Standard Theatre (Folly Theater) | |
Location | 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Missouri |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°6′7″N94°35′13″W / 39.10194°N 94.58694°W |
Built | 1900 |
Architect | Louis S. Curtiss |
NRHP reference No. | 74001074 |
Added to NRHP | June 05, 1974 [1] |
The Standard Theatre, now known as the Folly Theater and also known as the Century Theater and Shubert's Missouri, is a former vaudeville hall in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Built in 1900, it was designed by Kansas City architect Louis S. Curtiss. The theater was associated with the adjoining Edward Hotel (known later as the Hotel Missouri), which was also designed by Curtiss; the hotel was demolished in 1965.
The Standard Theatre opened with 2,400 seats on September 23, 1900, featuring burlesque and vaudeville. [2] It was built by Colonel Edward Butler of St. Louis, Missouri, at a cost of $250,000, for his son to present shows on the Empire vaudeville circuit. [3] In 1901, a fire at the nearby Coates Opera House caused opera and comic opera performances to be moved to the Standard, featuring such performers as Sarah Bernhardt, Richard Mansfield, and Maude Adams. The theater's name changed to the "Century" in 1902. The Century featured acts from the Empire burlesque circuit, including Al Jolson, Fannie Brice, and Eddie Foy. In addition to theater acts, the Century featured prizefighting and wrestling, with appearances by Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey. Johnson stayed in the manager's apartment, as hotels refused to rent him a room. [4]
The Shubert brothers bought the Century in 1923 and renamed it "Shubert's Missouri" after extensive renovations by Shubert architect Herbert J. Krapp. [5] The Shuberts booked dramatic productions including Shakespeare and O'Neill plays. The Marx Brothers performed I'll Say She Is for three weeks in 1923-24, the long run convincing the Shuberts to continue operating the theater. [5] After 1928, business began falling off and the theater was used for touring shows on an intermittent basis until it closed in 1932. After a tax sale it eventually reopened in 1941 as "The Folly", featuring striptease. Performers included Gypsy Rose Lee and Tempest Storm, and Chesty Gabor before the Folly closed in January 1974. The theater began showing "adult" movies in 1969, apparently prompting an unknown person to plant a dynamite stick in a drainpipe on December 29, 1969. [6]
In 1974 the theater's then owners, Annbar Associates and Elk Realty of New York announced that if a new buyer could not be identified by the end of the year, the theater would be demolished to make way for a parking lot. [7] A group of local historic preservation activists, including Joan Dillon and William N. Deramus III, formed a nonprofit, the Performing Arts Foundation, to raise the money to purchase and restore the theater. The theater was offered for sale for $950,000. Performing Arts Foundation raised $350,000 in contributions and through negotiation convinced Annbar Associates to offer the remaining $600,000 of the purchase price as a donation. [7] Following the Folly's listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, [1] a "Strip the Folly" fundraiser was held featuring Sally Rand, who had performed at the Folly. After seven years a full renovation was completed in 1981, including the construction of an annex on the site of the former Edward Hotel. [8]
In the Folly's centennial year of 2000, a new lobby, restrooms, and second-floor Shareholders' Room were added. In 2005, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Folly's reopening, the auditorium's original color scheme was restored. Plans are now under way, and approval has been granted by the Kansas City Landmarks Commission, to install a marquee sign that closely mimics the original Folly signage.
The Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City, d.b.a. The Folly Theater, is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation whose mission is "to preserve Kansas City's oldest historic theater as a premier performance venue by presenting, producing, and hosting a wide range of quality events for the community". The Folly produces a Jazz Series, a Kids Series, and "Cyprus Avenue Live!" performances by artists ranging from blues to rock and country. It hosts the Harriman-Jewell Series of classical performers, the Friends of Chamber Music series, the Heartland Men's Chorus, and KC Burlesque's Kansas City Burlesque Festival, the first burlesque performance revival of The Folly Theater.
The Neo-Palladian facade uses Carthage limestone and red pressed brick, with an adapted Palladian window centered in the facade. Rather than a fully glazed infill within the limestone Palladian framework, the lower portion of the unit uses three arched windows with an entablature over the center window dividing it from the lunette under the principal arch. The street level is heavily rusticated limestone with three arched entrances and wrapping a short way around the right (east) side to form an additional arch. The east wall contains small limestone-framed ventilation openings near the top, as well as emergency exits and a 19-foot (5.8 m) high opening for stage scenery. The building is 125 feet (38 m) deep, 70 feet (21 m) wide and 65 feet (20 m) high. [4]
The interior structure mixes steel and wood construction. There is a basement under the stage, housing mechanical systems and backstage service spaces. The main floor is entered through a lobby and a box office area. The house contains three sections of seats facing a highly decorated proscenium arch. The house is flanked by balcony-level boxes, with the main balcony to the rear. The stage is provided with a fly loft, fly balconies, a scenery workshop, and ten dressing rooms. Interior decoration is predominantly red and gold. [4]
The exterior is largely unaltered, but the interior has been substantially renovated. In 1923, the lobby was reduced in size, moving the box office and eliminating a secondary box office for the balcony, while the balcony itself and a gallery level were replaced by a single larger balcony, reducing seating capacity. Plasterwork in the upper levels was replaced at this time, and a manager's apartment was removed. [4]
Current seating capacity is 1,078 seats. [9]
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when it was completely remodeled by Herbert J. Krapp. Due to the size of its auditorium, stage, and backstage facilities, it is favored for large musical productions. It has 1,600 seats and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City landmark.
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain.
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theater at 1564 Broadway, facing Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchhoff & Rose, the theater was funded by Martin Beck and opened in 1913. From its opening to about 1929, the Palace was considered among vaudeville performers as the flagship venue of Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee II's organization. The theater had 1,743 seats across three levels as of 2018.
The Michigan Theater is a movie palace in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, near the Central Campus of the University of Michigan. It shows independent films and stage productions, and hosts musical concerts.
The Trocadero Theatre is a historic theater located in Chinatown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It offered musical comedies, vaudeville, opera, and burlesque. The Trocadero Theatre was refurbished for use as an art house cinema and fine arts theatre in 1970s, and by the 1990s had become an iconic venue for rock and punk concerts.
The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theater at 225 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance style and was built for the Shubert brothers. Lee and J. J. Shubert had named the theater in memory of their brother Sam S. Shubert, who died in an accident several years before the theater's opening. It has 1,502 seats across three levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The facade and interior are New York City landmarks.
CIBC Theatre is a performing arts theater located at 18 West Monroe Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago. It is operated by Broadway In Chicago, part of the Nederlander Organization. Opened in 1906 as the Majestic Theatre, it currently seats 1,800 and for many years has presented Broadway shows. In its early years, the theater presented vaudeville celebrity acts.
The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts is a performing arts center and flagship for dance in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Cowles Center was developed as an incubation project by Artspace Projects, Inc and includes the refurbished 500-seat Goodale Theater ; the Hennepin Center for the Arts, home to 20 leading dance and performing arts organizations; a state-of-the-art education studio housing a distance learning program; and an atrium connecting the buildings. The Cowles Center is a catalyst for the creation, presentation and education of dance in the Twin Cities.
Herbert J. Krapp was a theatre architect and designer in the early part of the twentieth century.
The Mainstreet Theater, also commonly referred to as The Empire Theater, is a historic theater in downtown Kansas City, Missouri in the Power & Light District. The theater was landmarked and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 2007.
The Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings, also known as the Monroe Block, is a historic district located along a block-and-a-half stretch at 16-118 Monroe Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, just off Woodward Avenue at the northern end of Campus Martius. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The thirteen original buildings were built between 1852 and 1911 and ranged from two to five stories in height. The National Theatre, built in 1911, was the oldest surviving theatre in Detroit, a part of the city's original theatre district of the late 19th century, and the sole surviving structure from the original Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings historic period.
The Great Southern Hotel & Theatre is an historic hotel and theater building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The building currently operates as the Westin Great Southern Columbus and the Southern Theatre.
The Majestic Theatre is a performing arts theater in the City Center District of Downtown Dallas. It is the last remnant of Theater Row, the city's historic entertainment center on Elm Street, and is a contributing property in the Harwood Street Historic District. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre is an apartment building and theater complex located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places by its original name, the Hotel Mississippi and RKO Orpheum Theater. The Hotel Mississippi was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005. In 2020 the complex was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.
The National Theater is a historic theater in Richmond, Virginia. Part of a section of Broad Street once known as Theatre Row, the National is the only one of the three original auditoriums still standing. Built in 1923, the theater was constructed with an adaptable stage that allowed it to show early motion pictures as well as live performances. It experienced a 1968 conversion to a dedicated cinema house and was renamed the TowneTheater, in which capacity it operated until closing in 1983. After an extensive renovation, the theater reopened in 2008 as The National, serving as a live music and performing arts venue.
The Columbia Amusement Company, also called the Columbia Wheel or the Eastern Burlesque Wheel, was a show business organization that produced burlesque shows in the United States between 1902 and 1927. Each year, between three and four dozen Columbia burlesque companies would travel in succession round a "wheel" of theaters, ensuring steady employment for performers and a steady supply of new shows for participating theaters. For much of its history the Columbia Wheel promoted relatively "clean" variety shows featuring comedians and pretty girls. Eventually the wheel was forced out of business due to changing tastes and competition from its one-time subsidiary and eventual rival, the Mutual Burlesque Association, as well as cinemas and cruder stock burlesque companies.
Isidore H. Herk was a burlesque manager who played a major role in the evolution of this entertainment before World War II. His show at the Gaiety Theatre, closed in 1941, was the last burlesque show on Broadway.
The Columbia Theatre was an American burlesque theater on Seventh Avenue at the north end of Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Operated by the Columbia Amusement Company between 1910 and 1927, it specialized in "clean", family-oriented burlesque, similar to vaudeville. Many stars of the legitimate theater or of films were discovered at the Columbia. With loss of audiences to cinema and stock burlesque, the owners began to offer slightly more risqué material from 1925. The theater was closed in 1927, renovated and reopened in 1930 as a cinema called the Mayfair Theatre. It went through various subsequent changes and was later renamed the DeMille Theatre. Nothing is left of the theater.
Joan Kent Dillon was a teacher, a nationally known historic preservation activist and an author.
The Palace Theatre is a historic theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Dating from 1916, it was renovated in 2016 to become a live music venue.