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25 January 2024 — Melodrama, Music, Magic, and More—The Showboats Brought An Evening’s Entertainment to River Towns

In 1815, a theatrical troupe headed west from Albany, New York, in search of eager audiences.  Two years later, the  performers, under the name American Theatrical Commonwealth Company, purchased a keelboat for two hundred dollars. They appointed one of their number, Noah Ludlow, their captain, and the boat was given the name Noah’s Ark. Using poles to guide the craft, the group traveled the Cumberland, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers, stopping where they could find an audience and performing works of the day such as The Honeymoon, The Lying Valet, The Poor Gentleman, or Catherine and Petruccio, an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. While Ludlow would write in his memoirs about his company performing in the finest theaters on their route, historian Philip Graham theorizes that they would have executed at least some of their performances on board their little Ark rather than accompanying the ladies of the troupe through town after dark to a local venue, particularly in Natchez Under-the-hill, described by one tourist of the period as “the most licentious spot on the Mississippi River." Graham suggests that Noah’s Ark might have been the first example of a showboat, a vessel that not only carried performers and their gear from one audience to the next, but also served as their performance space. Soon afterward, however, they sold their craft and booked passage on a steamboat for their next adventure. 

Actor Noah Ludlow led his theater (PD) troupe down the Mississippi on what might have been the first showboat. (PD)

It wasn’t until 1831 that the first purpose-built showboat was launched, designed by the British-born actor William Chapman Sr. and built by Cyrus Brown. The extended Chapman family, an experienced theatrical troupe comprising Chapman’s mother, his wife, their two sons and two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and their grandson, set out on their boat, christened the Floating Theatre, with the intention of drifting down the Ohio and Mississippi, performing wherever they could find an audience. When they reached Natchez, Chapman disposed of the boat, likely selling it for firewood. In 1836 he upgraded to a steamboat, called the Steamboat Theatre, which allowed the company to venture out into the tributary rivers. It also meant that instead of selling their boat at the end of the season, they could steam upstream and return to the beginning of the circuit. The entertainment on the Floating Theatre’s stage consisted of plays, dramatic speeches and light sketches, and musical numbers. The entertainment was carefully chosen to be wholesome and family-friendly, and the Chapmans sought to avoid any hint of ill repute; one of their playbills assures the audience that “Great care has been taken to render the Wharf commodious for ladies.” 

Living and performing aboard a boat certainly brought new challenges that stage performers back East probably never had to worry about. Sometimes a performer’s entrance would be delayed when he got caught up trying to land a fish, since fishing was one of the available ways to pass the time aboard. And in one instance a group of disgruntled townsmen released the boat from its moorings during a show, allowing it to drift about a mile downriver; luckily the members of the audience didn’t seem to mind too much the extended walk to get home. 

The troupe continued until 1837, by which time Chapman Sr. had passed and Mrs. Chapman was running the show. That year she sold the boat they had since re-named Chapman’s Floating Palace to Sol Smith, ending the family’s chapter in showboat history. Quite a few smaller showboats had meanwhile taken up the river circuits, offering lectures, pantomimes, circus performances, and minstrel shows. The American Civil War disrupted river traffic and weighed on the economy, effectively marking the end of what is regarded as the first wave of showboat history. 

After the war, the institution slowly regained its foothold. One of the biggest names in showboats in the postwar era was Augustus Byron French, who embarked with his first boat, French’s New Sensation, in 1878. He would manage a succession of five boats total, each of them bearing the same name, except that his third and fourth boats were operated simultaneously, so they were called French’s New Sensation No. 1 and French’s New Sensation No. 2. French and his young wife, Callie, and five other performers offered a variety show of melodrama, ventriloquism, magic, music and comedy. French’s slogan was “Always good—better than ever.” The large boat had no engine—the space otherwise required for a steam engine and fuel was needed for seats for paying customers—so the company’s season was a long drift down the river, and they paid $25 for a tow back up to the Ohio River at the end of the journey. Like the Chapmans, French wanted to dispel any notions that the “theater people” weren’t as wholesome as apple pie. In one town, when he noticed that the audience for a show consisted of only men. French told the gentlemen in no uncertain terms that what he offered was not a risqué show intended for rough all-male crowds; he said he would give everyone’s money back, but told them to go home and fetch their wives. Refusing to accept the refunds, the men all filed out, returning later with their wives to enjoy a family-friendly show. 

French's New Sensation, 1901 (PD)

In a business where scheduling was at the mercy of the river and one couldn’t always spare an advance man to go into town ahead of time to drum up interest, the steam calliope became a valuable tool in drawing crowds to the river to see a show. Patented 1855 by Joshua Stoddard for use in church steeples, the calliope is a set of steam whistles rigged to be played with a keyboard. Musical arrangements were somewhat constrained due to a calliope’s not always having a full complement of sharp and flat notes, and valves would often stick, but the calliope made up for its limitations in that its sound carried for miles—particularly over open water. The showboat American’s keyboardist Bobby Wills, who went by the name Calliope Red, described the important role he and his instrument played: 

Before the boat even ties up at a stand, I sit in this old thing and give ’em a concert they can hear for miles every direction, just to let ’em know we’re here. All the people hear the music, which sounds like a big church organ that far away. The men in the fields go to the house to consult their women folks, and the kids begin countin’ out the dimes and quarters from the jar on the top shelf of the kitchen safe. 

I whistle it up again along in the afternoon—all good ragtime stuff. Then at 7:30 sharp I turn loose with a grand medley of patriotic airs and march stuff. They can’t resist. Nobody could. It brings ’em out like the sunshine brings the flowers. I simply stand up here like a big magnet and draw ’em down to the boat.

A steam calliope in action

The period from about 1870 to around 1920 was a heyday for steamboats. In a compromise between the need for performance and audience space on board and the need for maneuverability and a reliable travel schedule, most showboats of this era were essentially barges paired with a steam-powered towboat, which pushed them where they needed to go. In those last decades before the Depression squeezed pockets and the rise of moving pictures dampened the appeal of live shows, before road networks and automobiles drew townsfolk away from the riverfront, showboats brought melodramas and vaudeville to an eager public. In our next installment, we’ll take a look at some of the notable showboats of the twentieth century.

Extra Credit

Dramatic life as I found it (Memoirs of Noah Ludlow)

Showboats: The History of an American Institution

Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.