"Kern had been reading a novel that struck his fancy, and learning that Alexander Woollcott was a friend of the author, asked the critic to arrange an introduction. Kern was anxious to secure rights to the book. At intermission [of his play, "Criss Cross"] Kern spotted the critic, who had just wandered away from a tiny lady he was accompanying. He reminded Woollcott of his promise to secure a meeting with the novelist. Woollcott coyly replied he thought he could do it if he played his cards right. Kern thanked him and was about to walk away when Woollcott bellowed across the lobby to the lady he had just left: "Ferber. Hi, Ferber. Come on over here a minute." He then introduced the novelist and the composer. And a musical version of Show Boat was under way." (Jerome Kern; His Life and Music, p.275)

Theatre historian Ethan Mordden suggested that Edna Ferber's reaction was less than enthusiastic: ("You want to make a WHAT out of Show Boat?)" This impression is seemingly accurate, considering the status of musical theater in the 1920's. Musicals were frivolous and superficial; Ferber's novel was serious and panoramic; the likes of which Ferber felt had no place on a Broadway stage. (She did, however, sell the rights to the novel immediately after publication to the Universal Film Company). When and why Ferber changed her mind is unknown, but her consent revolutionized life upon the wicked Broadway stage. The musical production of Show Boat, as written by the composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, is now the primary version of the story that today's audiences recognize. Its popularity has seemingly swallowed its original novel and Universal's 1929 film. It has stood the test of time, although each new revival adds or detracts elements in accordance with the climate of its respective culture, revealing its true nature as an American icon. Yet this discussion of Show Boat will focus on the musical production as it relates specifically to the 1920's, showing how it was both a product of its time, as it could not have occurred at any other year, and ahead of its time, as nothing else remotely like it appeared until two decades later.

The musical Show Boat arose out of a legacy as mixed as American culture itself; combining dramatic genres, musical styles, and art forms. Traditionally, musical entertainment in the United States evolved largely out of two strands: the foreign opera, and the folk minstrel shows. Yet American theatre struggled to create something that would be a product of its own national culture. For years progress on the stage crept along slowly, and the reputation of minstrel and variety shows waned as increasingly urban audiences wanted more sophisticated entertainment. By the early 1920's, there were several different influences and types of shows floating around in New York theatres. They could generally be divided into four categories: African-American musicals, musical comedies, operettas, and vaudeville/revue.

African-American musicals became increasingly popular in the early twentieth century, even though they were intended for white audiences, they were inspired by the folk tradition and featured spirituals and more mixed cast members. Deep River, a musical written in 1926 by Laurence Stallings and Frank Harling, was one of the shows that presumably had an influence on Show Boat. It was a relatively serious play dealing with racial issues and featured music that corresponded with the plot- although it merely commented on the situations rather than drive them. These songs were largely spirituals, and were all delivered in dialect, which must also have been an inspiration to Hammerstein. Deep River also featured a cast where, for the most part, actors of their respective races played the white and black characters. This was was very rare in the 1920's, due to the legacy and popularity of minstrel shows. One of the actors featured in the production was Jules Bledsoe, an African-American actor who would later create the role of Joe in the original cast of Show Boat. Despite the novelty of the production of Deep River, this musical was not terribly successful, nor was it able to break away from the label of "African American" theatre.

Vaudeville was arguably the most popular form of live entertainment in the periods up to the Twenties. There seemed to be no limit to the type of acts that could be performed on the Vaudeville stages, ranging from song and dance numbers to mind readers and grossly politically incorrect impersonations and comedy sketches. Because of their random arrangement and utter lack of plot or cohesion, the success of these routines was not routed in the material, but in the appeal (not always the talent) of the performers. This particular element of the Vaudeville stage was present in all other musical theatre genres, and also in other mediums like film, which would often have scripts written completely around and for a particular star. Yet there is debate as to what ultimately caused the decline of Vaudeville in the 1920's. Some argue it was the ambitious overproduction of new theatres, which caused many Vaudeville producers to take large financial hits when they closed. Others put the blame on silent films, which captivated audiences yearning for new forms of entertainment. Naturally both of these had an impact, and it would seem the audiences of the 1920's had come to expect continuous narratives and plot lines in their live entertainment as well.

The musical comedy of the Twenties was one step up from the Vaudeville, as it had the impression of a plot line, yet it was filled with utterly random songs and dance numbers, usually complete with kicking chorus lines. Ethan Mordden, in Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920's, opens with a witty illustration of the concept of the musical comedy:

"Reminiscing with her father about her show-biz past, a young woman recalls her greatest triumph, singing "Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo" in red satin pants. She favors us with a nostalgic chorus of the song, whereupon her father chimes in with the second chorus. Then the orchestra cranks up the tempo, the two exit, and a line of chorus girls dances on to pursue the number, all dressed in red satin pants. We have no idea who these women are, how they all got hold of replicas of the heroine's old costume, and why they have suddenly erupted into her apartment. (Make Believe, p.3)

Mordden's depiction captures the nonsensical nature of the genre, and shows how far we have come from the mentality of the day, as modern audiences ridicule the idea of a musical unlike Show Boat, that would not make sense in a realistic world. Yet in and before the 1920's, it would seem audiences did not expect realism from musical entertainment, since the very idea of a character communicating his thoughts via song and dance instead of speech is unrealistic. Thus Show Boat, with its integrated song, dance and plot structure was monumental in the shift towards musical theatre as a respectable genre, as it fostered a willing suspension of disbelief just as formal drama and film did. Musical comedy did alter during the 1920's before Show Boat, even though the progression was in baby steps. Both of the careers of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in the early 1920's musical comedy had worked their way up to Show Boat, as they explored more possibilities with each new production. One of Kern's proto-musical musicals was called Sitting Pretty. The script of the show was originally written by Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse for two of the biggest Vaudevillian stars of the 1920's, Vivian and Rosetta Duncan. Yet the popular Duncan Sisters became sidetracked by an idea to make a whimsical musical comedy based on the (very non-whimsical) novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Although the resulting production of Topsy and Eva was wildly successful across the country and even abroad, it caused Sitting Pretty to be abandoned by its supposed composer, Irving Berlin, who saw the outlook grim without the headlining stars. Yet Kern loved the script and picked the show up where Berlin had dropped it. The result was an ultimately a "flop", (running for a mere 3 months) yet it had some notable progressive features, and Kern would learn a great deal from the experience. At its Detroit premiere, critics praised his score for "fitting to the story instead of being dragged in wherever somebody decides to break into song." (Jerome Kern: His Life and Music, p. 246). The show also was noted for having more sophisticated comedy, as opposed to the general musical fare. Both of these things Kern would take with him into Show Boat.

The last of the major musical theatre genres of the 1920's that would influence Show Boat is the operetta. The distinction between the operetta and the musical comedy may seem difficult to determine, yet operettas were generally taken more seriously, in that their story line and the music were more sophisticated and required more talented singers. To again quote Mordden: "operetta was passionate, musical comedy was satirical." (Make Believe, p. 36) The 1920's were regarded as the Golden Age of the operetta, when it had developed most fully independent of other contemporary genres. It had foreign influences, from the likes of Gilbert and Sulllivan, and often displaced its stories into exotic settings and history. This tradition seems to have evolved most easily into the musical as it is known today, particularly in the Rodgers and Hammerstein productions of the Forties and Fifties.

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