By MATT PIKE
A century of movies, vaudeville acts, theater, symphony and performing arts will be celebrated at the Historic Missouri Theater as part of the Centennial Celebration series.
The event on Sunday, May 17th will be highlighted by a showing of the silent film ‘It’, starring Clara Bow at 3:00 PM with doors opening at 2:30 PM. ‘Rough House Rosie’ starring Clara Bow was the featured motion picture when the theater first opened its doors on June 25, 1927 at 6:30 PM. Admission to see the movie was 25¢. Due to the poor quality of film used and inadequate storage facilities, most of the film disintegrated and only a short trailer is available today.
The celebration will begin with a dance and musical routine titled ‘The Ragtime Revelers’ choregraphed by Liza Heeler and featuring dancers from The Dance Arts Center. The dance pays homage to the vaudeville acts and variety shows of the 1920s. A Charlie Chaplin short, ‘The Adventurer’ will precede ‘IT’.
Organ accompanist, Marvin Faulwell and percussionist, Bob Keckeisen of Topeka, Kansas will provide the ‘live’ soundtrack for the afternoon. Both are regular musicians at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in Topeka. Mr. Faulwell composed the music that they will be playing for ‘IT’. After a short intermission, the documentary ‘Clara Bow: Discovering the IT Girl’ , a collaboration between Hugh Hefner and Turner Classic Movies. It is narrated by Courtney Love.
The documentary traces Bow’s life from Brooklyn tenement to silent screen stardom. Bow was considered Hollywood’s first sex symbol during the Roaring Twenties. She appeared in 57 to 58 films between 1922 and 1933. Known as the ‘It Girl’, Bow starred in 46 silent films and 11 ‘talkies’ (sound films). Her most famous roles include Mantrap, It, and Academy Award winning Wings.
This program is presented in cooperation with the Centennial Celebration Series in anticipation of the 100th Anniversary of the Missouri Theater and Saint Joseph City Hall in 2027. Co-sponsors of this silent film afternoon are the Saint Joseph Performing Arts Association and the City of St. Joseph.
Tickets for the celebration are $12.25 and can be purchased in advance at JoMoTickets.com or at the door on May 17th. For more information, go online to PreservationGuild.org or phone Committee Chair, Lori McAlister at 402-802-2099
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.