Here Comes The Showboat!

Here Comes The Showboat! PDF Author: Betty Bryant
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813188881
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
"I was born at the tail end of a unique and delightful era and raised on one of the last showboats to struggle for survival against the devastating crunch of progress.... Our showboat's express purpose was carrying entertainment to hundreds of thousands of river-bottom farmers along our water-bordered frontier." —from the book Betty Bryant was a river rat. The Floating Theater was her home, and the river was her back yard. While other children were learning to walk, she was learning to swim. She knew how to set a trotline, gig a frog, catch a crawdad, and strip the mud vein out of a carp by the time she was four. In this colorful memoir, Betty shares her own piece of Americana, the small, family-owned showboat of the early twentieth century. Billy Bryant's Showboat plied the inland waterways of the Ohio River watershed from before the First World War until 1942, bringing a blend of melodrama and vaudeville, laughter and therapeutic tears, into the lives of isolated people in rural communities along the way. Betty made her first professional appearance at the age of six weeks when she played a baby in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In her twenty years of touring, she acted, danced, and grew up in the tradition of "family entertainment, by families, for families." Here Comes the Showboat! is told with the ageless wonder of a child who loved the showboat and the eager audiences its uniquely American entertainment touched. It is a treasure trove of humorous anecdotes, touching remembrances, and delightful photographs of Betty, the three generations who ran the family showboat, miners, musselers, shantyboaters, farmers, merchants, and actors whose lives intersected along the Ohio River.

Here Comes The Showboat!

Here Comes The Showboat! PDF Author: Betty Bryant
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813188881
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
"I was born at the tail end of a unique and delightful era and raised on one of the last showboats to struggle for survival against the devastating crunch of progress.... Our showboat's express purpose was carrying entertainment to hundreds of thousands of river-bottom farmers along our water-bordered frontier." —from the book Betty Bryant was a river rat. The Floating Theater was her home, and the river was her back yard. While other children were learning to walk, she was learning to swim. She knew how to set a trotline, gig a frog, catch a crawdad, and strip the mud vein out of a carp by the time she was four. In this colorful memoir, Betty shares her own piece of Americana, the small, family-owned showboat of the early twentieth century. Billy Bryant's Showboat plied the inland waterways of the Ohio River watershed from before the First World War until 1942, bringing a blend of melodrama and vaudeville, laughter and therapeutic tears, into the lives of isolated people in rural communities along the way. Betty made her first professional appearance at the age of six weeks when she played a baby in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In her twenty years of touring, she acted, danced, and grew up in the tradition of "family entertainment, by families, for families." Here Comes the Showboat! is told with the ageless wonder of a child who loved the showboat and the eager audiences its uniquely American entertainment touched. It is a treasure trove of humorous anecdotes, touching remembrances, and delightful photographs of Betty, the three generations who ran the family showboat, miners, musselers, shantyboaters, farmers, merchants, and actors whose lives intersected along the Ohio River.

Radio Programs, 1924-1984

Radio Programs, 1924-1984 PDF Author: Vincent Terrace
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786445130
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
This is an encyclopedic reference work to 1,802 radio programs broadcast from the years 1924 through 1984. Entries include casts, character relationships, plots and storylines, announcers, musicians, producers, hosts, starting and ending dates of the programs, networks, running times, production information and, when appropriate, information on the radio show's adaptation to television. Many hundreds of program openings and closings are included.

Broadway Musicals, 1943-2004

Broadway Musicals, 1943-2004 PDF Author: John Stewart
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476603294
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 6404

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Book Description
On March 31, 1943, the musical Oklahoma! premiered and the modern era of the Broadway musical was born. Since that time, the theatres of Broadway have staged hundreds of musicals--some more noteworthy than others, but all in their own way a part of American theatre history. With more than 750 entries, this comprehensive reference work provides information on every musical produced on Broadway since Oklahoma's 1943 debut. Each entry begins with a brief synopsis of the show, followed by a three-part history: first, the pre-Broadway story of the show, including out-of-town try-outs and Broadway previews; next, the Broadway run itself, with dates, theatres, and cast and crew, including replacements, chorus and understudies, songs, gossip, and notes on reviews and awards; and finally, post-Broadway information with a detailed list of later notable productions, along with important reviews and awards.

Showboats

Showboats PDF Author: Philip Graham
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292775555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book is a delightful and authoritative record of America's showboats from the first one, launched in 1831, to the last, ultimately tied up at a St. Louis dock. It is also a record of the men and women who built and loved these floating theaters, of those who performed on their stages, and of the thousands who sat in their auditoriums. And, lastly, it is a record of a genuine folk institution, as American as catfish, which for more than a century did much to relieve the social and cultural starvation of our vast river frontier. For these showboats brought their rich cargoes of entertainment—genuine laughter, a glimpse of other worlds, a respite from the grinding hardship of the present, emotional relaxation—to valley farmers, isolated factory workers and miners, and backwoodsmen who otherwise would have lacked all such opportunities. To the more privileged , the showboats brought pleasant reminder of a half-forgotten culture. They penetrated regions where churches and school had not gone, and where land theaters were for generations to be impossible. Like circuit preachers, they carried their message to the outer fringes of American civilization. In spite of many faults, it was a good message. The frontier had created this institution to fill a genuine need, and it lasted only until other and better means of civilizing these regions could reach them—good roads, automobiles, motion pictures, schools, churches, newspapers, and theaters. But although the showboats have passed into history, they have left a rich legacy. As long as the Mississippi flows into the Gulf, their story will fire the imagination of Americans. Showboating has become so legendary that few Americans know what this unique institution was really like. In Showboats, at long last, the true story emerges. It differs in many important respects from the motion picture and fictional versions to which Americans are accustomed, but it is not a whit the less glamorous. Philip Graham has told his story with imagination, genuine insight, and complete devotion to facts. No one who is interested in America's past should fail to read it.

Catalog of Copyright Entries

Catalog of Copyright Entries PDF Author: Library of Congress. Copyright Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Copyright
Languages : en
Pages : 1058

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Book Description


Hoosier Banker

Hoosier Banker PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Banks and banking
Languages : en
Pages : 902

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Book Description


Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931Ð1972

Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931Ð1972 PDF Author: Vincent Terrace
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476612234
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The openings and closings to radio programs of all types, from comedies (Blondie, The Jack Benny Program, Lum and Abner) to mysteries (Inner Sanctum Mysteries, The Black Chapel) to game shows (Can You Top This?, Truth or Consequences) to serials (Second Husband, Bachelor’s Children) to crime dramas (The Falcon, Eno Crime Clues, The Green Hornet, Mr. and Mrs. North) to westerns (Gunsmoke, Wild Bill Hickok, Hawk Larabee) that were aired between 1931 and 1972, are included in this work. Each entry has a brief introductory paragraph that provides information about the storyline, principal cast, sponsors and air dates. Commercials have been included if the programs were under regular sponsorship. Includes three appendices (sponsors; slogans and jingles; and World War II announcements) and an index.

Encyclopedia of American Short Films, 1926-1959

Encyclopedia of American Short Films, 1926-1959 PDF Author: Graham Webb
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147668118X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
Short subject films have a long history in American cinemas. These could be anywhere from 2 to 40 minutes long and were used as a "filler" in a picture show that would include a cartoon, a newsreel, possibly a serial and a short before launching into the feature film. Shorts could tackle any topic of interest: an unusual travelogue, a comedy, musical revues, sports, nature or popular vaudeville acts. With the advent of sound-on-film in the mid-to-late 1920s, makers of earlier silent short subjects began experimenting with the short films, using them as a testing ground for the use of sound in feature movies. After the Second World War, and the rising popularity of television, short subject films became far too expensive to produce and they had mostly disappeared from the screens by the late 1950s. This encyclopedia offers comprehensive listings of American short subject films from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Legendary Locals of Coventry

Legendary Locals of Coventry PDF Author: Andrew D. Boisvert
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467101044
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Coventry was originally part of the Shawomet Purchase deeded to Samuel Gorton. People like Francis Brayton and Joseph Bucklin petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly to form the new town. During the Industrial Revolution, John Jenckes Kilton and Searles Capwell played roles in the development of mills and businesses. Today, Coventry boasts many second-generation businesses including Crystal Cleansers, owned by William Marcotte, and Maguire Lace & Warping, run by James Maguire alongside his father, Joseph Maguire. Coventry is home to several independently operated businesses as well, such as All Booked Up, owned by Deana Borges, and Summit General Store, owned by the Skaling family. Educators such as Peter Stetson and Julie Lima Boyle followed in the footsteps of Carrie Ina Shippee and Mary Harvey. Many of Coventry's men and women have answered the call to serve their country, including George Potter and Mary Agnes Delehantey. Not many towns can claim as their own a swimmer of the English Channel, a girl who was an ambassador to Alaska, and a recipient of a Field & Stream award.

Like a Meteor Blazing Brightly

Like a Meteor Blazing Brightly PDF Author: Eric J. Wittenberg
Publisher: Savas Publishing
ISBN: 1940669596
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Ulric Dahlgren was a brilliant, ambitious young man who became the youngest full colonel in the United States Army at the age of twenty-one, yet died before his twenty-second birthday. This is the first biography of Dahlgren, and thankfully it was penned by cavalry expert and award-winning author Eric J. Wittenberg. Wittenberg’s account chronicles Dahlgren’s full life story, with a deep look at his military career and extensive connections within the nation’s capital, all of which led to the climax of his life: the notorious Dahlgren Raid. Like a Meteor Burning Brightly: The Short but Controversial Life of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren is based upon a plethora of source material, including previously unknown or little-used archival sources. Anyone interested in the Civil War in general, or just a fascinating life well-told, will want this book on their shelf.