The Schaffner Players

Kansas City also became a major center for suppliers of the rep companies.

Tent manufacturers, suppliers of theatrical goods, wardrobe resale shops, and candy companies all headquartered there. Kansas City became such a major center for activities that Actors Equity Association had a branch office there, run by Frank and Ruth Delmaine. Although at one time over four hundred companies operated in the surrounding area, the business remained a closeknit family.

Hundreds of companies operated during the 1920s.

Although motion pictures began to compete for audiences, rep managers thought this to be a temporary situation and expected the novelty of films to wear off. The Depression took a major toll on the number of shows operating.

Those companies that survived soon had new competition from the “talkies.� Talking motion pictures made even more theaters inaccessible to the traveling shows. Owners usually put the bulky speakers permanently on the stage area right behind the projection screen.