Live entertainment hasn’t always been easy to come by. Only large cities would have a sufficient population base to be able to support venues where live entertainment could take place, and to support the different types of entertainment, too. Travel has to be taken into account, also. In the days before highways and automobiles, just traveling what we might consider a fairly short distance could take hours or days on horseback or in a wagon, traversing dirt paths. It’s no wonder the average person rarely, if ever, enjoyed live entertainment.

But remember why so much early settlement was on or near navigable waterways, for the transportation logistics of getting goods to and from markets, and for human transportation, too. That same waterway that brought goods and services to people could also bring them live entertainment, in the form of showboats.

The heyday of the showboat was from the early 1830s to the early 1940s, with a lengthy time out during the years of the Civil War. “The British-born actor William Chapman built the first showboat, the “Floating Theatre” (14 by 100 feet), at Pittsburgh in 1831. He and his family floated from landing to landing, playing dramas such as The Stranger, by August von Kotzebue, and William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, with music and dance specialties added. Upon reaching New Orleans late in winter, they junked the boat and returned by steamer to Pittsburgh to repeat the pattern the next year. One unusual example of a popular showboat of this early period was the Floating Circus Palace of Spaulding and Rodgers (built 1851) that featured large-scale equestrian spectacles.”

Note that comment about junking the boat in New Orleans. These early showboats were not powered, but merely theatres built atop a flat boat or barge. They floated downstream with clearly some sort of navigation capabilities. “The Chapman boat floated with the current down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, tying up for one-night performances at river landings where there might be a viable audience. The nine person Chapman family served as the entire cast and crew. Admission to the show, although preferred in coins, was also accepted in the form of foodstuffs from the small river bottom farms.” As time went on, they still lacked their own power, but were pushed by steamers, meaning that they could stay in service for more than one season instead of being abandoned in New Orleans. Take a look at this monstrosity: Eugene Robinson’s Floating Palaces, featuring a museum, a menagerie, and an opera house.

Given the way that sound travels across water, people living along the river knew the boat was coming long before it actually arrived. Add in the boat’s whistle and calliope, and an audience was almost guaranteed to be waiting when the boat docked.

The Goldenrod visited Evansville a number of times, at times with different owners. “The Goldenrod Showboat was debuted as the largest showboat ever built when she came onto the scene in 1909. She was a vessel of pure decadence fitted with brilliant decor and lighting for which no expense was spared. Her extravagance and beauty quickly gained her notoriety as she began to travel the river systems of the Midwest touching the hearts and imaginations of many. The music of her calliope would signal her long awaited arrival as she traveled from Omaha to Pittsburg and all the way south to New Orleans. Although she changed owners three times during her first 15 years on the river, she would become and remain a hub of entertainment, offering small towns the access to melodramas, vaudeville, music, dance, and in some instances,” talkies” that would have otherwise been out of reach.”

In 1914, Captain Ralph Waldo Emerson (no, not that RWE, 1803-1882!) was able to purchase this boat for a mere $11,000 when the previous owner faced foreclosure.

Here are two views of the stage and theatre aboard the Goldenrod, circa 1919. Above is MSS 264-2970, below is MSS 264-2972, both from the Thomas Mueller Collection.

The Goldenrod showboat burned in 2017, but long before that her days on the river, bringing excitement to many, had waned with the growth of better roads, transportation options, and on-land entertainment such as cinemas.

In 1926, the author Edna Ferber wrote Show Boat, a novel chronicling three generations of showboat performers. With music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and P.G. Wodehouse, it debuted on Broadway in 1927. It was made into a film in 1936 and remade in 1951.

The 1951 version is available on DVD in the Rice Library in DVDs/Audiovisual Materials section on the 1st Floor: PN1997.S569 2000.

The book is in the General Collection with the call number: PS 3511.E46 S56.

As vehicles of entertainment, the book/movie are not intended to be documentaries on the “real” life of showboats and are somewhat romanticized. That said, however, they do deal with some serious racial issues including miscegenation. Read and/or watch this title (enjoy some glorious music on the DVD) and put this information together with what you’ve read here to get a glimpse of both the glories and the problems of “Life Upon the Wicked Stage” (a number from the musical)!

Resources Consulted

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Showboat”. Encyclopedia Britannica.

The Goldenrod Showboat: A History Spanning Over 100 Years

 Showboats. Encyclopedia.com.