Glenna Vere Kneeland (née Heacock) was born in 1908 in Newberg, Oregon. She began her career as a radio broadcaster in 1929, later expanding to television broadcasting. She hosted such programs as "Listen Ladies," "Woman's World," and "At Home with Kay West." She broadcast under the names Vere Kneeland and Kay West. She married Richard C. Kneeland (1909-1978) in 1929. Vere Kneeland died in 2005.
Sources: Articles and advertisements in the Oregonian, 1941-2005; vital records on Ancestry.com.
The collection consists of primary and secondary materials relating to controversy over a burlesque act at the Music Box Theater in Portland, Oregon, in the spring of 1933. Original documents consist of three letters from lumber businessman and burlesque opponent Herbert A. Templeton, discussing the progress and plans of the act's opponents; and a summons from Portland Mayor George L. Baker to burlesque opponent Walter S. Asher, commanding Asher to appear and testify at a hearing on May 4, 1933, to possibly revoke the Music Box Theater's license. Secondary materials in the collection consist of a typescript copy of a telegram that theater owner John Hamrick sent, apologizing for the burlesque act; and an essay about the controversy by Vere Kneeland, written in the 1970s, in which Kneeland suggests that the tactics used to shut down the burlesque act could be employed against contemporary adult entertainment venues.
Collection is open for research.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Materials relating to Music Box Theater burlesque controversy, Coll 1002, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of Vere Kneeland, August 1994 (Lib. Acc. 22398).
In April 1933, a group of citizens in Portland, Oregon, including lumber businessman Herbert A. Templeton (1883-1969) and attorney Walter S. Asher (1872-1946), began lodging protests against a burlesque act being performed at the Music Box Theater that they felt was obscene. The complaints led to the arrest of several managers and performers in mid-April. Further complaints later in the month prompted Portland Mayor George L. Baker to order daily raids on the theater and to convene a hearing to potentially revoke the theater's license. In early May, theater owner John Hamrick sent a telegram from New York, apologizing for the show. The city government then dismissed charges against Hamrick, and passed an ordinance granting the city the power to prohibit theatrical performances it determined to be indecent. The theater's burlesque act was replaced with a vaudeville routine.
Sources: Articles in the Oregonian and Oregon Journal, April-May 1933.