What is "showboat"

also show-boat, 1838, "river boat on which theatrical performances are given," from show (n.) + boat (n.). The verb meaning "to show off" is attested from 1951.

n. 1 (context US English) A river steamboat having a resident theatre. 2 (context by extension English) A showoff. vb. To show off.

n. a river steamboat on which theatrical performances could be given (especially on the Mississippi River)

A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater on a riverboat that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. 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 (and misleadingly labeled) towboat, also known as a pusher, which was attached to it. It was difficult to put a steam engine on it and still have a large theater, since the engine would have had to be placed right in the auditorium.

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. Two earlier film versions of Show Boat and most stage productions feature a historically accurate 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, with engines and auditorium.

During the American frontier era, populations of potential audiences were widely scattered about the area that is now the United States. These people depended on rivers such as the Mississippi and the Ohio for food, supplies, and entertainment. “[The rivers] brought life and at the same time, brought means of sustaining life…[people were] dependent 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.

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 steamboat in order to tour down the river once again the following year. 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 the 1900s. Newer 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), portrayed this type of theater.

In 1914, circus actors James Adams and his wife launched the James Adams Floating Theatre, a showboat that would tour the Chesapeake Bay and bring theatre to audiences in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The James Adams Floating Theatre is the only showboat that was visited by Edna Ferber, who stayed on board 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 Broadway hit, Showboat. The famous musical, which is still staged, gave the term “showboat” a whole new meaning.

The last surviving showboat, the showboat Majestic, is docked on the Ohio River in Downtown Cincinnati. Until recently, she served as a venue for regular performances.

Showboat or show boat, is a boat which serves as a floating theater.

Showboat or Show Boat may refer to:

Showboat is an album by American jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham featuring performances of tunes from the Jerome Kern- Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat recorded in 1960 and released on the Time label.

Showboat is a four-engined four-wheel-drive exhibition slingshot dragster, built by "TV Tommy" Ivo in the 1960s.

Showboat featured four Buick nailhead V8s, linked together; two drove the rear wheels, two the front.

While Ivo never liked the name, Showboat proved one of the most popular models of his cars.

Showboat was Hot Rods December 1961 cover car.