Humphrey Bogart, burlesque & a resident ghost: The history of KC’s oldest theater
The 125-year history of the Folly Theater has been marked by nothing if not change.
Its birth name in 1900 was the Standard, but it evolved to the Century, the Missouri and the Folly Burlesque before landing on its current title.
The content of its productions has included legitimate theater, vaudeville, burlesque, striptease, movies (many X-rated), classical music and jazz as well as occasional forays into boxing, bodybuilding and politics.
Stars who have graced its stage have ranged from Humphrey Bogart to the Marx Brothers, Gypsy Rose Lee to Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma to “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Barack Obama to Dolly Parton, Walter Cronkite to Tempest Storm (who appeared together).
But the city’s oldest operating theater has seen one constant almost from the beginning: Joe Donegan.
Known as the “Angel of Twelfth Street” because of his generous nature, Donegan keeps on giving 95 years after his death. Donegan managed what was then the Century Theater and its adjoining hotel from 1902 to 1922 — and he evidently has remained there ever since.
Call him a ghost if you must, but his presence is an undeniable part of Folly lore.
Kate Egan, who was the Folly’s director of theater operations from 1998 to 2004, will make a presentation on the theater’s history as part of the 125th anniversary celebration Sunday at the Kansas City Public Library. Although she never encountered Donegan, she has absolutely no doubt that he still occupies the premises.
“I don’t have that relationship with the astral plane,” she said. “There are people who do.
“I’ve had multiple phone calls … from people saying they had seen him, they’d had conversations with him.”
Egan has a pantry full of stories about Donegan encounters. They include a young girl who carried on a detailed conversation about the long-gone grill in the downstairs area with a man seemingly in costume; police who drove by late at night and saw a man standing in the lobby only to return to find the theater empty; and a custodian who had regular rendezvous with a spirit/man.
Egan quizzed the custodian on the relationship.
“I was like, ‘OK. Does he talk to you, because I’m getting phone calls from people saying they’ve had conversations?’” she said. “He said, ‘No, but he’s always there. I kind of talk to him and tell him what’s going on. He’s always very friendly, but he’s just kind watching over the place.’
“I said, ‘Cool. Ask him if his name is Joe. Because I think it’s Joe.’ He came back to me three or four months later, somewhere in the theater, he just walked by and said, ‘His name’s Joe.’”
Colorful history
Ghosts aside, Egan said the Folly’s most colorful period was the 1920s, when it was called the Missouri. The famous showbiz family the Shuberts had sunk $128,000 into a renovation, but the venture was struggling to make money shortly after reopening in 1923. The Shuberts “were about to give up on it,” Egan said.
Then the Marx Brothers rode to the rescue with a show titled “I’ll Say She Is.”
“It was a huge hit,” Egan said. “It was the first time that a show ran in Kansas City for three weeks … and that’s what changed their mind to stay and keep managing the theater through the ’20s.”
Shortly thereafter, Bogart appeared in the 1924 production of “Meet the Wife.” And in 1929, Lee made her first burlesque appearance — an unplanned performance after years as a vaudeville act — before going on to become the world’s most famous striptease artist. That chapter of her life is told in the second act of the Broadway musical “Gypsy,” although the setting is changed to Wichita.
Here are some other lesser-known facts about the Standard/Century/Missouri/Folly:
- The outlaw Frank James worked as a ticket taker at the Century after leaving prison.
- Heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson and his wife, unable to book a downtown room because they were a mixed-race couple, stayed in an apartment between the two balconies while putting on exhibitions at the Century in 1912.
- The vice squad raided the Folly on May 28, 1963, when “dancers were found to be disrobing completely on the stage,” according to The Star. Three dancers, the theater owner and six employees were arrested. The audience included two 16-year-old boys who were expected to be summoned as witnesses.
- On the evening of Dec. 28, 1969, the same day a representative of a new ownership group was quoted in The Star saying the Folly was “a filthy pig pen” and that his group was “hoping to make a clean house of it” by replacing the “vulgar … and cheap” strippers with adult films, someone dropped a stick of dynamite in a drain pipe outside the theater. The resulting blast merely damaged an exterior brick wall.
- On Dec. 29, 1970, a federal judge declared a film playing at the Folly (“Anomalies”) obscene and ordered it to be seized.
- During a $4.4 million restoration that began in mid-1970s, workers removed 9 1/2 tons of pigeon dung.
A Folly timeline
- Sept. 23, 1900: Opened as the Standard at 300 W. 12th St.
- 1901: Name was changed from the Standard to the Century, operating primarily as a vaudeville venue.
- 1923-32: The Shubert family changed the name to the Missouri, presenting legitimate theater acts along with vaudeville and eventually burlesque.
- 1932-41: Offered only occasional shows because of the Depression.
- 1941: Reopened as the Folly Burlesque, moving to striptease and, in the 1960s, to adult films.
- 1973: The theater closed and was slated for demolition.
- 1974: Placed on the National Register of Historic Places after a community campaign to save it.
- Nov. 10, 1981: The renovated Folly had its grand reopening; it has since hosted top performers from around the world.
How the Folly is celebrating its 125th anniversary
- Local artist Chico Sierra’s new mural on the theater’s front windows honors the occasion.
- At 2 p.m. Sept. 21, Kate Egan, the Folly’s director of theater operations from 1998 to 2004, will make a presentation titled “The Grand Lady of 12th Street: 125 Years of the Folly Theater” at the Kansas City Public Library’s downtown location, followed by an open house with tours of the theater.
- On Sept. 23 — exactly 125 years since the opening — the Kansas City skyline will be lit in gold to honor the anniversary and a local soul group, The Freedom Affair, will highlight a birthday celebration at the Folly
- Five-time Grammy winner Samara Joy will headline the annual fundraiser Folly Frolic at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22.
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
