1906: FEBRUARY

Robert Loraine in Man and Superman.

The big artistic news for Brooklyn theatre in February 1906 was the arrival at the New Montauk of George Bernard Shaw’s philosophical comedy Man and Superman. Next to Ibsen, still rarely produced except for very limited runs, the most talked about contemporary dramatist was Shaw, who was finally beginning to catch on with a wider public, both in Britain and here. Man and Superman was coming off a 192-performance run at New York’s Hudson Theatre, with Robert Loraine as John Tanner and Fay Davis as Ann Whitefield. Ida Conquest played Ann in Brooklyn, the only change from the Hudson cast. Like both the London premiere and Broadway version, the lengthy “Don Juan in Hell” scene was cut. A full production was thought to require seven hours. It was the theatrical cause célèbre of the season, and Brooklyn was its first stop when it went on tour. Here’s what the Citizen critic had to say of its opening on February 19:

George Bernard Shaw got his first recent hearing at Brooklyn last night, when a large audience at the Montauk laughed from end to end of “Man and Superman.” The attempt to introduce “Candida” here at a charity matinee [in 1904] was such a melancholy failure that Arnold Daly has kept his Shaw cult on the lively side of the river ever since, but Brooklyn had prepared for “Man and Superman.” The audience did not seem disturbed by the discussion over Violet in the first act and after that thin ice was safely passed it settled down to hearty enjoyment of the wittiest comedy in the English language. It is too late in the day to detail the victorious pursuit of John Tanner by Ann Whitfield [sic] or to discuss Shaw’s doctrine of the Life Force or his view of the relation of man to matrimony. His exaltation of woman in the physical world comes quite pat upon the evolution of women in the country, which has reached a point where mere man is relegated to the back door of the body politic. The whole thing makes the most delicious and exquisite fooling which it is possible to imagine in a theater, provided only people will keep their wits working. Last night’s audience responded quickly if not unanimously. There were a few solemn faces of people who wondered if they were in a theater or a lunatic asylum, but hardly one of the audacious Irish jokes missed its response either of laughter or applause, while the brilliant character drawing went home with unfailing effect.

A good deal of this effectiveness was due to the spirited and clever performance of Robert Loraine and his company. The long run in Manhattan has taught the actors just where Shaw’s points need reinforcing and they sent his points over the footlights with unfailing effect, although they did caricature somewhat the exit of Violet with Mrs. Whitfield [sic] in the last act. . . . Miss Ida Conquest now plays Ann and her idea of the girl is better than that of Fay Davis, at as she first played the part, in that Miss Conquest makes it clear from the first that she means to marry Tanner and her manner inspires you with confidence that she will succeed. You see the coils begin to fasten long before the episode of the boa. Loraine’s Tanner is played with just the right note of headlong enthusiasm needed to prevent the part from becoming a burlesque. The Violet of Clara Bloodgood is the perfection of delicate skill; Edward Abeles does not overdo Henry Straker; Charles Gotthold gives the true Irish enthusiasm to young Malone, while the shrewd old Malone of Lois Frances Clarke is at least good for many laughs. The first act of “Man and Superman” is not exactly the thing through which to chaperone a mixed party of girls and men, but with the people who wish to laugh from their heads instead of their stomachs it affords a tumultuous and unceasing merriment.

Several important actors illuminated Brooklyn stages in February, among them Viola Allen, Richard Carle, Sidney Toler, Marie Cahill, Cyril Scott, Maxine Elliott, Leo Ditrichstein, Edward Harrigan, and, in a revival of his melodramatic hit, Trilby, Wilton Lackaye. Perhaps we should mention that future Hollywood character star Charles Coburn, then only 30, showed up as well. But the fare served by this actors was standard and paled before Shaw’s play, which became a modern classic.

In contrast to the star system, of course, was the stock system, now back to only three companies in Brooklyn, the Spooners at the Bijou, the Paytons at the Lee Avenue, and the somehow still surviving Lyceum company headed by Emma Bell and William Holden. Hamilton Ormsbee celebrated the success of the Spooners in the Eagle on February 11, the company having weathered seven years in Brooklyn, under the management of Mrs. Spooner and her two actress daughters, Cecil and Edna May. They were praised for introducing locals to numerous fine modern plays, always well-acted, and at consistently low prices. Of course, they couldn’t avoid occasionally doing trash, but never was the trash less than “innocent,” nor, like so much melodrama, did it corrupt audience tastes.

The charismatic personalities of Edna May and Cecil had helped them build substantial fan followings, even though they were seen so often during a season, perhaps even 30 or 40 times, year in and year out. Big stars, like Ethel Barrymore and Maude Adams, appeared in new roles perhaps once or twice a year. Ormsbee longed for a company of half a dozen such charismatic actors, as opposed to those many in which a single star predominated. “The single star is rapidly waning,” he believed, “and when it disappears the hope of good acting will be much brighter than it is”

As for topical Brooklyn theatre news, the old Novelty on Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg was coming back after major renovations. It would follow a vaudeville policy this time, making it Brooklyn’s 12^th vaudeville and or burlesque theatre in contrast to eight legits. This was not a good sign for the future of Brooklyn theatre.

February 5-10, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Lost Paradise

Broadway: The Mayor of Tokio, with Richard Carle

Folly: How Baxter Butted In, with Sidney Toler

Grand Opera House: How Hearts Are Broken

Majestic: The Grafter, with Hap Ward

New Montauk: Wonderland, with Lottie Faust

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) By Right of Sword

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The African King

Shubert: The Bishop, with D.H. Thompson

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham,Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial

February 12-17, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Village Postmaster

Broadway:  The Rollicking Girl, with Sam Bernard

Folly: The Street Singer, with Florence Bindley

Grand Opera House: Behind the Mask

Majestic: Dockstader’s Minstrels

New Montauk: Moonshine, with Marie Cahill

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Still Alarm, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The James Boys in Missouri

Shubert: The Prince Chap, with Cyril Scott

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial

February 19-24, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Wedding March

Broadway: Her Great Match, with Maxine Elliott

Folly: Kellar, the magician

Grand Opera House:  Texas, with Mabel Dixey

Majestic: Trilby, with Wilton Lackaye

New Montauk: Man and Superman, with Robert Loraine, Ida Conquest

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) A Romance of Coon’s Hollow

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Jim Bludso

Shubert: Before and After, with Leo Ditrichstein

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial, Novelty 

February 26-March 3, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Never Again

Broadway:  The College Widow

Folly: Texas, with Mabel Dixey, Charles D. Coburn

Grand Opera House: The Volunteer Organist, with Violet Houck

Majestic: The Runaways, with George “Honey Boy” Evans

New Montauk: The Toast of the Town, with Viola Allen, Isabel Irving

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Zaza, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Dangers of Working Girls

Shubert: Old Lavender, with Edward Harrigan

Vaudeville and burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Unique, Gotham, Gayety, Keeney’s, Star, Nassau, Alcazar, Amphion, Imperial, Novelty