Folly Theatre

One of the most eye catching and historic theaters in all of Overland is the Folly Theater, and its rich, diverse history is certainly worth exploring! Just like many Etobicoke real estate homes, there is much more to the Folly Theater than meets the eye!

The Folly Theater originally opened in 1900 as a burlesque and vaudeville house, the theatre sat on the corner of 12th and Central (near 110 Bloor) and it was the grand showpiece of Kansas City based architect Louis Curtiss's work. At that time it was known as The Standard Theater and was built by Colonel Edward Butler for a mere $250,000 as a place for his son James J. Butler, a huge fan of the vaudeville craze, to house shows and put on the performances he most wanted to see and ones that he knew would draw a crowd.

The first production opened on September 23, 1900, during the Age of Innocence. Women who attended the show were clad in traditional ankle-length dresses and boots that buttoned up to their knees, even though the city was suffering under the oppressive Indian summer heat. Men sported their best top hats and spats. Queen Victoria still reigned supreme in England, and her strong influence on behavior and expectations for traditional gender roles was surely felt in the upper classes throughout the whole of the Western World, including the Midwestern States. Nonetheless, the strangle hold of Victoria's strict codes of etiquette and staunch morality was waning in this, the dawn of a new age as burlesque shows and printing factory lofts came into fashion.

Dismayed that there were only 20 or so women in attendance for the opening matinee, the theater's owner, Colonel Ed Butler, made a curtain speech on opening day stating that he had not spent hundreds of thousands of dollars merely to insult the public. He welcomed the wives, mothers, sweethearts and daughters of all men, and insisted that the shows being mounted in his theater were tasteful and rather entertaining. This tactic seemed to work, since the rest of the shows were close to being sold out. Thankfully Butler did not have to retire from theater and begin his real estate career by selling his beloved theater!

Productions across the nation were becoming much grander in scale and more risky and ostentatious in their content. The Standard was certainly no exception, as they continued to push the envelope in their early days. The Standard's large audiences cheered for chorus lines of dancing girls, talented jugglers and acrobatics, comedy shows and vaudeville acts. Crowds and critics alike marveled at the beauty of the magnificent building and the impressive use of electric light bulbs, which were introduced to Kansas City only one short year prior. They celebrated with loud voices this new addition to Kansas City's culture, which remained an integral part of the downtown core for the century, delighting crowds and audiences as wide ranging as Brampton real estate agents to Dallas ranchers. Though it underwent many name changes and renovations over the years, today the theater is still in excellent condition, and as the Folly Theater it annually hosts many successful shows to happy crowds.