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The world was moving quickly, and Kansas City was no exception.
As the 20th century was ushered in, cultural changes reflected
the rapidly developing technology changes. Art abandoned all
traditional pretensions, and the era of the abstract began. Music
was in the process of rejecting traditional harmonies for the
discordant sounds of Schoenberg and Stravinsky. In August of
1901, an assassin named Leon Czolgosz ended the life of William
McKinley and made Theodore Roosevelt president of the United
States. Queen Victoria also ended her 63-year reign over Great
Britain, and her influence over the Western World diminished.
In downtown Kansas City, the Coates Opera House on the northwest
corner of Tenth and Broadway had been the primary theater for
the last 30 years of the 19th century. The Coates had made it
fashionable and acceptable for women to attend the theater and
presented some of the world’s top entertainers. On January
31, 1901, an hour after the opening performance of the Woodward
Stock Company’s “Hearts and Swords” featuring
Walker Whiteside, a fire was discovered. Within a couple of hours
all that remained of the Coates Opera House was the shell of
what had once been the premier Kansas City entertainment venue.
Before the flames were doused entirely, Mr. O.D. Woodward, owner of the Woodward
Stock Company, telephoned the owner of the Standard Theatre, Colonel Edward
Butler of St. Louis, and secured a lease on the building. All performances
were transferred from the Coates Opera House to the Standard Theatre, and all
scheduled road shows to appear at the Standard were moved to the Auditorium
at Ninth and Holmes.
The Standard Theater began presenting “legitimate” theater, changing
her name to Century Theater for the 1901 season. Home of the Woodward Stock
Company and featuring such prestigious performing groups as the Andrews Opera
Company, the theater adopted Shakespeare and Wagnerian operas as its mainstays
for the first two years of its stead as the Century. “The Grand Lady of
Twelfth Street” was an oasis of laughter and refinement in changing times.
During her time as the Century, the Wright Brothers flew the first engine-powered,
heavier-than-air machine. The North and South Poles were reached by humans
for the first time in history. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, and
Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity. The world experienced its
first World War. Prohibition began, and women were granted the right to vote
on a national level.
Silent film actress and native Kansas Citian Jeanne Eagels
began her career with the Woodward Stock Company at the age of
12, and performed her first public role on the stage of the Century
as Eva in a 1902 production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She was
nominated for an Academy Award® for her role in the 1929
film The Letter, but passed away unexpectedly before finding
out whether or not she won.
In August of 1902, the Woodward Stock Company relocated its performances to
the newly opened Willis Wood Theater, also a Louis Curtiss design, on the corner
of 11th and Baltimore. The Century lessened presentations of legitimate theater,
and the main attractions were again vaudeville and burlesque.
Joe Donegan, manager of the theater from about 1902 until 1922, staged special
events at the theater in the midst of the legitimate theater. Vaudeville and
burlesque returned, and Donegan also presented appearances by such legendary
pugilists as Packy McFarland, Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey. Donegan was a
local hero, earning and giving away several fortunes in his lifetime. He ran
the Century Theatre as well as the adjoining Edwards Hotel grill.
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As hemlines rose fashionably throughout the first two decades
of the twentieth century, burlesque was forced to bare its legs
proportionately in order to remain attractive to its male-dominated
audiences. The humor was blue, the laughs were loud, and the
house was full.
On the afternoon of May 3, 1920, a fire was discovered under the balcony just
moments before the curtain rose for the matinée performance. The blaze
was blamed on faulty wiring, the 600 patrons were evacuated safely, and the
performance was canceled. The front interior of the theater was damaged to
the tune of $25,000, the wooden balconies were partially damaged, as well as
the lobby. Unshakable manager Joe Donegan refused to allow a fire to stop the
evening show, so the performance went on as planned with sawdust on the floor
of the orchestra pit to absorb the water left from dousing the flames. The
theater continued to operate as usual. The Century Theatre remained a vaudeville
house until 1922 when she closed for renovations. She would remain closed until
she celebrated another grand opening in September 1923 under the direction
of the Shubert family.
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–> Next Folly Era
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