The Gallery presents…
“Show Boat”....
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…a rollicking musical that leapt from the pages of
Edna Ferber’s 1926 novel onto the stage and screen, accompanied by the lilting music of Jerome Kern and
the memorable lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the epic tale of the “Cotton Blossom”, a Mississippi sternwheeler and the family of actors onboard. |
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“Show Boat” (1929)… …an almost silent film where the music is used only in the sound prologue. However, the miscegenation sequence, so important in Ferber’s novel, was considered too controversial for this movie. |
Born: November 1, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri
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 Laura La Plante/Magnolia Hawks…. …the ingénue daughter of Cap’n Andy who falls in love with a ne’er-to-do gambler |
| Born: March 22, 1896 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) Died: January 21, 1964 in New York City, New York at 67 Cause of death: heart attack Marriages: Three. The first to actress Elise Bartlett ended in divorce after 7 years. The second to Marie McKay ended with her death and the third to Leonora Rogers ended with his death. He had no children. Remarks: A stage star in Germany before coming to the US with his actor father in 1920, Schildkraut took only one year to become the toast of Broadway. His parallel screen career took him from suave leading man to arch villain character roles and he became the first non-American to win a best Supporting Actor Oscar (“The Life of Emile Zola” 1937). In the prologue … Helen Morgan sang the role of Julie (played in the film by Alma Rubens) and Jules Bledsoe sang the role of Joe (played in the film by Stepin Fetchit. |
 Joseph Schildkraut/Gaylord Ravenal…. …the reckless gambler who wooed and won the fair Magnolia. |
| “Show Boat” was considered the first true American ‘musical play’, a dramatic form with popular music distinct from operettas, musical comedies and revues. |  |
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“Show Boat”(1936)… …a truer adaptation of both the book and the stage production with all the fabulous music! |
 Irene Dunne/Magnolia Hawks… ….left to bring up a young daughter alone, she returns to the stage where she becomes a star. |
Born: December 20, 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky Died: September 4th, 1990 in Los Angeles, California at 91 Cause of death: heart failure Real Name: Irene Marie Dunn Marriages: One to dentist Francis Dennis Griffin that lasted 37 years until his death in 1965. They adopted daughter Mary Frances. Remarks: What goes around, comes around? Irene was discovered by a film scout while playing Magnolia onstage with the play’s first national touring company in 1929. Irene was nominated 5 times for an Oscar but never won although she made over 40 films and was often called the first lady of Hollywood. |
Allan Jones/ Gaylord Ravenal… |
Born: October 14, 1907 in Old Forge, Pennsylvania Died: June 27, 1992 in new York City, New York at 84 Cause of death: lung cancer Marriages: Four, three ending in divorce. His second marriage to actress Irene Hervey produced one son, singer Jack Jones. His fourth to Esther Villavenese lasted 25 years until his death. Remarks: The son of a coal miner, he worked in the mines as a boy while going to school and working part time to save money to study music. With his savings and a scholarship, Jones studied at both the University of Syracuse and in Paris. He became successful in road companies and on Broadway before landing romantic leading roles in Hollywood musicals. But his movie career never really took off and in later years he took up dentistry. |
 Helen Morgan/Julie LaVerne… ….the mulatto singer married to a white man against state laws and forced to leave the “Cotton Blossom”. |
Born: August 2, 1900 in Danville, Illinois
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 Paul Robeson/ Joe…. …the stevedore who sings the song of the river. |
Born: April 9, 1878 in Princeton, New Jersey.
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Besides Kern and Hammerstein, another theatrical giant propelled “Show Boat” to greatness. Florenz Ziegfeld spared no expense to bring the play to Broadway and to the screen. There has now been four Broadway revivals, and two sound screen versions as the show boat “jes’ keeps rollin’ along”! |
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“Show Boat” (1951)…. …. Here Magnolia and Gaylord’s daughter is born after their estrangement and Julie intervenes to bring them together. |
 Kathryn Grayson/ Magnolia Hawks… …the naïve young girl ripe for the picking! |
Born: February 9, 1922 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Age: 85 Real name: Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick Marriages: Two, both ending in divorce. The first to actor John Shelton lasted 5 years. The second to singer/actor Johnny Johnston ended after 4 years and produced a daughter. Remarks: Kathryn was discovered by MGM talent scouts while she was singing on Eddie Cantor’s radio show. Her lovely coloratura soprano, pretty heart-shaped face and perky turned up nose was perfect for the musical films of that era. MGM paired her with Mario Lanza but they never achieved the success of dream team Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy (although Kathryn became good friends with Jeanette). Retired, Kathryn still attends some Hollywood functions. |
 Howard Keel/Gaylord Ravenal…. ….the roguish gambler who used his baritone voice to win over the captain and his charms to woo his daughter! |
Born: April 13, 1919 in Gillespie, Illinois Died: November 7, 2004 in Palm Desert, California at 85 Cause of death: colon cancer Real name: Harold Clifford Leek Marriages: Three. The first two ended in divorce. There were two children to his second wife. The third marriage to Judy Keel lasted 34 years until his death. They had one child. Remarks: Like his counterpart, Allan Jones, Keel was the son of a coal Miner, but got his start as a singing busboy in a Los Angeles cafe. By the time he made his stage debut in “Carousel” he had literally turned his name around from Leek to Keel. He also became Howard instead of Harold. Primed for musicals in the 1950s, he changed to straight dramatic roles and westerns in the 60s. By the 1980s, he joined the cast of “Dallas” on television. |
 Ava Gardner/ Julie La Verne… ….the lovely half of the Cotton Blossom’s leading actors threatened with jail because of her mixed blood. |
Born: December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina Died: January 25, 1990 in Westminster, London, England at 67 Cause of death: bronchial pneumonia Real name: Ava Lavinia Gardner Marriages: Three, all to show business people and all ending in divorce. The first to actor Mickey Rooney lasted 18 months…the second to band leader Artie Shaw ended after a year and her third to actor-singer Frank Sinatra lasted 6 years. Remarks: Her beauty got her in pictures but her ability to learn and her common sense kept her there. She learned acting by the seat of her pants but admitted that up to that time she had read only 2 books in her life….the Bible and “Gone With The Wind”! She was the youngest of 7 children born to a tobacco farmer and was planning to be a secretary when she was discovered. In 1953 Ava won a Best Actress Oscar nomination for “Mogambo”. Her voice was dubbed by Annette Warren in this film but her own voice was left on the soundtrack album. |
 Joe E. Brown/ Cap’n Andy…. ….the soft hearted captain who often stood between his sharp-tongued wife and just about everybody! |
Born: July 28, 1891 in Holgate, Ohio Died: July 6, 1973 in Brentwood, California at 80 Cause of death: stroke Real name: Joseph Evans Brown Marriages: One to Kathryn Francis in 1915. They had two sons and later adopted football star Mike Frankovich. Mike and his wife Binnie Barnes are buried in the family plot along with their eldest son. Remarks: Joe had his parents’ permission to run away to the circus at 10 to join a tumbling act. He also played semi-pro baseball in his younger days and never got over his love for it. His son, Joe, Jr., caught the same bug and was general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates for 20 years. Brown took his elastic face, slapstick style and wide-mouthed smile from vaudeville to film and is probablybest remembered for his role as Cap’n Andy in thisfilm and the quirky millionaire in “Some Like It Hot” (1959). |
 Agnes Moorehead as Parthy Hawks (for more on Agnes, see Issue#22)
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 William Warfield as "Joe". |