The Schaffner Players

The first performance of the Schaffner Players under the Schaffner name was on October 10, 1925, at the Strand Theater in Fort Dodge. Neil persuaded the manager of the Strand to hire them to do tabloid versions of their plays for a ten-week run. Neil kept the members of the Wetzel Company and hired four additional performers.

The Neil E. Schaffner Players opened with a matinee performance of one of Neil’s plays, The Vulture. They performed for ten weeks and received a two week extension.

Movies were increasing in popularity. Some theater and opera house managers hired tab show companies, but most showed films exclusively, instead of hiring traveling live companies. It was simply a matter of economics. It was much cheaper to rent a film than pay the expenses of a troupe of performers. Many of the year-round traveling shows became summer tent shows only.

The Schaffners organized their company like most repertoire companies of the time. Three women played the standard “line of parts.”

Caroline Hannah (Schaffner), billed as “Little