Topic starter
20/09/2011 12:44 am
In the photo exhibit for Howards, we have a picture of the showboat HOLLYWOOD with the towboat CROWN HILL faced up to it. On the deck of the CROWN HILL is a calliope which looks very familiar. Could this be the DQ's calliope? The time frame for this showboat and its location make it a likely candidate in my mind.
The HOLLYWOOD was not a very large showboat. The play it featured the week the picture was taken was "My Aggrivating Husband", a three act comic drama. The next weeks feature was to be "The Parson and the Flapper".
20/09/2011 3:09 am
Jim, my notes have the CROWN HILL carrying a calliope between 1922 and 1927 mounted at the after end of the roof, possibly a Nichol (like the DQ's). I don't have her down as towing the HOLLYWOOD showboat, only the GOLDENROD, although that isn't to say she never pushed other boats. I also have down that the HOLLYWOOD was towed at various times by MARGARET HALL in 1939, WENONAH, and WILLIAM C. and CHAPERON, both with a 38-note calliope, most likely a Kratz. The HOLLYWOOD showboat ran from 1911-1939, originally as the AMERICAN FLOATING THEATRE, then COLUMBIA, and finally HOLLYWOOD. That's all I've got. I'd love to take a look at your photo!
20/09/2011 3:35 pm
HOLLYWOOD WOOD
Just a little aside. Whenever we were being filmed, the director always wanted to see some smoke, so we started out with oily rags. We soon noticed that some of the scrap lumber we used for fuel was heavier than usual as it was rich pine. We would set it aside for heating up a slow fire or for movie smoke. We got to calling it "hollywood" as a result.
20/09/2011 10:51 pm
Menke Showboats & Towboats
Thanks to Ruth Ferris and Marcella Harding (Capt. Bill and Charlie Menke's niece) I have quite a number of photos of the showboats and towboats operated by the Menke brothers. Marcella, now deceased, told me that she loved to spend summer vacations traveling with her uncles aboard their showboats and that her favorite trip was the Cumberland River route taken by the Showboat HOLLYWOOD.
Herewith is a photo of the HOLLYWOOD, pushed by the CHAPERON, with the calliope in view. The Menke brothers used the CHAPERON, CROWN HILL and WENONAH for both their showboats (GOLDENROD and HOLLYWOOD) at various times.
I have a print of the picture Jim mentions, but it is restricted by the University of Louisville Photo Archives.