Theater celebrates 'Shepherd of the Hills' centennial

First published in 1907, the book was the first besides the Bible to sell 1 million copies. It also gave the Branson area its first taste of tourism, with thousands of visitors coming via the new railroad, and by steamboat, to meet John and Anna Ross and their son Charles, whose lives formed the basis for the main characters in the book.

According to Keith Thurman, director of “The Shepherd of the Hills” outdoor drama for the last 26 years, after the book was published, the Ross family was so overrun with visitors that they abandoned the farm and moved about 10 miles away from Branson to the small community of Garber in 1911.

Thurman said Wright’s book so influenced the Branson area that it was known as Shepherd of the Hills Country until it was rebranded as Ozark Mountain Country in the 1980s.

“Through the ‘90s, we began to lose our recognition,” Thurman said. Besides the Shepherd of the Hills Homestead, few remnants – business and churches, and a couple of streets – remain out of dozens that used to carry the name of the book title or the names of its characters such as Sammy Lane and Little Pete.

Dramatized history

Thurman said Springfieldian Lizzie McDaniel bought the Ross farm in 1927 and produced the first summer show of “The Shepherd of the Hills” on the front lawn. He said John Wayne’s first Technicolor movie of “The Shepherd of the Hills” in 1940 rekindled interest in the book. Summer shows at the Branson lakefront and at Beacon Hill Theater at the School of the Ozarks – now College of the Ozarks – followed in the 1950s. Bruce and Mary Trimble and their son Mark bought the Ross homestead from McDaniel in 1946 and opened the first outdoor amphitheater on the property in 1960.

Gary Snadon, the homestead’s owner since 1985, played the villainous Wash Gibbs 20 years earlier.

Snadon, a teacher and football coach at Branson High School, was approached by Hal Meadows, the drama’s director at the time.

“They had a fight scene and they thought I could play Wash Gibbs. I guess they were looking for somebody that wasn’t afraid to take a punch,” he said.

Under Snadon’s ownership, the Inspiration Tower and a pavilion now housing the Sons of the Pioneers Chuckwagon Dinner Show were added. Snadon said the drama was also rewritten three years ago by Thurman to provide continuity for the audience.

“When I played in the show, 90 percent of the audience had read the book. Now, 10 percent of the audience has read the book,” Snadon added. “The first scene was long and didn’t have a lot of action. We tried to liven up the first half and liven up the plot.”

Snadon takes pride in the fact that the show, with 6,000 performances to date, is the most-continuously performed drama in an outdoor theater.

“One of the amazing things is that we have never missed a show because we didn’t have a cast,” he said.

Both Snadon and Thurman, who first started as a cast member with Snadon in 1967, have watched attendance change with new competition.

“In the late ‘80s, there were 13 or 14 music shows (in Branson). By the mid-‘90s, (Branson) advertised over 100 music shows,” Thurman said. “We don’t have the number of (performances) we used to.”

At its busiest, the outdoor theater held about 190 shows a year, seven days a week May–October. Now the 90-member cast performs 130 to 140 shows a year, working five days a week. The outdoor theater, which seats 1,700, gets about 70,000 visitors a year.

Snadon said the upcoming celebration will be open to the public and attended by local and state dignitaries including Missouri Lieutenant Gov. Peter Kinder. More information about the centennial event is at www.theshepherdofthehills.com.

Searching for Past Cast Members

As part of the festivities, Shepherd of the Hills Historic Homestead and Old Mill Theatre is working to locate thousands of the drama’s former cast members, who will be recognized during the centennial celebration. Past cast members are encouraged to call (800) 653-6288, ext. 4621, or (417) 332-4780.