Greek Theater's centennial recalls glorious memories

BERKELEY -- In 1964, when University of California President Clark Kerr needed to assemble all the students of UC Berkeley in an attempt to settle the bitter Free Speech Movement protest, he logically scheduled the meeting at the Greek Theater.

"The Greek" as it is known to everyone who has ever visited the open-air, Greco-Roman-styled amphitheater with its Doric columns flanking the stage, has been a campus assembly point since the day it opened in 1903.

Unfortunately, Dec. 7, 1964 was a dire day for Kerr, the peacemaker. In the middle of the meeting, campus cops -- apparently acting on their own -- dragged Free Speech Movement leader Mario Savio off the stage. Kerr managed tofree him and Savio later spoke to the crowd. But the damage was done. President Kerr was on his way out. It was a spectacular event in a tumultuous time -- but for the Greek, it's just a blip in the flow of history.

This week the university has been celebrating the famous old place, which reaches its 100th anniversary Wednesday. Today, a production of Euripides' "Medea" will be performed at the amphitheater by the National Theater of Greece.

An exhibit of historic photos and mementos will be on display. It will be moved to Doe Library later in the week. World famous before it was ever built, the 5,000-seat Hearst Greek Theater at the top of the Berkeley campus has hosted a number of United States presidents and famous people.

Teddy Roosevelt spoke there twice -- at commencement in 1903, before the Greek was finished, and again in 1911 for Charter Day. Woodrow Wilson came to the Greek in 1919 to boost the cause of the League of Nations.

Famed actress Sarah Bernhardt performed there in 1906. There was a torchlight parade from the main campus to the Greek in 1934 for a production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

John F. Kennedy spoke at the nearby Memorial Stadium, but brother Robert Kennedy spoke to students at the Greek -- days before he was struck down by an assassin's bullet in 1968.

Bread and Roses benefits in the late 1970s brought every folk singer of note from around the world -- from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon. In a sense, the Greek put Berkeley on the map, says local historian Stephen Finacom.

"There was nothing like it in America. Berkeley was still a relatively small community. Suddenly, it had what was probably the best amphitheater in the country," he said.

It helped Berkeley live up to its own motto as the "Athens of the West," he said.

"Travel publications in the first part of the 20th century said, 'You've got to go to Berkeley to see the Greek Theater.' It was like going to San Francisco today to see the Golden Gate," Finacom said.

Inspiration for theater

Historians credit university president Benjamin Ide Wheeler with hatching the idea for an outdoor theater in the style of ancient Greece. Wheeler, who became UC president in 1899, was a classical scholar who had lived in Rome and Greece. In fact, Finacom said, he helped judge the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

"When he first came to Berkeley, he was thrilled," Finacom said. "He told students it reminded him of his beloved Hella. The blue skies, the bay, the brown hills reminded him of Greece, he said.

"It was natural for Wheeler to think of an outdoors theater," he said. "It was also practical. At that time, the university had no large theater. Events were held in the old Harmon gym, which was little more than a big barn."

Wheeler confided in Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the university regent and booster. She convinced her son, newspaper magnate William Apperson Hearst to donate the funds to build it. University architect John Galen Howard designed the amphitheater, basing it on ancient Greek and Roman theaters. Construction was supervised by Julia Morgan, who later built San Simeon for Hearst.

Linda Jewell, a UC Berkeley campus architect and landscape architect, who has researched amphitheaters and prepared exhibits for the centennial, said the Greek was very influential in American architecture. It wasn't the first modern outdoor theater, but it was the largest and quickly became the most famous, Jewell said.

The first was at the Bohemian Club in Northern California, then a wooden theater in Point Loma, near San Diego. There also was an outdoor amphitheater built at Arlington National Cemetery after the Civil War.

Outdoor movement

The Greek complemented and supported a movement toward outdoor performances, she said. The idea was that an outdoor theater could reach out and bring theater and culture to a wider range of people than those who attended formal, indoor productions, she said.

"When it was built in 1903, it was in an area far from the main campus that was referred to as 'the wilderness,' she said. "There was nothing else up there. Apparently, William Randolph Hearst donated $40,000. Then in the 1940s, Hearst gave another $400,000."

The latter donation paid for service facilities, a new entrance, dressing rooms. One thing that remains imprecise -- despite a century of engagements -- is the seating capacity, Jewell said.