Showboat
Encyclopedia
A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States
, especially along the Mississippi
and Ohio river
s (www.brittanica.com). A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat
(misleadingly labeled a towboat
) which was attached to it. It would have been impossible to put a steam engine on it, since it would have had to be placed right in the auditorium. However, since the box-office success of MGM's 1951 motion picture version
of the musical Show Boat
, in which the boat was inaccurately redesigned as a deluxe, self-propelled steamboat
, the image of a showboat as a large twin-stacked vessel with a huge paddle wheel
at the rear has taken hold in popular culture. (The two earlier film versions of Show Boat, and most stage productions of it, feature a historically accurately designed vessel, rather than the kind built for the 1951 film, and Edna Ferber
, in the novel on which the musical is based
, gives a description of the "Cotton Blossom" that accurately reflects the real design of a nineteenth-century showboat. Modern-day showboats, however, with their more advanced technology, are designed as steamboats.)
During the American frontier, there were very few people scattered about the area that is now the United States. These people depended on rivers such as the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers for food, supplies, and entertainment. “[The rivers] brought life and at the same time, brought means of sustaining life…[men were] dependant on the rivers and inevitably became a part of what they were” (Graham 1-3). Actors traveled to America from England and theatre venues as well as touring companies were developed. In 1816, Noah Ludlow purchased a keelboat for $200 and named it Ludlow's Noah's Ark. Ludlow and 11 associates climbed aboard and traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers stopping to perform whenever they could. Because there is very little documentation of what was performed aboard "Noah's Ark" it is not credited as the first showboat.
British-born actor William Chapman, Sr. created the first showboat, named the "Floating Theater," in Pittsburgh
in 1831. He and his family of nine along with two other people lived on this boat and performed plays with added music and dance at stops along the waterways. The price of admission was anywhere from a peck of fresh vegetables to 50 cents a person. The acting was said to be far better than average, stemming from Chapman's British acting background. After reaching New Orleans, they got rid of the boat and went back to Pittsburgh in a steam boat in order to perform the process once again the year after. In 1836, the family was able to afford a new, fully equipped steam engine with a stage. In 1837, it was renamed "Steamboat Theatre." Chapman died on board in 1841.
Showboats had declined by the Civil War, but began again in 1878 and focused on melodrama
and vaudeville
. Major boats of this period included the New Sensation, New Era, Water Queen, and the Princess. With the improvement of roads, the rise of the automobile, motion pictures, and the maturation of the river culture, showboats declined again. In order to combat this development, they grew in size and became more colorful and elaborately designed in 1900s. These boats included the Golden Rod, the Sunny South, the Cotton Blossom, and the New Showboat.
Edna Ferber's novel "Show Boat" (1926), Jerome Kern
and Oscar Hammerstein II
's famous musical play based on it (1927), and the film versions (1929
, 1936
, 1951
), showed this type of theater.
In 1914, circus actors, James Adams
and Mrs. Adams, launched the James Adams Floating Theatre
. This saltwater showman decided to open a showboat that would tour the Chesapeake Bay bringing theatre to audiences in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The James Adams Floating Theatre is the only showboat that was visited by Edna Ferber
while writing her famous novel, Showboat. She stayed onboard for a week in 1926 in order to write her famous novel (Haynie, 1950). This novel is what inspired the award winning, Kern and Hammerstein II’s Broadway hit, Showboat. This Broadway smash gave the term “showboat” a whole new meaning (www.floatingtheatre.org).
has a section appropriately named Showboat, dedicated to flashy tricks from the past week's games.
Oft-cited examples of showboating include Leon Lett
's grocery-bag-carrying of a recovered football
(which was then swatted out of his hand before the goal line) in Super Bowl XXVII
; Bill Shoemaker's standing in the saddle before the finish line of the 1957 Kentucky Derby
, costing him the win (some sources say he merely misjudged the finish line, with another jockey ahead of him not standing up then); Lindsey Jacobellis
's grab of her snowboard
which caused her to crash right before the finish of the Snowboard Cross final at the 2006 Winter Olympics
, costing her a first-place finish and a gold medal (she got a silver medal instead); Alex Ovechkin's post-goal celebrations in NHL
play; and Usain Bolt
pumping his chest before winning the 100m final at 2008 Summer Olympics
, likely adding one or more tenths of a second to his world record time of 9.69 seconds.
In boxing, showboating often takes the form of taunting, dropping one's gloves and daring an opponent to throw a punch, or engaging in other risky behaviors while the match is ongoing. Notable boxers well known for their showboating style include Muhammad Ali
, Sugar Ray Leonard
, Roy Jones Jr.
and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, especially along the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and Ohio river
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
s (www.brittanica.com). A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
(misleadingly labeled a towboat
Towboat
Not to be confused with the historic boat type with the same name, also called horse-drawn boat.A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines...
) which was attached to it. It would have been impossible to put a steam engine on it, since it would have had to be placed right in the auditorium. However, since the box-office success of MGM's 1951 motion picture version
Show Boat (1951 film)
Show Boat is a 1951 Technicolor film based on the musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and the novel by Edna Ferber....
of the musical Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, in which the boat was inaccurately redesigned as a deluxe, self-propelled steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
, the image of a showboat as a large twin-stacked vessel with a huge paddle wheel
Paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a waterwheel in which a number of scoops are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several usages.* Very low lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about height above the water source....
at the rear has taken hold in popular culture. (The two earlier film versions of Show Boat, and most stage productions of it, feature a historically accurately designed vessel, rather than the kind built for the 1951 film, and Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
, in the novel on which the musical is based
Show Boat (novel)
Show Boat is a 1926 novel by American author and dramatist Edna Ferber. It chronicles the lives of three generations of performers on the Cotton Blossom, a floating theater that travels between small towns on the banks of the Mississippi, from the 1880s to the 1920s...
, gives a description of the "Cotton Blossom" that accurately reflects the real design of a nineteenth-century showboat. Modern-day showboats, however, with their more advanced technology, are designed as steamboats.)
During the American frontier, there were very few people scattered about the area that is now the United States. These people depended on rivers such as the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers for food, supplies, and entertainment. “[The rivers] brought life and at the same time, brought means of sustaining life…[men were] dependant on the rivers and inevitably became a part of what they were” (Graham 1-3). Actors traveled to America from England and theatre venues as well as touring companies were developed. In 1816, Noah Ludlow purchased a keelboat for $200 and named it Ludlow's Noah's Ark. Ludlow and 11 associates climbed aboard and traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers stopping to perform whenever they could. Because there is very little documentation of what was performed aboard "Noah's Ark" it is not credited as the first showboat.
British-born actor William Chapman, Sr. created the first showboat, named the "Floating Theater," in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in 1831. He and his family of nine along with two other people lived on this boat and performed plays with added music and dance at stops along the waterways. The price of admission was anywhere from a peck of fresh vegetables to 50 cents a person. The acting was said to be far better than average, stemming from Chapman's British acting background. After reaching New Orleans, they got rid of the boat and went back to Pittsburgh in a steam boat in order to perform the process once again the year after. In 1836, the family was able to afford a new, fully equipped steam engine with a stage. In 1837, it was renamed "Steamboat Theatre." Chapman died on board in 1841.
Showboats had declined by the Civil War, but began again in 1878 and focused on melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. Major boats of this period included the New Sensation, New Era, Water Queen, and the Princess. With the improvement of roads, the rise of the automobile, motion pictures, and the maturation of the river culture, showboats declined again. In order to combat this development, they grew in size and became more colorful and elaborately designed in 1900s. These boats included the Golden Rod, the Sunny South, the Cotton Blossom, and the New Showboat.
Edna Ferber's novel "Show Boat" (1926), Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
's famous musical play based on it (1927), and the film versions (1929
Show Boat (1929 film)
Show Boat is a film based on the novel by Edna Ferber. This version was released by Universal in two editions, one a silent film for movie theatres still not equipped for sound, and one a part-talkie with a sound prologue...
, 1936
Show Boat (1936 film)
Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II , which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber....
, 1951
Show Boat (1951 film)
Show Boat is a 1951 Technicolor film based on the musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and the novel by Edna Ferber....
), showed this type of theater.
In 1914, circus actors, James Adams
James Adams
James Adams is the name of:* James Adams , British diplomat* James Adams , English cricketer* James Adams , Scottish footballer...
and Mrs. Adams, launched the James Adams Floating Theatre
James Adams Floating Theatre
The James Adams Floating Theatre was a floating theatre founded in 1914 by James Adams and his wife Beulah, which toured Chesapeake Bay staging theatre in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina...
. This saltwater showman decided to open a showboat that would tour the Chesapeake Bay bringing theatre to audiences in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The James Adams Floating Theatre is the only showboat that was visited by Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
while writing her famous novel, Showboat. She stayed onboard for a week in 1926 in order to write her famous novel (Haynie, 1950). This novel is what inspired the award winning, Kern and Hammerstein II’s Broadway hit, Showboat. This Broadway smash gave the term “showboat” a whole new meaning (www.floatingtheatre.org).
Showboating
Based on the supposedly gaudy look of showboats, the term "showboat" also came to mean someone who wants his or her ostentatious behavior to be seen at all costs. This term is particularly applied in sports, where a showboat (or sometimes "showboater") will do something flashy before actually achieving his or her goal. The word is also used as a verb. British television show Soccer AMSoccer AM
Soccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football-based comedy/talk show, predominantly based around the Premier League...
has a section appropriately named Showboat, dedicated to flashy tricks from the past week's games.
Oft-cited examples of showboating include Leon Lett
Leon Lett
Leon Lett, Jr. , nicknamed The Big Cat, is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League who played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos , after playing college football at Emporia State University. Lett was a two-time Pro Bowler, with selections in 1994 and...
's grocery-bag-carrying of a recovered football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(which was then swatted out of his hand before the goal line) in Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII was a football game played on January 31, 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1992 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Dallas Cowboys defeated the American Football Conference champion...
; Bill Shoemaker's standing in the saddle before the finish line of the 1957 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
, costing him the win (some sources say he merely misjudged the finish line, with another jockey ahead of him not standing up then); Lindsey Jacobellis
Lindsey Jacobellis
Lindsey Jacobellis is an American snowboarder from Stratton, Vermont.At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Jacobellis won the silver medal in Women's Snowboard Cross's Olympics debut...
's grab of her snowboard
Snowboard
Snowboards are boards, usually with a width the length of one's foot, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user...
which caused her to crash right before the finish of the Snowboard Cross final at the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
, costing her a first-place finish and a gold medal (she got a silver medal instead); Alex Ovechkin's post-goal celebrations in NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
play; and Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
pumping his chest before winning the 100m final at 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, likely adding one or more tenths of a second to his world record time of 9.69 seconds.
In boxing, showboating often takes the form of taunting, dropping one's gloves and daring an opponent to throw a punch, or engaging in other risky behaviors while the match is ongoing. Notable boxers well known for their showboating style include Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...
, Roy Jones Jr.
Roy Jones Jr.
Roy Jones, Jr. is an American boxer. As a professional he has captured numerous world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions...
and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr. is an American professional boxer. He is a five-division world champion, where he has won seven world titles, as well as the lineal championship in three different weight classes...
See also
- Old Profanity ShowboatOld Profanity Showboat (Thekla)Thekla is a music venue on board the ship of the same name, moored in the Mud Dock area of Bristol's Floating Harbour. Originally brought to Bristol as the Old Profanity Showboat, it was a late 1982 middle-of-the-night brainchild of novelist Ki Longfellow-Stanshall, the wife of Vivian Stanshall...
- Goldenrod ShowboatGoldenrod (showboat)On December 24, 1967, the Goldenrod Showboat is a designated U.S. National Historic Landmark. She was placed on the ‘Threatened Historical Landmarks’ list in 2001....