1906: AUGUST-SEPTEMBER

As the listings below make clear, the new season of 1906-1907 got off to an earlier start than ever, with the Amphion (now calling itself Blaney’s Amphion, or, simply, Blaney's, after its proprietor, Charles H. Blaney, a prolific melodramatist) and Corse Payton’s Lee Avenue Theatre challenging the warm weather by opening on July 30. Blaney’s Amphion abandoned vaudeville now and concentrated on legitimate combinations.

The bulk of local theatres would not officially open until around Labor Day, as was traditional, but you can see below the gradual addition of legitimate theatres even before then, including the (New) Grand Family Theatre (which wouldn't last long), the Majestic, and the Broadway in mid-August. (The burlesque and vaudeville houses opened at a similar pace.) The Grand Family (“New” was soon ignored) was the old Unique, a Williamsburg vaudeville house, now trying a program of cheap melodrama and the like. Then, a week before Labor Day, five more playhouses joined the parade, so Labor Day had only the New Montauk to add to make the picture complete. Among them was the Columbia, resuming its original name, dropping that of the Alcazar, and shifting from vaudeville back to legit.

Thus, in brief, the major changes to the landscape were: the old Amphion, now advertising as Blaney’s Amphion, and doing legit; the former Unique, now called the Grand Family, and switching to legit; the old Columbia, known recently as the Alcazar, now taking back its first name and again producing legit. When the new season was in full blast, there would be 12 legitimate theatres and nine for burlesque or vaudeville, or a combination of them. This was a significant realignment of what had had been on view the previous season, when the non-legits seemed to be gobbling the legits up like hot dogs at a Nathan’s Famous eating contest.  

Meanwhile, as the ads below make clear, the summertime entertainments at the beach theatres and arenas, from Dreamland to Luna Park to Bostock’s Arena and so on, continued through much of September, allowing Brooklyn theatregoers to find their theatrical amusements in both the southern and northern portions of the borough.

The most notable news regarding a Brooklyn theatre—apart from re-naming or policy shifts—was the installation of a new fire safety device at the New Montauk, already considered by some “the most perfect theatre in the world” (Standard Union, August 26). Invented by Charles Autenrieth, an electrical engineer, and Richard Chandler, the theatre’s master machinist, it enabled a simple touch of an electrical button to lower the asbestos curtain, open the great skylights over the stage, and close the large steel fire doors separating the dressing rooms from the stage, protecting them from fire. (A more detailed explanation of how the system worked is in the Eagle, July 29.) Daily testing was done to ensure continued viability, and the staff performed regular fire drills to prepare for any emergencies.

Theatrically, nothing of particular historical import filled the borough’s stages, the legit offerings being popular musicals, comedies, farces, and the like. The Spooner Stock Company at the Bijou, where sisters Edna May Spooner and Cecil Spooner had long shared the leading lady duties, watched Cecil depart--as she once had tried to do earlier--to launch an independent career as a star. In October she'd be starring at the Montauk in her vehicle, The Girl Raffles.

A solid number of notable visiting actors were on hand selling their latest products, many of them seen the previous season as well. These included the Russell Brothers, Billy B. Van, Andrew Mack, George Walker and Bert Williams, De Wolf Hopper, Robert Edeson, Dustin Farnum Raymond Hitchcock, Lottie Williams, Nat M. Wills, Francis Wilson, and Henry E. Dixey, all—except for the more seriously inclined Edeson and Farnum—experts at the lighter forms of entertainment. The wide variety of performers who graced local vaudeville stages can be gleaned from the ads below.

Brooklynites hungry for strong plays and grand acting would have to be patient as the season rolled along.

July 30-August 4, 1906

Blaney’s Amphion: Across the Pacific, with Johnny Hoey

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Masqueraders, with Corse Payton,

August 6-11, 1906

Blaney’s Amphion: The Devil’s Auction

Grand Family Theatre: (formerly Unique Theatre) The King of Diamonds

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

August 13-18, 1906

Blaney’s Amphion: The Great Jewel Mystery, with the Russell Brothers

Grand Family Theatre: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Majestic: The Yankee Consul, with Harry Short (opens Saturday, August 18)

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Soldiers of Fortune, with Etta Reed Payton

Burlesque: Imperial, Star (both open Saturday, August 18)

August 20-25, 1906

Bijou: If I Were King

Blaney’s Amphion: The Queen of the Circus, with Beatrice Vance

Broadway: The Gingerbread Man

Grand Family Theatre: Ragged Hero

Majestic: The Yankee Consul

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Minister’s Son: 

Burlesque: Imperial, Star

August 27-September 1, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Graustark 

Blaney’s Amphion: The Curse of Drink

Folly: The Power of Money

Grand Family Theatre: Jekyll and Hyde

Grand Opera House: The Convict’s Daughter 

Majestic: The New Errand Boy, with Billy B. Van

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Eternal City

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Lighthouse By the Sea

Shubert: Happyland (opens Saturday, September 1)

Vaudeville and burlesque: Gotham, Gayety, Imperial, Star

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Factory Girl

Blaney’s Amphion: The Millionaire Detective

Broadway: Arrah-na-Pogue, with Andrew Mack

Folly: Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl 

Grand Family Theatre: Lost in New York

Grand Opera House: A Bad Man from Mexico

Majestic: Abyssinia, with Walker and Williams

New Montauk: His Honor the Mayor, with Harry Kelly, Trixie Friganza

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

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) A Devil in Skirts

Shubert: Happyland, with De Wolf Hopper

Vaudeville and burlesque: Gotham, Gayety, Novelty, Hyde & Behman, Imperial, Star, Orpheum, Keeney’s

September 10-15, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Leah, the Forsaken

Blaney’s Amphion: Wild Nell, A Child of the Regiment

Broadway: Strongheart, with Robert Edeson

Folly: The Errand Boy, with Billy B. Van

Grand Family: Montana

Grand Opera House: The Ninety and Nine

Majestic: Abyssinia, with Williams and Walker

New Montauk: The Galloper, with Raymond Hitchcock 

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Fatal Card

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) On the Bridge at Midnight

Shubert: The Press Agent, with Peter F. Daily

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

September 17-22, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Mr. Barnes of New York

Blaney’s Amphion: A Race for Life

Broadway: Babes in Toyland

Columbia: (Alcazar reverts to its original name) A Woman of Fire

Folly: Secrets of the Police

Grand Family: The Corner Grocery

Grand Opera House: My Tom-Boy Girl, with Lottie Williams

Majestic: Breaking Into Society, with the Four Mortons

New Montauk: The College Widow

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Girl I Left Behind Me, with Ella Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Convict’s Daughter

Shubert: The Man on the Box, with Henry E. Dixey

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

September 24-29, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Du Barry

Blaney’s Amphion: A Millionaire’s Revenge

Broadway: The Virginian, with Dustin Farnum

Columbia: A Square Deal

Folly: My Tom-Boy Girl, with Lottie Williams

Grand Family: Gypsy Jack

Grand Opera House: Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl

Majestic: A Lucky Dog, with Nat M. Wills

New Montauk: The Mountain Climber, with Francis Wilson

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) The Two Orphans

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) Under Two Flags

Shubert: The Prince Chap, with Cyril Scott

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