny Jones to Brooklyn. He’d been there many times before, of course, usually as part of vaudeville’s The Four Cohans, but here he was starring without them in a work of his own manufacture. Other notable stars on deck included Henry Miller in Joseph Entangled, Nat C. Goodwin in The Usurper, and Lulu Glaser returning in A Madcap Princess.

The stock companies continued cranking out a play a week with the same actors squeezed into them, one unusual occurrence being the two productions of Henry Arthur Jones’s melodramatic 1882 standby, The Silver King, given productions one week by Corse Payton’s Lee Avenue company and the next by the new troupe at the Columbia.

On the ever-shifting landscape of theatres available, a new one seemed primed to join Brooklyn’s growing lineup of vaudeville houses, already at an all-time high with eight; that stemmed from the decision of the Amphion—for years the only high-priced legitimate theatre in Williamsburg—to switch to the better class of vaudeville. The new addition to the ranks was in nearby Greenpoint, which had never sustained its own theatre. It was not a new structure but a renovated version of the venerable Union Avenue Baptist Church, located at 740 Manhattan Avenue (formerly Union Avenue) between Norman Avenue and Calyer Street. Its addition to the roster made it Brooklyn's ninth vaudeville theatre, and 21st theatre overall! Its existence, however, would be short.

The conversion was intended to present “polite vaudeville” (i.e., family friendly), which was to begin February 13, 1905, under the name Garden Theatre—not to be confused with a famous legitimate theatre of that name in Manhattan. Reviews were not included among the weekly ones published every Tuesday following Monday openings but showed up instead with brief notices only under the "Greenpoint News" section in the Sunday Standard Union.

The Eagle of February 12 describes the building’s alterations from church to playhouse under the headline: “TURNED INTO A PLAYHOUSE; FATE OF BAPTIST CHURCH.” Seating only 300 (but hoping to expand when given official approval), however, it began showing motion pictures beginning in 1906. Gradually, mention of it vanished from the press.

Of more artistic interest is a description in the Citizen of a spectacular scene in a Brooklyn production of a revival of Bartley Campbell's play Siberia, in which a pogrom was enacted. It was not uncommon for shows—even legitimate dramas—back then to hire 100, or even 200, extras to fill the stage for crowd scenes. In Siberia, whose subject matter may be surprising to today’s readers, director-producers William A. Brady and Joseph H. Grismer pulled out all the stops for the play’s visit to the Majestic Theatre. The play’s scene of the Jewish massacre at Kishinev (also Kishineff), Bessarabia (now mostly in Moldova and part of Ukraine) had been greatly expanded for this revival to reflect a more recent incident there in 1903.

On Sunday, February 5, the Citizen prepared readers for what they would see at the Majestic when the play opened in the coming week:

The audience pictures to itself the actual massacre at Kishineff as it sees the helpless men and women slaughtered on the stage. The scene is really executed, not only with great adroitness, but with considerable power. From the poor quarter of the town the better quarters are visible across the river. Night comes on and then a distant sound as of wild beasts growling is heard. A woman runs in, screaming, forewarning the approach calamity. Men, women and children in increasing numbers, many of them carrying their household goods in packs upon their backs, hasten across the field of vision. The personages on the stage show signs of terror.

Then, with a roar like a cataract’s, the stage is flooded with cruel and sinister creatures, armed with clubs, and guns and swords, and the massacre begins. The murderers use their weapons without mercy, and groaning old men and shrieking women fall on every side beneath them. The whole scene conveys a vivid impression of suffering and horror.

As a gauze curtain is lowered, flames overleap it rapidly, and a loud and terrible raucous noise is heard that strikes awe in the subconscious mind of the beholder. Gradually the flames subside and the noise ceases, and when peace has settled down once more, the hero—the revolutionist—stands upon a height, scanning the ruins, his face bathed in light, curses the Czar, and warns him of coming retribution.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that it often enjoys reporting inappropriate behavior on the part of theatre personnel, their acquaintances, and even audiences. And the range of misbehaviors that could land you in the hoosegow included even spitting. How many of you remember signs warning of the consequences of “expectorating” in a public place? Well, in 1905, they took spitting as a health hazard seriously enough to get you arrested. As reported on February 24 in the Citizen, vaudevillian James Cook, of the act Smith and Cook, discovered this when, entering the lobby of Hyde & Behman’s, he tossed his cigar into a cuspidor, spat on the floor, and was nabbed by a cop from the 82^nd Precinct for violating a health ordinance. Six other inveterate expectorators were similarly detained at the Star, Watson’s Cozy Corner, and the Columbia. Each was fined two dollars and had to appear in the Adams Street Police Court to face the music. The police captain who issued the order warned that the crackdown would continue and that the police assigned to the theatres were put on notice to enforce the law.

At any rate, the Citizen reporter was pleased to add that he witnessed someone who, having noticed the arrest of a fellow spectator, went over to the cuspidor, took careful aim, and dropped in his cigar before attempting to walk away. Before he could, though, an officer tapped his shoulder and told him he was under arrest. “What’s the charge?” “Expectorating.” “Well, I didn’t miss the cuspidor.” “It looked to me as if you did.” And that, dear reader, was that.

1. February 6-11, 1905

Amphion: (switches to vaudeville)

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Lovers’ Lane

Broadway: Joseph Entangled, with Henry Miller, Hilda Spong, Laura Hope Crews

Columbia: (American Stock Company) Monte Cristo

Folly: Shadows on the Hearth

Gotham: At Cripple Creek

Grand Opera House: Paris By Night

Majestic: Siberia

Montauk: The Usurper, with Nat C. Goodwin

Novelty: For His Brother’s Crime

Park: Alone in the World

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton’s Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Sign of the Four, with Corse Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) For Her Children’s Sake

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde and Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s Fulton Street, Amphion

2.      February 13-18, 1905

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Altar of Friendship

Broadway: The County Chairman, with Maclyn Arbuckle

Columbia: (American Stock Company) Man’s Enemy

Folly: Kellar, the magician

Gotham: The Child Wife

Grand Opera House: Nancy Brown

Majestic: Checkers, with Thomas W. Ross

Montauk: The Duke of Killiecrankie, with John Drew

Novelty: A Midnight Marriage

Park: A Working Girl’s Wrongs

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton’s Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Silver King, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Darkest Russia

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde and Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s Fulton Street, Amphion, Garden

3.      February 20-25, 1905

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Sword of the King

Broadway: The Office Boy, with Frank Daniels

Columbia: (American Stock Company) The Silver King

Folly: Checkers, with Thomas W. Ross

Gotham: On the Suwanee River

Grand Opera House: The Jewel of Asia

Majestic: A Pair of Pinks, with Ward and Vokes

Montauk: Little Johnny Jones, with George M. Cohan

Novelty: Two Little Waifs

Park: A Desperate Chance

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton’s Lee Avenue Stock Company) A Bunch of Keys

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Village Postmaster

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde and Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s Fulton Street, Amphion, Garden

4. February 27-March 4, 1905

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Two Little Vagrants

Broadway: A Madcap Princess, with Lulu Glaser

Columbia: (American Stock Company) Under Two Flags

Folly: A Pair of Pinks, with Ward and Vokes

Gotham: Hearts Adrift

Grand Opera House: At the Old Crossroads

Majestic: In Old Kentucky

Montauk: The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, with Viola Allen

Novelty: From Clue to Capture; or, the Great Chadwick Mystery

Park: A Wife’s Secret

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Payton’s Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Eternal City, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Vacant Chair

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde and Behman’s, Gayety, Unique, Orpheum, Watson’s, Star, Keeney’s Fulton Street, Amphion, Garden