1906: NOVEMBER

Fritzie Scheff and William Pruette in M'lle Modiste.

Brooklyn’s theatre landscape had changed again by November, although silently as far as can be determined from reports in the press. Without any fuss, the recently named Grand Family Theatre of Williamsburg, which just a few weeks earlier had begun presenting legitimate theatre after years of specializing in vaudeville as the Unique Theatre, vanished into thin air. (Cezar Del Valle's comprehensive Brooklyn Theatre Index, Vol. 1, fails to mention the existence of the Grand Family Theatre in his listing of the names held by this establishment at 194 Grand Street.) This left the borough with 11 legit theatres, three of them—the Bijou, the Lee Avenue, and Phillips’ Lyceum—devoted to stock, while seven venues offered vaudeville, burlesque, or a combination of both, bringing the total to 18 Brooklyn theatres. This was quite far from the total across the river, where one Brooklyn newspaper listed 47 theatrical establishments of all types, many—but not all—forming the Broadway of 1906. 

News periodically arrived of the funding that would add another theatre by reviving the late, lamented Brooklyn Academy of Music, an all-important cultural center for other types of public presentation, from opera to dance to lectures to theatre. On November 24, the Daily Times reported that the project was short of its fundraising goal of what was now $1 million by $96,000, a firm enough basis on which to get the building’s construction moving ahead by the signing of contracts. Among the plans to raise the money was a huge fair to be held at the Forty-seventh Armory in the coming spring, the largest such event of its kind ever to have been seen in Brooklyn. This was intended to allow the general public—those unable to buy shares at $100 par—to contribute in a more affordable way. It was hoped that President Theodore Roosevelt could be persuaded to open the fair.

As far as theatre production in November 1906, nothing much unusual occurred. The most glittering names sprinkling their stardust were musical comedy star Fritzi Scheff in M’lle Modiste; dramatic star Ethel Barrymore in James M. Barrie's latest hit, Alice Sit-by-the-Fire; Louis Mann and his wife, Clara Lipman, in her play Julie Bon-Bon; Thomas E. Shea, still barnstorming with a repertoire of his favorites, including Othello; leading man, James K. Hackett with an Alfred Sutro drama from London, The Walls of Jericho; popular Irish actor-singer Chauncey Olcott in a new Irish play with music, Eileen Asthore; Nat C. Goodwin in The Genius, by William and Cecil B. de Mille; a return visit from Brooklyn stock favorite-turned-star Cecil Spooner, in The Girl Raffles, and a few shows of slightly lesser brightness.

One unusual artist was actress-singer Jessie Mae Hall, in A Southern Vendetta, unusual because she was described as “the smallest woman star in this or any other country,” being four feet eight inches in height, but with a voice of “remarkable sweetness and of wonderful range and power,” said the Daily Times of November 17.

The Clansman, Thomas Dixon’s pro-KKK play described here after its 1905 Brooklyn production, was back, and this time there was much agitation about it in the African American community. A delegation of five Black leaders was formed to request its suppression, or revision, if it was to avoid the kind of violent protests greeting it in other cities, like Philadelphia, whose mayor stopped it. Leaders of the borough’s Board of Estimate, including Borough President Coler, who found it offensive, were in favor of cancelling, especially after a rousing speech from one of the delegates who argued that the play would ignite racial tensions and seriously anger Brooklyn’s 60,000 Blacks.

During the week, meetings had been held in all the Black churches, clubs, and other groups to complain about The Clansman. A Black physician from Philadelphia, who had been instrumental in opposing that city’s production, showed up in Brooklyn, hoping to achieve the same result. There were hurried but unsuccessful attempts to reach the top police brass before the third deputy police commissioner summoned Coler and several members of the delegation, who hopped into an automobile for the trip to Manhattan’s police HQ. 

But the authorities, after much discussion with all the parties involved, allowed the play to open, albeit with a robust police presence to resist violent protests. In the end, the play went on as scheduled, the authorities claiming they had no right to close it. Despite dissatisfaction in the Black community, including an irate outburst by a woman visiting the police commissioner’s office, the show went on and there were no violent protests.

On a different note, I record here for the ages that the New Montauk Theatre announced that for the first time in years it would have no Christmas matinee. Brooklyn Life believed this was a “significant” innovation representing “a radical revolt against custom that may spread until no first-class theater will open its doors on Christmas Day.” Not only did the theatre’s manager and the visiting production’s manager agree happily to this decision, so did star John Drew, who thought actors needed that day for a family Christmas dinner as much as anyone else. The writer, also favoring the idea, even suggested there be no evening show that day as well, Christmas Day being, after all, a religious festival.

November 5-10, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) A Young Wife

Blaney’s Amphion: The Gypsy Girl, with Dolly Kemper

Broadway: M’lle Modiste, with Fritzi Scheff

Columbia: Queen of the Convicts, with Selma Herman

Folly: Queen of the Highbinders

Grand Opera House: The Girl and the Gambler, with Florence Bindley

Majestic: The Old Homestead

New Montauk: Alice Sit-By-the-Fire, with Ethel Barrymore

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Pudd’nhead Wilson

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Northfield Bank Robbery, of the Younger Brothers

Shubert: Julie Bon-Bon, with Louis Mann. Clara Lipman

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

November 12-17, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Galley Slave

Blaney’s Amphion: Queen of the Convicts, with Selma Herman 

Broadway: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, with Madge Carr Cook 

Columbia: At Cripple Creek

Folly: Home Folks

Grand Opera House: The Bells, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Othello, with Thomas E. Shea

Majestic: Red Feather

New Montauk: The Walls of Jericho, with James K. Hackett

Payton’s Lee Avenue: (Lee Avenue Stock Company) Rupert of Hentzau, with Etta Reed Payton

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) 

Shubert: Before and After, with Leo Ditrichstein

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

November 19-24, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) Out of the Fold

Blaney’s Amphion:  A Southern Vendetta, with Jessie May Hall

Broadway: The Genius, with Nat C. Goodwin

Columbia: The Cow Puncher

Folly: The Bells, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Fool’s Revenge, Othello, Napoleon the Great, with Thomas E. Shea

Grand Opera House: A Midnight Escape

Majestic: Eileen Asthore, with Chauncey Olcott

New Montauk: Mamselle Sallie, with Katy Barry, John Slavin

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

Phillips’ Lyceum: (Lyceum Stock Company) The Life that Kills

Shubert: Mrs. Temple’s Telegram, with William Morris, Harry Conor

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

November 26-December 1, 1906

Bijou: (Spooner Stock Company) The Masque of the White Rose

Blaney’s Amphion: The Hall-Room Boys

Broadway: The Clansman

Columbia: The Phantom Detective

Folly: The Girl Raffles, with Cecil Spooner

Grand Opera House: Around the Clock, with Ritchie London Comedy Company

Majestic: Eileen Asthore, with Chauncey Olcott

New Montauk: The Vanderbilt Cup, with Elsie Janis

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

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

Shubert: Brown of Harvard, with Henry Woodruff 

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