Show Boat (movie)
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Show Boat the name of a musical film based on the stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II, which was adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber. The music was by Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. For more about the musical and the plot see: Show Boat.
Show Boat is a cornucopia of famous, favorite songs -- songs that many people today do not realize first appeared in this musical. The score includes:
- Make Believe
- Ol' Man River
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
- Mis'ry's Comin' Round
- Till Good Luck Comes My Way
- Life Upon The Wicked Stage
- You Are Love
- Ah Still Suits Me
- Why Do I Love You?
- Bill
- Goodbye, My Lady Love
- After The Ball
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Film versions
Show Boat has been made into a movie four times.
1929 Version
Show Boat was filmed in 1929 with a censored story line. This version stars Laura La Plante, Joseph Schildkraut, Otis Harlan, Emily Fitzroy, Alma Rubens, Elise Bartlett, and Jack McDonald. It was adapted by Charles Kenyon, Harry A. Pollard, and Tom Reed and was directed by Pollard.
1936 Version
The 1936 musical film about Magnolia Hawks, a girl who has grown up on her family's musical-show boat the Cotton Blossom, which travels the Mississippi River putting on shows. She meets Gaylord Ravenal, an amoral gambler and marries him, but he leaves her while she is pregnant. In a parallel plot, Julie LaVerne (the showboat's leading actress, who is also a white woman with African-American blood) is forced to leave the boat because of her background, taking Steve Baker (her lover) with her, but he later abandons her. It stars Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Queenie Smith, Sammy White, Donald Cook, and Hattie McDaniel.
The 1936 version has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
1946 Version
A significant but miniaturized rendition of the show has been included in the 1946 movie Till the Clouds Roll By, which tells a fictional story of Jerome Kern's life. The mulatto Julie character was played by Lena Horne, while Kathryn Grayson did Magnolia and Tony Martin did Gaylord. Frank Sinatra sang Ol' Man River in the movie's finale. Parts of this mini-rendition were later included into one of the That's Entertainment! compilation movies.
1951 Version
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It was remade in 1951, starring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, William Warfield, Robert Sterling, and Agnes Moorehead. It was adapted by John Lee Mahin, J.P. McGowan (uncredited), and George Wells (uncredited) and was directed by George Sidney. This version is considered the most famous of the film adaptations of the play, and is one of MGM's most popular musicals. Lena Horne was originally to have played Julie [[after Dinah Shore and Judy Garland were passed over]] as she had in the brief segment of the play in the 1946 Jerome Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By. but studio executives were nervous about casting a black actress in one of the lead roles, so Gardner was chosen instead. Gardner's singing voice was later dubbed by vocalist Annette Warren; her original rendition of one of the musical numbers appeared in the compilation film That's Entertainment III and is considered superior to the version used in the film. Gardner's vocals were included on the soundtrack album for the movie, and in an autobiography written not long before her death, Gardner reported she was still receiving royalties from the release.