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Ethnic diversity was out, and bathtub gin was in. The Western
World was recovering from the shock of World War I. In the United
States, foreign policy was becoming increasingly isolationist
due to American distrust of the Treaty of Versailles. Prohibition
was in full-force throughout the country. The discovery of King
Tut’s tomb the year before was still a hot news topic and
inspired movies for years to come with legends of its curse.
Movie palaces were popping up all over the country including
Kansas City, their grandeur surpassing even the finest live theaters
of the day. While Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph
Valentino dominated the big screen, Al Jolson, Mae West, Fanny
Brice, and Sophie Tucker ruled the stage with their antics and
bawdy humor. Silent films were winning the hearts of Americans
nationwide, and the appeal of vaudeville was waning in the light
of a new, technological art form. Burlesque was again becoming “dirty.” As
flappers shortened their skirts and bobbed their hair, live shows
were forced to become more risque to compete.
In Kansas City, girlie shows were beginning to pop up along Twelfth Street,
a raucous place in 1923. The Shuberts, a prominent New York family that ran
one of the largest theater conglomerates of the twentieth century, had acquired
a lease on the Century Theatre. Not without trepidation, the family decided
to re-open the theater as a legitimate house, forsaking the more popular vaudeville
and the profits of burlesque. Renamed the Shubert’s Missouri and commonly
referenced as “the Missouri,” the theater became an island of legitimacy
in the midst of the chaos of Twelfth Street, presenting the plays of Shakespeare
and Eugene O’Neill, and featuring top-rated performers. In a letter dated
October 8, 1923, Ray Whittaker, manager of the Missouri and the nearby Sam
S. Shubert Theatre, conveyed numerous concerns to Lee Shubert about the state
of affairs on Twelfth Street and the growing challenges of presenting shows
in the neighborhood. “The Missouri which was formerly the Century the
last five years was a second rate burlesque house, the Edwards Hotel adjoining
was closed by Federal authorities for being a booze joint, one block below
the toughest restaurant in town was another booze joint. The gang there about
six weeks ago took the guns and clubs away from two policemen and threw them
out of the place…therefore you can see that the neighborhood is not really
the place for a family stock house.” (Shubert Archives, New York City)
The Shubert family also had serious concerns about re-opening the theater due
to the stigma of “burlesque” placed on it during the Century years.
In a letter to owner J.J. Shubert, Ray Whittaker noted that “the sooner
the theater’s association with burlesque in any form is destroyed the
better it will be for the more dignified policy to follow.” (Shubert Archives,
April 23, 1923)
In yet another letter to Lee Shubert, Fred Kimball, a representative
of Shubert interests in Kansas City prior to the opening of the
Missouri, stated: “As this theatre has been a notorious
Burlesque house for years and the Hotel next to the theatre which
is also owned by the Butler estate has been closed by the Federal
authorities it will be a tough proposition to get the better
class of women to come here.” (Shubert archives, September
16, 1923) These concerns raised questions of profitability for
the Shubert family. The Sam S. Shubert on the corner of Tenth
and Baltimore was the only remaining first-ratehouse in the city,
because the others had all become “second-rate” due
to their popular pricing policies and vaudeville bills. Five
months prior to opening the Missouri, the theater’s format
was still being debated as the Shubert family’s confidence
in Kansas City’s ability to support another legitimate house
was low.
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The family decided to remodel the theater according to the
designs of their house architect Herbert Krapp, a prolific architect
who designed numerous Broadway theaters. The wooden balconies
were replaced by a single, concrete-reinforced balcony, and the
seating capacity decreased considerably. The proscenium arch
was dropped 10 1/2 feet, and the theater was redecorated, retaining
only the chandeliers and the unusual painting above the proscenium.
The plaster relief on the walls was redone with shallow, stock
moldings and gone was the deep plaster relief of Louis Curtiss’ vision.
After the theater reopened on September 22, 1923, the review
of the National Players’ performance of “Why Men Leave
Home” by Avery Hopwood, contained comments about the new
interior. “It is a good looking theater, the Missouri. That
can be said without reservation. It is much roomier than in the
days of the Century and does not give the stuffy impression that
the Century always radiated. The color scheme is red and gold
with the seats in red plush and a gray carpet on the floor. There
are three parquet boxes on each side of the house and three balcony
ones. The lighting is effective.” (Kansas City Star, September
23, 1923)
The National Players, the stock company for the theater, consistently
presented quality legitimate theater. The production of “Why
Men Leave Home” was packed. The audience was composed largely
of the regular Sam S. Shubert clientele. (Shubert archives, September
24, 1923) The National Players continued presentations of some
of the most popular theater pieces of the day, and continued
their run for several seasons at the Missouri, including a unique
presentation of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms,
a New England version of the Hippolytus myth. The unusual set
made headlines: A house was built on the stage with the fourth
wall removed in different places as the action moved throughout
the house.
Road shows featuring top-rated-performers occasionally appeared. The Marx Brothers,
before hitting it big on Broadway and later going to Hollywood, performed “I’ll
Say She Is” for three weeks in late December 1923 and early January 1924.
Before they were known as Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, they were Julius,
Leonard, Arthur, and Herbert, as they were listed in the program. The show
was the first in Kansas City history to run for three weeks, and even had a
Christmas Day matinée. The Kansas City Star reported quite humorously
about the backstage problems with the show, the same type of problems that
plagued the theater since her doors opened. “The Missouri has possibly
the smallest stage of any theater in Kansas City and putting a large production
like I’ll Say She Is on it was nothing short of torture for the stage
crew…Once when Julius Marx and Lotta Miles were in front of the curtain,
the first row spectators heard a frantic ‘Stall! Stall!’ whispered
to the actors from the wings as a particularly heavy 20-foot set defied being
moved into a 15-foot space.” (Kansas City Star December 28, 1923) The
show was a resounding success and made the decision for the Shubert family
to keep the Missouri rather than to let go of the lease.
A then-unknown actor by the name of Humphrey Bogart appeared
at the Missouri in a 1924 production of Meet the Wife. A Bogart
biography outlines the tour of Meet the Wife as one of the Hollywood
icon’s first national roles though his name appears at the
bottom of the bill.
The 1927 – 28 Repertory season was performed by the National Players,
a troupe that occupied the theater for several seasons. Among the repertory
cast was popular actress Shirley Booth, known best decades later for her title
role in television’s Hazel.
In her last years as the Missouri, as if foreshadowing things to come, the
Shubert family subleased the theater to a burlesque troupe, not booking any
conglomerate-based performances after 1928 until the theater’s closure
in 1932. One of the most popular burlesque stage stars began her career at
the Missouri during that time. According to Gypsy Rose Lee’s autobiography,
Gypsy, she appeared in her first burlesque skit at the Missouri Theatre in
Kansas City in 1929. Gypsy’s vaudeville troupe, Rose Louise and Her Hollywood
Blondes, were to appear as the “legitimate act” in the show, until
producers saw Rose Louise and asked her to perform in a burlesque skit. She
changed her name, and the rest is history.
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