Lawrence Theater Featured 'Gallery Gods' 50 Years Ago
Theatre-going in Lawrence no longer is the spectacle it was in the days when the "gallery gods" of KU reigned supreme at the Bowersock Opera House.
From 1882 until 1915 the Bowersock was the Lawrence house of tragedy, drama, comedy and occasionally burlesque. The gallery gods were KU students who
were self-appointed arbiter of "theatre society" and of the performances.
Arriving early, they took their seats in the heavens and announced in loud unison the names of university couples-faculty or students-as the couples entered the parquet below.
ONCE THE CURTAIN went up, the "gods" frequently prodded actors unsure of their lines, and provided other unsolicited stage directions.
That the gallery gods were something of an institution is indicated by this item from the "Kansan" of Oct. 24, 1908:
"Merely because the students at the play last night were calling for the usual rendition of Boola-Boola, ex-Congressman Bowersock appeared in the gallery with a squad of police and attempted to suppress the demonstration.
ATTEMPTS TO emulate the stage professionals apparently did not come to the serious attention of students until the Bowersock had been operating several years
After sizing up the situation, however, the minions of the law decided to lay hands on no one, as the 'gods' numbered about 200 and showed a disposition to hold together."
In 1891 the music department presented "The Bohemian Girl" at the Bowersock, and the first senior play, a burlesque of "Julius Caesar," was presented the following year.
LONGHAIR TO SCHMALTZ—The Bowersock Theatre or Opera House catered to both audiences at the turn of the century when motion pictures began to eclipse live drama in popularity. The Bowersock ran these advertisements in the Kansan.
A dramatics club organized in 1898 became known by 1906 as the Masque. Dramatics clubs increased so rapidly in the early 1900's that the university administration became concerned and put all university plays under the supervision of one department.
The Bowersock offerings began to dwindle in 1914, partly because of the popularity of the motion picture in Lawrence at a remarkably early date.
ALTHOUGH THE theater art was in its infancy in 1903, Lawrence possessed a motion picture house that year. Mrs. Clair Patee, a former Lawrence resident, was living in New York in the summer of 1903 and was inveigled into buying from a young Frenchman "a funny-looking machine that could make pictures move."
After trying to get established with the machine in New York, Mrs. Patce was called to Lawrence by the illness of her parents. She rented a building here for the sole purpose of showing moving pictures.
12 Daily Kansam Friday, November 12. 1965
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