“This Stately Temple, in its Incomparable Beauty, is Their Monument . . . to California and its Hallowed Traditions”: A Program for the New Mission Playhouse, San Gabriel, 5 March 1927

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

A few years ago, a donation to the Homestead by Gloria Ballard of many photographs and paper items related to the Mission Play, which dramatically and romantically dealt with the work of the Franciscan missionaries in Christianizing and “civilizing” California’s indigenous people, compiled over years by her late brother Jerry, added significantly to our holdings concerning the well-known pageant, held for around two decades, starting in 1912, at San Gabriel. The Ballards’ aunt and uncle, Juan Zorraquinos and Juanita Vigare, were the choreographers and principal dancers for the work and appeared in around 2,000 performances, including a stretch in which they only missed a single one because of their marriage.

Juanita Vigare, in turn, was the niece of Laura González Temple, whose husband, oil producer and real estate developer, Walter P., also owner of the Homestead from 1917 to 1932, was a history buff and a fervent supporter of the play and its author, John Steven McGroarty. McGroarty, a poet, journalist and writer, including editorship of a magazine and his later status as poet laureate, not to mention his several plays and service as a member of Congress, intended the Mission Play to be an American example of the famous German play, the Oberammergau.

In its early years, featured performers included the Shakespearian stage actor Frederick Warde, the scion of a prominent Californio family Lucretia del Valle, husband and wife Tyrone Power, Jr. and Patia Power (parents of the legendary film star, Tyrone Power), and American stage veteran, R.D. MacLean. Locals were also given many roles, as were native Americans, some of them from other parts of the country, though the principal parts of missionaries, military figures and residents of Spanish California were almost always played by white actors.

Significantly aided by greater Los Angeles’ status as a tourist haven and the widely held conceptions of the pre-American past in our region, as well as the legacy of such immensely popular fictional representations as Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel, Ramona (one of the various purported birthplaces of that heroine happened to be right next to the Mission Playhouse), the Mission Play became an institution, cherished by locals and a must-see for out-of-town visitors.

With the Pacific Electric Railway passing in front of the venue and its location adjacent to the old stone church and cemetery of Mission San Gabriel, the pageant was a spectacle witnessed by a couple million people during its run, which ended during the Great Depression, though there were a couple of brief comebacks and, in 2015, a reimagined version was staged. Whether we’ll see that edition performed again or not is an interesting question.

The enduring popularity of the Mission Play was such that, by the early 1920s, McGroarty and his supporters envisioned a much larger and grander venue, so the Mission Playhouse Corporation was established to plan and fundraise for it. The president was William I. Hollingsworth (1862-1937), a native of Indiana who came to Los Angeles at the end of the Boom of the Eighties, during which William H. Workman was mayor, and who developed a significant section of downtown, owned a large ranch on which many early films were shot and where Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills was established and the Rancho Palos Verdes.

One of the vice-presidents was David W. Pontius (1869-1955), an Ohio native who worked in railroads until he joined the Pacific Electric Railway, assembled by Henry E. Huntington and operator of the massive streetcar system that spanned much of our region, serving as its vice-president and general manager during most of the Twenties until he took the top job in 1929 and held that for eight years until his retirement.

Others with that title included oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny; Malibu Ranch owner Samuel K. Rindge; Los Angeles Times publisher and real estate developer Harry Chandler; and attorney and civic leader Joseph Scott. Some of the more prominent directors were Mission Inn owner Frank Miller; street railway figure Eli P. Clark; music and theater impresario Lynden E. Behymer; banker Henry M. Robinson; and real estate developer Harold Janss. Walter Temple, who owned and developed a large block of three buildings across the mission, had representation as his business manager, Milton Kauffman, was also a director.

Fundraising took several years and the two largest donors were Huntington and Temple, who each contributed $15,000 for stock in the corporation, with Temple, whose Town of Temple was established nearby a few years prior, telling the Los Angeles Times

It’s the biggest thing we’ve got out here, and we should give it first consideration, both as a business investment and a community enterprise. They can build fine structures and boulevards anywhere but there can be only one Mission Playhouse filled with California traditions.

The Playhouse received extensive coverage upon its grand opening on 5 March 1927, including, not surprisingly, from Chandler’s Times, which enthused that “all the color, glamour and romance of early Californian days will live again in old San Gabriel” as the $650,000 edifice on a seven-acre tract was thrown open to invited theatergoers who were patrons or contributed at least $100 to the project and “whose names as patrons will be printed in an elaborate souvenir program prepared for the evening.”

One element of the event was a “roll call of the twenty-one missions of California,” including the parading of silk banners inscribed with the name of each of the institutions. In describing the featured actors, including MacLean, Ruthellen Miller and Vivienne Morehouse, Juan and Juanita Zorraquinos were highlighted as the paper noted they “have important parts again in the big production,” while the story of Juanita missing just the one day for her nuptials with Juan was mentioned as was the fact that she “is a direct descendant of the early Spanish settlers of San Gabriel,” somewhat true based on her maternal line’s ancestry. It was added, though without evidence, that “many of the Indians appearing in the play are descendants of the Indians to whom Father Serra,” a controversial figure among those descendants now, “brought Christianity in the early days of California.”

Beyond the Zorraquinos couple, the Times observed that “members of old Spanish [this was preferred over Mexican because of the European tint to the word] families are also cast for various roles in the pageant,” though many did not act, but performed as musicians and dancers, and this “lends an atmosphere to the production which lifts it above the usual theatrical performance.” Also of note was that “many of the patrons tonight will meet for dinner near the old grapevine [still existing] and this historic home of Ramona [never existed as such] on the mission grounds” with band music as entertainment, while after the performance a dance and reception were held.

The next day’s edition of the paper featured more extensive coverage and illustrations, with critic Edwin Schallert (whose actor son, William, is best-known for his role as The Admiral in the 1960s spy spoof TV series, Get Smart) remarking

With a premiere of unqualified brilliance, old California as typified by the Mission Play, and modern California as exemplified in the new Mission Playhouse, joined in luring a great throng to San Gabriel last night.

John Steven McGroarty’s pageant drama of the State’s early history was presented for the first time in this locality in a setting of the present, and the event was an epoch in the life of this far-famed California institution.

Continuing that the opening was a notable theatrical event, as well, Schallert praised the venue as “a gem of the rarest description” as “no theater is more typical hereabouts of the spirit of California, mingling with the old Spanish tradition,” though what this specifically was did not get elucidated by the critic. He did observe that “the decorations are elaborate and of today” including the “cloistered” effect of the side boxes, while the color scheme and decorative elements were “emphatic, but not obtrusive” and they provided “an atmosphere that spells enticement.”

Schallert praised the simple style of the interior and mused that a return visit in a few years would better allow for appreciation of the theater’s “fullness of beauty” and after “a certain edge [was] removed from the newness of the structure before it will match perfectly the mellowed historic drama that unfolds upon the stage.” The critic perceived that the venue was such that “one has a greater chance to concentrate upon the play itself, and in a sense to view it more critically.

In his remarks, Hollingsworth commented on “the joy and pride of the achievement” as the opening “marked a really great event in the history of California” and he thanked Pontius for his leadership on the construction of the theater, as well as Miller, Rindge and George I. Cochran for their substantial contributions, while “every director . . . has taken a personal interest as well as a personal pride” in the realization of the project.” Lastly, the corporation head praised McGroarty for penning a pageant that “in no uncertain words embodies that spirit which tells so eloquently in song and romance our history and traditions, the echo of which will resound down through the ages.”

Elsewhere in the edition, Marquis Busby wrote that

Out at old San Gabriel, where the past still keeps its lingering hold, a dream house has been built. Like all dream houses it has the spaciousness and proud beauty of air castles in Spain, and yet it has all the tangibility of twentieth century America.

The drama critic offered that “at last this glorious drama of the golden days of California . . . has a structure worthy of the story unfolded” and added that the influence for the theater was the Mission San Antonio de Padua, tucked away amid Fort Hunter Liggett in what was once part of the massive Hearst ranch and which was, in 1927, “crumbing into ruins.” Busby went on to suggest that “there is romance in every brick in the walls and in every rough stone in the courtyard” and that “the bricks were made from adobe excavated on the grounds by the Mission Indians.”

As for interior, it “is the last word in modern construction” with the auditorium comprising “a warm color symphony in browns and blues and greens” and “lighting . . . is diffused through great lanterns of wrought iron, being of that weather-beaten, rusted appearance of antiquity.” As for seating capacity, McGroarty told Busby that the number of 1,492 was “an interesting coincident [sic] and quite unintentional.” Other comments were that “spaciousness rules” with wide aisles so that “perhaps no other theater has allowed more room between the rows of seats,” while the asbestos curtains were praised for their decorative schemes of the Spanish royal coat of arms and figures of conquistadors and señoritas as well as their blending into the walls.

The stage was larger than usual, the dressing rooms spacious and with windows, while MacLean’s quarters had a sort of sitting room, while a fan system circulated heated air through the auditorium every three minutes. Most important to McGroarty was “the long, outdoor cloistered promenade, where the audiences can walk and talk between acts and where miniatures of the missions were displayed.

Next to the grapevine and in the adobe house claimed to be where Ramona was born was a cafe and, remarkably, it was stated that “later on there will be built on the grounds an Indian village reproducing exactly the homes” of “Indians, descendants of the people of the people who used to dominate this section,” and nothing was said about what happened to them under the missions and afterward, “will actually live here and go about their craft of rug weaving, silver molding and pottery making.”

There was also coverage in the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News and the Hollywood Citizen, including photos, but much less ink devoted to the opening. The former, interestingly, described the theater as “of severe mission architecture” though “within keeping with the period portrayed by this historical dramatic pageant it was built to house.” The Citizen ran a very brief feature on the Zorraquinos’ longstanding run, as McGroarty seemed eager to promote this fact as it was mentioned by all three papers.

As for the program, it has a dramatic peach-colored wrapper, on the front of which is a dancer in bright colored clothing in front of a stylized Mission San Gabriel. The foreword proclaimed that,

The new Mission Playhouse . . . is the fulfillment of a long cherished dream of the author . . . It is his vision of an enduring home in which his pageant drama would be set, as in a Temple, throughout the centuries to come. But the dreamer’s dream and the prophet’s vision could never have come true or be made real had it not been for the generous-hearted and patriotic efforts of a group of great Californians who gave money and time without stint to the enterprise. This stately Temple, in its incomparable beauty, is their monument, builded [sic] by them in love and devotion to California and its hallowed traditions.

A brief history of the play, its “action,” cast, musical pieces, and staff are included as it a “Panorama of the Mission Play” with a rendering of a key scene in the work, but where the Corporation officers and directors are listed, as are the architect Benton.

It was noted, however, that his original edifice was left unfinished as funding lagged, so William J. Dodd (1862-1930), a noted architect in Louisville, Kentucky for nearly three decades before coming to Los Angeles in 1912, where he worked on the famed Herald-Examiner building with Julia Morgan of Hearst Castle fame and the Ville de Paris, Coulter and Robinson’s department stores, and his partner William Richards (1871-1945), a native of Darlington, England, not far from where William Workman was born and who also came to Los Angeles in 1912, “enlarged and greatly elaborated the structure as it now stands.” William Simpson Construction Company was the contractor and others mentioned for their work including McGroarty’s wife, Ida, for designing “costumes and Color Harmonies.”

A long list of patrons included the names of many prominent local figures including Bent, Bullock, Doheny, Culver, Patton, Janss, Clark, Flint, Hancock, DeMille, Garland, Scott, Robinson, Lacy, Keller, Braun, Rindge, Sennett, Pantages, Hellman, VonKleinsmid, Chandler, Bell, Dockweiler, Kerckhoff, Pontius, Haldeman, Ducommun, O’Melveny, Camarillo and Sherman, as well as companies and organizations like the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Mission Fathers, Union Bank and Trust Company, Pacific Electric and Southern Pacific railways, and the City of San Gabriel. Temple and Kauffman were also on the list and, one assumes, attended the opening, as well.

Despite the claims of perpetuity, the Mission Play was shuttered within a half-decade and the theater has gone through many ups and downs. When Temple made his substantial stock subscription, he’d just taken out bonds to finance real estate projects at Alhambra and Temple City, and this put additional strain (and interest to be paid) on his situation. The Play’s run ended in 1932, the same year that Temple lost the Homestead, as the Depression, amid thousands of bank failures, plunged into its depths. Still, the structure, known as the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, remains and now hosts performances and events as it approaches its centennial in 2027.