Entertainment Industry
Entertainment Industry
Southwestern Missouri's entertainment industry began with a cave and a novel. At the turn of the nineteenth century, spelunking enthusiasts created a tourist attraction that eventually led to Silver Dollar City Theme Park, and the popularity of Harold Bell Wright's 1907 novel The Shepherd of the Hills led to an outdoor theater and museum celebrating Shepherd of the Hills Country. Today Stone and Taney Counties offer a variety of options for recreation and entertainment. In addition to Silver Dollar City and Shepherd of the Hills, a new amusement park opened in 1999, Branson USA. There are also novelty attractions like the Butterfly Place, Waltzing Waters, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. And of course Branson theaters draw thousands of tourists every year. Currently, Branson offers theater-goers "over 55, 000 theatre seats; 22, 000 lodging rooms; [and] 300, 000 restaurant seats" (Ray 7). Performers have come and gone, but the headliners have included the Baldknobbers, the Presleys, Andy Williams, Boxcar Willie, Moe Bandy, Mickey Gilley, Roy Clark, Tony Orlando, Yakov Smirnoff, Shoji Tabuchi, Mel Tillis, and Wayne Newton.
Silver Dollar City Theme Park
Silver Dollar City Theme Park
There are numerous attractions for vacationers and tourists in the Ozarks, but one of the most popular destinations is Silver Dollar City. Years before the City was built, Marvel Cave, which lies under the City, caught the attention of enterprising miners, adventurous spelunkers, and energetic square dancers. 
The cave has a long history-first as Devil's Den then as Marble Cave and finally as Marvel Cave. Osage Indians were familiar with the cave's location and danger long before white men began exploring the area. According to native oral tradition,
"A hunting party of Osage Indians . . . cornered a bear in a crevice above the entrance to the cave. When one of the braves, in a show of courage, attempted to dislodge the bear from a rock ledge by attacking it with a knife, both bear and Indian disappeared. Other members of the party, searching in disbelief for the vanished warrior and bear, discovered the entrance to the cave, a sinkhole, located directly above a mammoth cavity in the earth. They notched the trees in the area, a sign of danger to the Indians. The notches remained visible for years and helped early settlers locate the entrance, which they called Devil's Den." (qtd. in McGill).
The next stage in the cave's history began in 1869 when Henry T. Blow, along with six other miners, explored the cave, hoping to find lead ore. Although they didn't find any lead ore, their explorations in the dark cavern 200 feet below the surface lead them to believe that the cave contained a valuable wall of marble. Nonetheless, the miners returned to St Louis and never visited the cave again. Henry Blow is credited with changing the cave's name to Marble Cave, though.
Ownership of the cave changed hands a few times before the Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company bought the cave in 1884. Anticipating the need for a mining town, the company began selling lots of land adjacent to the cave. The town was originally named Marble City, but before long the residents changed the name to Marmaros, which means marble in Greek. Marble was never discovered, but the company found another profitable commodity, bat guano (manure). Although guano was once an important ingredient in gunpowder, the mining company found a market for it as fertilizer. Unfortunately, Marmaros was abandoned when the guano ran out and no other marketable resources were discovered (Payton 16).
In 1889 the cave was purchased by a Canadian miner named William Henry Lynch. With the help of his two daughters, Miriam and Genevieve, Lynch hoped to establish the cave as a sightseeing venture. A tourist brochure written by Miriam and Genevieve in the 1930s describes the allure of the cave:
Here is a world of glamour and romance, exhilarating compensations for trivial and shabby days. All that the heart can hold of wonder and witchery are here. Stairways lead down to mystery; paths wind through ever changing scenes, stalagmites are awesome peaks of beauty, a frieze of rare helictites appears far above us, streams purl into the unknown, a waterfall flings its loveliness upon cold crystal fifty feet below, here are cathedrally vaulted ceilings and the fascination of perfect line and contour. We come upon this veritable doorway to adventure, recapture youth and in the almost endless welter of common things behold a sudden star-like vision of sublimity. (qtd. in Payton 23)
To make the cave more accessible to tourists, William Lynch lobbied for a nearby railroad stop and a new road, which later became Highway 76. He also built a lodge for overnight accommodations and a wooden scaffold to make the climb in and out of the sinkhole less strenuous. In addition to these conveniences, Lynch built a platform on the floor of the Cathedral Room and lowered a piano into the cave so that Miriam could entertain visitors with opera recitals. Tours lasted six hours, and the $1.00 admission included a lantern and a pair of overalls reinforced with leather seats.
After William Lynch died in 1927, Miriam and Genevieve operated the cave for another 23 years. Hugo and Mary Herschend, along with their sons Jack and Peter, visited the cave in 1946 and quickly became good friends with the Lynch sisters. Mary later described her first visit: "We walked down a wooden stairway to the top of the tower and walked into this big room. I was panic-stricken. My knees were shaking and the further I went the more scared I got. It was too dark to see the bottom. I was right behind Miss Genevieve and wasn't about to let her out of my sight"(qtd. in Payton 35). In 1950 the Herschends formed a partnership with Taylor McMaster from Rockaway Beach and leased the cave for $5000 a year (or 10% of ticket sales if they exceeded $5000). Three months later the Herschends bought McMaster's share of the cave. Today the Herschends continue to maintain Marvel Cave, but their lease is now held jointly by College of the Ozarks and First Presbyterian Church of Branson, which were named co-beneficiaries by the Lynch sisters in 1970, "stipulating that the income from the property was to be used for local youth work on a 'share and share alike' basis" (Godsey 548).
The Herschends made many improvements in the 1950s. Two major ones were electric lights and concrete steps. The biggest improvement, though, was the construction of a train to return visitors to the surface. Jack Herschend undertook the project 1956. Blondie's Throne, with its 97-foot high dome, was chosen as the site for the train. Blasting out the 218-foot tunnel was a pain-staking job. When the track was completed, Jack took the train for a trial run. Unfortuantely, a cable broke and the train plummeted down the steep slope. As Jack recalls:
"Engineers told us later that I was going 67 miles an hour when I hit the rock wall at the bottom. Fortunately, I had time to think. It's amazing how much time two and a half seconds is when the wind is whistling through your hair and you're lookin' down sayin' 'this is what it feels like to die.' . . . I broke my leg in five places and had 57 stitches in my head and crushed three disks in my spine--but I lived." (qtd. in Payton 48)
On May 11,1958, the Herschends turned the train's inaugural trip into a publicity event by inviting Casey Jones, Jr. to be the first engineer.
In the 1950s the Herschends also added dance floors and bleachers to the Cathedral Room to accommodate various publicity events, including a Houdini Séance on Halloween in 1955 and the Annual Square Dance Festival, which "filled a three day weekend with dances and dance clinics" for a fee of $10 per couple (Payton 42).
The Herschends continued to develop new attractions for tourists. A 1959 press release announced the construction of a village near Marvel Cave: "The village will, as much as possible, typify the Ozark village of the late 1800's. . . . The Ozark Village is not a museum or a ghost town, but a living, working village. . . . The old Sheriff stills keeps order on the old boardwalks, and the old Missouri mule is the best transportation available" (qtd. in Payton 51). The original village consisted of five buildings, including the Wilderness Church and the McHaffie Homestead.
With the help of Russell Pearson and Don Richardson, the Herschends opened Silver Dollar City on May 1, 1960. It was Richardson's idea to use silver dollars instead of dollar bills. The coins may have been more cumbersome than paper money, but the word-of-mouth advertising they created was invaluable.
The village became the stage for city employees to reenact the Hatfield and McCoy Feud and vaudeville-type skits featuring hillbilly humor and folklore. When the Frisco Silver Dollar steam locomotive was brought to the park in 1962, City employees transformed past violence into a humorous skit staged toward the end of the train ride. Alf Bolin, an outlaw who terrorized southwestern Missouri during the Civil War years, held up the train. While the Bolin gang entertained their captive audience, the engine was able to build up enough steam to pull the train up the final hill and return to the station. The Frisco train became a popular ride, often carrying 900 to 1000 visitors through the park each day (Payton 63).
A big publicity boost came in 1969 when The Beverly Hillbillies television show came to Silver Dollar City to film five episodes. Shad Heller, the City's blacksmith and first mayor, appeared in twenty episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Although Missouri was never mentioned in the episodes, viewers soon learned the location of Silver Dollar City and began planning vacations in the Ozarks. The park also received valuable publicity when several City folks appeared on The Mike Douglas Show, Art Linkletter's Houseparty, What's My Line, and Captain Kangaroo.
In recent years the park has added five festivals that draw thousands of visitors to the park every year: World-Fest, The Great American Music Festival, The National Children's Festival, The National Crafts Festival, and Old Time Christmas. The Christmas festival, with its spectacular light display is especially popular. Today's City also offers several musical shows, water rides, and roller coasters. The newest ride is Buzzsaw Falls, which a 1999 publicity notice describes as a "Liquid Coaster" because it combines a water luge and roller coaster that speeds down a six-story hill.
Silver Dollar City has had a great impact on the entertainment industry, not only of southwestern Missouri but also the entire state. Mary Herschend was honored at the 1972 Annual Governor's Conference on Tourism for her contribution to Missouri tourism. Two years later Mary Herschend was honored by the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce as "a pioneer of boundless determination and vision" (qtd. in Payton 81). In fact, they established a new award, the Mary Award, in recognition of Mary Herschend and Mary Trimble, the owner of Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theater. Mary Herschend was honored again in 1977 as the "Leading Lady of Missouri Tourism." After Mary Herschend died in 1983, the Missouri House of Representatives honored Mary as "a true Missouri pioneer, . . . who helped create a wave of recreational development which greatly contributed to the rise of tourism as one of Missouri's top industries" (qtd. in Payton 83).
The City, its management, and its employees continue to be honored. In November 1998, Silver Dollar City received the Applause Award from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. A 1999 press release explains that the Applause Award honors parks which exhibit "management operations and creative accomplishments [that] have inspired the industry with foresight, originality and sound business development."
The City's success rests on a commitment to authenticity, craftsmanship, entertainment, and service. Since the 1980's City administrators and employees have endorsed the following Mission Statement:
Our Mission Create Memories Worth Repeating We Greatly Exceed Customer Expectations with distinctive entertaining products and genuinely friendly caring people who take pride in what they do We, as a Team, Empower Each Other by trusting and coaching each other to make decisions and take action by believing that each individual is an important contributor by demonstrating our appreciation for those contributions by treating each other with respect and honesty We Theme Environments that are entertaining, interactive, believable and deliver the unexpected to greatly exceed customer expectations We Constantly Improve by learning and making change by understanding our customers' changing expectations, by managing safety, resources and risk, by investing in people and products to produce growth and provide a reasonable return on our investment All in a Manner Consistent with Christian Values and Ethics SILVER DOLLAR CITY (qtd. in Payton 126)
Works Cited
Godsey, Helen and Townsend. Flight of the Phoenix: The Biography of the School of the Ozarks, a Unique American College. Point Lookout, MO: School of the Ozarks Press, 1984.
Map drawn by S. Fred Prince courtesy of Silver Dollar City.
McGill, Robert. "Silver Dollar City." In the Heart of Ozark Mountain Country: A Popular History of Stone and Taney Counties, including Branson, Missouri. Reeds Spring, MO: White Oak Press, 1992, pp. 11-23.
Payton, Crystal. The Story of Silver Dollar City: A Pictorial History of Branson's Famous Ozark Mountain Village Theme Park. Branson, MO: Silver Dollar City, 1997.
Photograph of square dance in Marvel Cave courtesy in Silver Dollar City.
Photograph of Beverly Hillbillies billboard courtesy of Silver Dollar City.
Photograph of lighted Christmas tree courtesy of Silver Dollar City.
Photograph of Mary Herscehend courtesy of Silver Dollar City,
Photograph of Marvel Cave © Leland Payton.
Photograph of Ozark Village courtesy of Silver Dollar City.
Rene, Ray. "Branson Getting Ready For 'Deere' Season." The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette. Star-Struck Summer Issue 1999, p. 7.
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