Portals to
the Past
The catch phrase surrounds us, especially
these days with all the polishing taking place in and
around Kansas City. So when a recent out-of-town researcher at the Historical
Society’s Archives asked, “Where did the term, ‘Everything’s Up To Date in
Kansas City’ come from?” the answer slipped simply from my lips with authority,
“Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II coined the refrain in a song called,
“Kansas City,” for their 1943 musical play and 1955 musical film, Oklahoma!”
Then she asked shyly, “Are there any
references to its use BEFORE then?” I could not find a definite answer;
apparently, nobody has yet corralled
its origins. Still, I put my hands on the
plow and dug deeper to brand an
original, up-to-date hypothesis that might
have merit.
When lassoing details for the title and lyrics to “Kansas City,” it is
plausible that either the songwriting duo had some connection to or knowledge
about Kansas City in 1906 (the year Oklahoma! is staged). At least they circled the wagons to try and uncover
the Kansas City way-of-life at the turn of the 20th Century. The
so-called new fangled inventions touted in the song had come about from 5 to 20
years before! So, one should not interpret that just because the fiction is set
in 1906 that all the facts are going to be by-the-book.
Still, connections to the burgeoning
city and the song ring clear.
First, the lines, “I counted twenty
gas buggies goin' by theirsel's,” and, “'Nen I put my ear to a Bell Telephone And
a strange womin started in to talk!” allude to the new, modern inventions of the
automobile (or, horseless carriage) and telephone, which were relatively new to our predecessors. The telephone had debuted in Kansas City in
1877; the automobile in 1899.
“They went an' built a skyscraper seven
stories high,” has traditionally been attributed to Kansas City’ seven-story
New England Building (which, by the way, is a near exact if not mirror
duplicate to the New England Building in Omaha, Nebraska). So, the song
expressing such excitement over the 7-story New England Building doesn’t fit
the 1906 storyline of Oklahoma!
[Next door to Kansas City’s New England Building is the
much more famous New York Life building at 20 West 9th Street that
is attributed as Kansas City’s FIRST skyscraper; it is 10 stories tall and was
completed in May 1889 (again, several years before Rogers and Hammerstein’s
production).
It is likely that the line, “They got a big
theayter they call a burleeque,” refers to the majestic Folly Theater.
But, now to my hypothesis about the origin of the theme within
the famed song proclaiming, ‘Everything’s Up To Date in
Kansas City!’
In
March 1891, the Kansas City Star ran
a little snippet, the first of its kind that I have found, titled, “An Echo Up
to Date.” From then on, and for many years thereafter, this short “Up-to-Date,”
irregular column ran short tid-bits, jokes, axioms, quips, and humorous
witticisms, often abstracted from other national publications.
Some
were one-liners, others were up to 10-15 lines of text, each with their own
headliner: “Up to date kiss;” “Mr. Hoyt’s idea of widowhood up to date;” “Two
old cronies up to date;” and, “Moses up to date.” Occasionally, they promoted
new or popular fashions (“Up to Date Hats and Bonnets”), and sometimes a brief
etiquette lesson (“Up to Date Wedding Invitations”), which may have been published in jest, and I just did not catch on.
After
reading a series of these, they put me in mind of the funny segment on “Rowan
and Martin’s Laugh-In” (the NBC comedy-variety television program than ran from 1968-1973) where the regulars
took turns bantering fast-paced jokes as they peeked from behind small, opening
and closing psychedelic-colored window/doors.
So
where might the mystery Kansas City Star columnist have come up
with the “Up to date” idea, I wondered?
Inspiration
may have originated in the Kansas City theater world (which would be ironic
that it would be rekindled and reach wide acclaim years later in the line-up of
Oklahoma!).
Just
a few months before the debut of the “Up to date” column, the Coates Opera
House had pulled back their curtains for a touring production called, Faust Up to Date,
an English musical burlesque that parodied Charles Gounod’s 1859 opera, Faust. A burlesque took a well-known play,
story, opera, or pantomime and satirized it in an exaggerated style with music.
Faust Up To Date
was one of a series of burlesques on popular plays and operas of the day,
including Carmen up to Date
(mocking the opera Carmen),
and Cinder-Ellen up to Date
(based on the pantomime Cinderella).
By the time “Up to date” in the Kansas
City Star began running, it is probable that readers understood the
satirical connotations. They also enjoyed them, which explains the column’s
lengthy run in the paper.
I’ll leave you with one lingering
question: “Is your membership in the Jackson County Historical Society ‘up to
date?’”
THE
FIRST “UP TO DATE” ENTRY IN THE STAR
March
21, 1891
An
Echo Up to Date
From
Puck
“The
prize echo has been discovered by a Southern newspaper in a Kentucky cave.
Shout, “Hello, Smith!” and it will answer, “What Smith do you mean?” fourteen
distinct times.”
David W. Jackson is archivist for the nonprofit Jackson County (Mo.) Historical
Society’s Archives and Research Library. Explore deeper into local history
topics like those presented in this column through the Jackson County Historical Society JOURNAL, a scholarly periodical
delivered to Society members twice annually. For more information, or to donate
historical materials, visit www.jchs.org.