Cottom Blossom - MGM "Showboat"

In the Summer of 1974, I took a tour of the MGM studios, and there was a steamboat in a lagoon then. There was also a "steam" train--which I now believe is back in Nevada City, CA (at least the locomotive) where it originated from the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (Also known as the "Never Come, Never Go--it is said that a passenger complained to the conductor, "When are we going to get to Nevada City, my baby is due!" His response was, "Madam, you shouldn't have gotten on the train in this condition" Her reply, "I wasn't IN this condition when I boarded in Colfax!"
(For those not familiar with the layout of the land, you can drive today (very near the old right-of-way) between the two towns in 45 minutes).
Anyways, back to steamboatin'--I wonder if this was the same boat--my memory is vauge, but I thought the guide said something about "Showboat." The big deal at that time was going through Moses' parted waters.
S'
David D.

David, The COTTON BLOSSOM was at Worlds of Fun by 1974. A "steamboat buff" friend of mine, who was an animator for Disney, said there was another sternwheeler on the MGM lot that had been used in the 1959 television series "Riverboat", starring Burt Reynolds and Darren McGavin. The boat, named the ENTERPRISE (which was also used in other other movies) finally rotted down and was scrapped. Episodes of "Riverboat" are available on both VHS and DVD on Ebay.

Hi, Keith & David:
Thanks for your two informative postings on the history and fate of the COTTON BLOSSOM in the movie SHOWBOAT etc. I'd always wondered what happened to it and you two have nailed it. The movie back then was a block buster 'biggie' and I recall being hauled to the classic ALBEE theater here on Fountain Square to see it with my parents and sister. The big theater organ was still being played and I recall it but don't remember what selections were rendered.

S&D attendees viewed a clip showing the present MAJESTIC showboat here being floated in her new steel hull down at TUCKER MARINE on Kellogg Ave. [*Cap'n Bill Judd may remember the year it was done.] I saw the hull being welded but not the 'float in' of the boat itself. It was a miserably cold day with snow when the two were matched. I'd dare risk an opinion that showboats as we know them are a totally American phenomenon and creation. If any such vessels existed in Europe Carmen and Franz may have an insight. I attended productions here on the MAJESTIC years back but, truthfully, it gave me a case of the willies when the nearby DELA QUEEN steamed away from the GREENE LINE wharfboat. She was so close you could see in the dining room windows where people were staring back and smell the food from her cook house. Then came the not-so-gentle rock and swell as the DQ turned, rounded out and headed down under the Suspension Bridge.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

PS> Can any of you recall the name of the black man with the rich, deep voice in SHOWBOAT who sang 'Old Man River?' I can't.

Dale,

He was Paul Robeson (sp?).

~Travis~

Showboat 1951 Joe was William Warfield

others were
Paul Robeson 1936
Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry - 1929 (Credited as "Stepin Fetchit")

Thanks Bruce! The 1936 version of "Showboat" is also available on VHS and features Hattie McDaniel ("Mammy" in Gone With the Wind) as the cook (and wife of Joe) on the towboat that pushes the COTTON BLOSSOM.

About 10 years ago we had the Broadway production of "Showboat" here in Louisville at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The scenery was fabulous, with the shimmering river, "steam" from the calliope, etc. It simply took my breath away and I had to go see it twice to be sure I hadn't missed anything! When "Old Man River" was sung, I got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. My companion said, "This riverboat stuff really DOES have an effect on YOU doesn't it?!" What a question to ask ME!

Dale: I think it was 1968 or '69 when the MAJESTIC got her new steel hull at Tucker Marine. It didn't come any too soon, as that old wooden hull, dating from 1923, was decrepit. Capt. Roddy Hammett said that someone came running over to the DQ one night and asked if they could borrow a bilge pump because the showboat was sinking! Roddy explained that everything on the DQ was steam, but he went over to see what he could do. He saw several actors down in the hold, frantically bailing water. Help came from somewhere and the MAJESTIC was saved, but the new owners knew they were living on borrowed time and the new steel hull was installed soon thereafter.

When the MAJESTIC and ATTABOY (renamed I.U.) spent their last years (1965-66) under the ownership of Indiana University tied up at Jeffersonville, Jeffboat kindly kept watch over the old showboat and her towboat, which already had a steel hull. During periods of very high water when there was a lot of drift in the river, they would move the boats upstream and place barges around them for protection.

Judy Patsch and I were given a memorable "hull to pilothouse" tour of the MAJESTIC about ten years ago by assistant production manager Denny Reed. Since that time, the showboat was taken upriver for extensive hull work. A lot of other restoration work has been done recently as well. A video on the MAJESTIC's history is available for purchase, as is the wonderful book, Cargo of Memories, written by the late Catherine Reynolds King, daughter of Capt. T.J. Reynolds.

Actor Kevin Kline, who has appeared in various recent movies, is an IU graduate and spent time on the MAJESTIC. He especially recalls stoking the boiler to provide steam for the calliope!

For more about life on a traveling showboat, don't forget that the next program in my "River Ramblings" series at the Howard Steamboat Museum will be on Saturday, August 25th at 3:00 PM EDT, featuring our own Pat Carr, who lived on the MAJESTIC as a Hiram College student in 1958. Pat's program, entitled "Footlights Afloat", will feature home movies, photos and LOTS of great stories as only Pat can tell them! Y'all come!

Keith,

I too was at one of the Louisville performances. Believe it or not, I was "hired" as the stand in for the calliope player should they need one. My father had something to do with this, I am sure!

Unfortunately, I never got to take hand to the Tangley Calliaphone aboard the unbelieveable mock up of the COTTON BLOSSOM that graced the stage of the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Those instruments (for there were 2 of them) for the road show of "Showboat" were unique one-off calliopes built by Dave Miner of Miner Manufacturing Co. He built them to be quiet enough to mimick the sound of a steam calliope while inside a theatre. They operated on 1/4 pound of air supplied by a tiny vaccum moter sized blower. The "steam" was powder which was admitted into the blower unit for the calliope. This "steam" was quite messy and the actors had to pay great attention to be sure not to get anywhere around it for it showed on clithing quite well. They were also made to look like a steam calliope in that the whistles were mounted on a small air chamber painted black and rounded on the sides to look as if the whistles were mounted on a steel pipe manifold (like a traditional steam calliope). You had see this contraption from the keyboard to realize this was actually a shallow pipe chest like on a pipe organ modified for a look.

More than you wanted to know about that subject, huh?

~Travis~

Travis Vasconcelos;5091 wrote:
More than you wanted to know about that subject, huh?
~Travis~

Never too much information on that subject.

Majestic

It was 1970 when the new steel hull was placed under the old wooden hull.
Original hull dimensions were 120'L x 29'W. New hull size was 135'L x 40'W.
The second new steel hull was installed at Superior Marine at the Proctorville, Ohio marine ways in December 1996 and January/February 1997. Launched on February 20, 1997. It's not often a person gets a chance to play a part in giving a historic vessel new life twice. I was lucky.

AH HA!! I've been wondering about remembering watching a steamboat on TV with speaking tubes, etc. Didn't know whether I was remembering a movie or a series. Uh Oh, eBay addiction setting in again, gotta go find some of those episodes!
Hmm, 1959; I was 6 years old, and TV just came into town. Our first set was a Zenith B&W that I still had until about 25 years ago. Watched many a test pattern on that puppy (also Star Trek, Twilight Zone, etc. etc.) No more "Lone Ranger" on the radio!
S'
David D.
PS, If you don't mind my asking, what was your animator friend's name? I knew Ben Sharpsteen's son, Tom & met Ward Kimball a number of times. Amazing folks!

Thanks Bill! I knew you'd have the correct answer! I saw a reference about the new hull in a 1968 S&D REFLECTOR, so I guess it must have been in the planning/construction stages that early. The MAJESTIC got her second new hull just in time for the BIG flood of '97. I know she's broken loose a few times from her mooring, but has quickly been caught and towed back to the landing. Here are a couple of photos of the showboat in her earlier days.

WOW! Thanks Travis! There's NO SUCH THING as TOO MUCH INFORMATION or detail on the fascinating subject of steamboats, calliopes, etc. That's how we ALL "learn MORE about it!"

Another possibility of seeing a steamboat with speaking tubes on TV would be the JULIA BELLE SWAIN in the Nov. 1980 PBS show Life on the Mississippi. She portrayed both the PAUL JONES and the ALECK SCOTT.

A lesser known "Life on the Mississippi" production, done by National Geographic in 1976, had portions filmed in the River Room of the Missouri Historical Society, using the pilothouse of the Str. GOLDEN EAGLE. That pilothouse, dating to 1904, as the cotton packet WM. GARIG, also has a speaking tube and primitive equipment, compared to the high tech gizmos found in pilothouses today!

Judy Patsch;5110 wrote: Another possibility of seeing a steamboat with speaking tubes on TV would be the JULIA BELLE SWAIN in the Nov. 1980 PBS show Life on the Mississippi. She portrayed both the PAUL JONES and the ALECK SCOTT.

She also appeared in the 1972 Readers Digest Film "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". In that production she portrayed boats named the "River Queen" and the "Julia Belle Swain"

I AGREE!! MORE, MORE!!
S'
David D.

Judy,
Possibly, but we only had three channels, 12 from Chico, 7R from Redding and 10 from Medford, OR. No PBS! And 12 came on about noon with a test pattern, and I think started broadcasting with the Jennie Posey Show (some adult stuff???, followed by Don's Cartoon Club (MY SHOW! Don drew cartoons from numbers or stuff folks sent in, and showed cartoon movies inbetween--all local programming, live), and then I think the news came on. At first my folks wouldn't let us watch "The Flinstones" as it was sponsored by Winston cigarettes, but they finally relented--BTW, back then it was an adult sit-com, not a "kiddie" show. Hmm, and then there was Ted Mack's Original Amature Hour--like American Idol is a new idea! And The Ed Sullivan Show with those mop-haired Beatles!
Ah, going far from steamboats here, but I do remember watching Riverboat, might be one of the reasons I became so interested in them???
S'
David D.
PS, so far only found (on eBay) one DVD with ONE episode of Riverboat on it.

PS, I bought some speaking tube ends at a yard sale a number of years ago, there around here. . . .somewhere. . . . in a box. . . . lottsa boxes! Probably from a house, not a boat, but cool stuff! Now to figure out what to do with it--Hmm, build a boat???? 🙂
S'
David D.
Yeah, I had these speaking tubes, so I built a boat to put them to use. . . .

David: Type in RIVERBOAT DVD on EBAY and then scroll down to the BUY IT NOW items. There are various episodes available, as well as some DVD's of THE MYSTERY OF THE RIVERBOAT. Typing in RIVERBOAT VHS will also bring up some selections.

Keith, and All,
For a while, some years ago, I had copies of MGM's plans for their Cotton Blossom. Then I made the mistake of loaning them to someone who never returned all of them. Now I have only two sheets, but I remember this much: The 1951 movie boat was built on pontoons, not a hull. She had sides that looked like a hull and extended down to a point under the waterline. I was told that the boat was powered by two Allison aircraft engines
(probably WW II surplus) and there was a conceiled chain drive to the sternwheel. For proof of this watch the end of the movie where Wm. Warfield is standing out on the fantail (don't tell the Coast Guard!) singing Ole Man River. Behind the crank and pittman you can see the housing for the hidden chain drive. As the boat pulls away, look at the starboard side and you can see the blue haze of exhaust smoke from those engines. (cough, cough) In spite of this fakery, I still love watching the movie, one of the gret musicals of all time. Seeing it at the tender age of 13 was one of the reasons I became interested in steamboats.

Yes, I, too, had heard that the COTTON BLOSSOM was powered by aircraft engines! There's mention of it in the book Tales of the Mississippi in the chapter on showboats -- and there's a good picture of the boat during the filming of the movie.

In some other pictures of the boat I have noticed the housing you mention -- but I've never noticed the blue haze of exhaust smoke in the final scenes where the COTTOM BLOSSOM steams off into the sunset and Joe is on the fantail singing "Old Man River". Probably because my eyes are always filled with tears!