Cape Girardeau has offered a variety of places to be entertained

One hundred years ago, people worked hard, but they still wanted to have fun. Then as now, entertainment was a big part of life in Cape Girardeau, with residents flocking to see concerts and plays.

There had to be someplace to house all these good times. The northwest corner of Broadway and Lorimier Street was once that place -- the Opera House.

Established as Turner Hall in 1868 by the German immigrant Turnvereins, it originally was a social club with gymnastics. The Opera House became the hot place to go for fun by the turn of the century.

The Opera House offered a variety of cultural events: amateur theatricals, traveling drama companies, parties, weddings, beer busts and concerts -- orchestral, band and vocal.

"The things would be old-fashioned now," said 98-year-old Paula Kempe, a lifelong Cape Girardeau resident. "They had a lot of local plays there. We didn't have the Show Me Center back in those days."

The Opera House was the distant forerunner of the Show Me Center. Built in 1987, the arena has welcomed a variety of shows and now serves as the entertainment hub of Southeast Missouri.

Those who resisted the Opera House could always catch a show at one of the showboats that came to the river town from the early 1900s to 1933. They provided entertainment from concerts to vaudeville and slapstick, often taking their bands to the streets for a parade.

Since 1855, the SEMO District Fair, the state's oldest continuous fair, has provided entertainment and competitions. In 1904, the fair presented Nebraska Bill's Wild West and Trained Bronco Show along with an Oriental theater that served as a front for an opium den.

Enter Hollywood

The big story in entertainment during the past century is film, and it started in Cape Girardeau in April 1905.

Several theaters came and went. The first talkies were introduced to Cape Girardeans at the Orpheum Theatre, located at 615 Good Hope St., on Jan. 15, 1929.

Before VHS and DVDs, there was television, and before that, radio.

Prior to radio, home entertainment involved parties, but typically not the kind of parties people have today, said Kempe.

"We had to make our own entertainment," she said. "We had parties in the afternoons. We played games, told stories about the things we did as children, and a lot of people would sew."

Now home entertainment involves hundreds of channels for viewers of all interests. But it wasn't until half a century ago that people in Cape Girardeau could even enjoy a single local station.

Oscar Hirsch, a name of great local fame, established a television station in the city in 1954.

KFVS12 began broadcasting on Oct. 3, 1954, providing televised entertainment for those who were affluent enough to have a set in their home.

Those who long for the good old days can still catch an orchestra performance on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, a play at the Rose Theatre or a grand parade down Broadway.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182