December 27, 1927 – The Musical “Show Boat” Opened in New York City

The Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) musical, Show Boat, opened on this day in 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. It was inspired by the novel of the same name written by Edna Ferber in 1926.

Show Boat ran for 572 performances; Hollywood filmed its first version in 1929, its second in 1936, and its third in 1951.

Show Boat featured ground-breaking subject matter on interracial marriage, mulattos who “pass” as whites, drunkenness, gambling addiction, abandonment, and the cruelties of social ostracization.

In the 1936 version, Paul Robeson plays the dock worker Joe, who sings “Ol Man River.” The ad campaign described Joe as the “lazy, easy-going husband” of the showboat’s cook (played by Hattie McDaniel). Robeson’s friends berated him for playing to the black stereotype as “yet another shiftless moron” but there was no gainsaying that his voice was magical.

After his work on the movie and the show in London, Robeson began to change some of the lyrics to reflect a stronger image. The film itself had changed the word “Nigger” in the song to “Darky.”

Robeson’s own 1938 changes in the lyrics of the song are as follows:

Instead of “Dere’s an ol’ man called de Mississippi, / Dat’s de ol’ man that I’d like to be…”, Robeson sang “There’s an ol’ man called the Mississippi, / That’s the ol’ man I don’t like to be”…”

Instead of “Tote that barge! / Lift that bale! / Git a little drunk, / An’ you land in jail…”, Robeson sang “Tote that barge and lift dat bale!/ You show a little grit and / You lands in jail…”

Instead of “Ah gits weary / An’ sick of tryin’; / Ah’m tired of livin’ / An skeered of dyin’, / But Ol’ Man River, / He jes’ keeps rolling along!” , Robeson sang “But I keeps laffin’/ Instead of cryin’ / I must keep fightin’; / Until I’m dyin’, / And Ol’ Man River, / He’ll just keep rollin’ along!”

Below, the incomparable singing of Paul Robeson in Ol’ Man River in the 1936 movie. And if you want to see why he is my most admired hero, check my book review of his biography here.

Sunday Treat – Waltzing Matilda

An odd resource of which you may not be aware is a wonderful database of lyrics located at – of all places – the website of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). I was looking through the Index of Kids Songs and found “Waltzing Matilda.”

“Waltzing Matilda” is Australia’s most widely known country folk song, and has been referred to as “the unofficial national anthem of Australia” but it has lyrics that are fairly unintelligible to Americans. What the song is actually about is a poor swagman (itinerant sheep shearer) who commits suicide by diving into the billabong (water hole) rather than give up the wandering jumbuck (sheep) he caught and put into his tuckerbag (food knapsack) when it came to drink at his billabong. Prior to the jumbuck’s arrival, the swagman had been sitting under a coolibah (eucalyptus) tree, apparently getting ready for some tea, since he was boiling his billy (a small can for heating water). But when the sheep was found to be missing, a squatter (farmer – presumably the owner of the purloined sheep) arrived along with three police, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The title itself refers to the practice of waltzing matilda, or traveling (waltzing) with a swag (bed roll bundled with your belongings) which came to be called a matilda (being the man’s only companion, other than all those sheep…)

Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came a jumbuck to drink beside the billabong
Up jumped the swagman and seized him with glee
And he sang as he tucked jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came the stockman, riding on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three.
“Where’s the jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman and plunged into the billabong,
“You’ll never catch me alive,” cried he
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.

The song has been recorded many times in many venues. The most memorable version I ever heard is in the score of the 1959 film On the Beach, written by Ernest Gold. The film, starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Frank Sinatra, is about the end of the world following a nuclear holocaust, with Australia being the last safe haven on the planet. (A 2000 remake for television isn’t as good, in spite of featuring Rachel Ward and Armand Assante.) The song itself is heard in the last minutes of the movie.

There are many videos on youtube for your Waltzing Matilda enjoyment, but I selected one that features the Australian group “The Seekers” as background for a montage of pictures of Australian forces serving our cause in Iraq. Australian forces have a long history of giving their all for the good of the West, but that will be another posting, on the Gallipoli campaign.

Till then, enjoy The Seekers and this tribute to our good friends in Australia.

Chris Matthews on Hardball: Did Sarah Palin Make a Mockery of the VP Candidacy?

Voting Problems Piling Up as Polls Open

From CNN and various wire services:

VA/Richmond: Machines down, no paper ballots

Virginia: Dozens of callers in Virginia are reporting serious polling place problems, including broken machines, long lines, and a lack of parking.

NJ/Willingboro Machines Broken

Voters receiving misleading robo calls in Ohio

Florida: In Tallahassee voters show up to polls, only to find ballots are missing.

Report: Flipped votes in Texas early e-voting

Wide-spread voting machine failures have been reported to the Obama/DNC election protection hotline in Nevada

The Connecticut secretary of state’s office reported Tuesday morning that many voters were having to wait 40 minutes or longer to cast their ballots, and problems were reported with some optical scan voting machines in a few towns.

problems with electronic voting machines in some New Jersey precincts

Long lines of voters formed outside of polling places this morning

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Don’t give up! As “Diddy Says” (am I really quoting Sean Combs? yes! this is a good video!): “Aint No Line Too Damn Long!”

Sunday Treat – Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash

Joaquin Phoenix announced this week that he is quitting his acting career in order to pursue his love of music. As he demonstrated in his portrayal of Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” he does a pretty good job in both fields. (Phoenix received a number of nominations from different organizations both in this country and abroad for Best Actor in 2005 for this movie, and did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.)

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin Appears with The Real McCain in SNL Spoof of a QVC Product Infomercial

McCain does a pretty good job, and doesn’t seem too disturbed that Sarah Palin was mocked more than he was (which was hardly at all, in this instance). Click here to see the video. (Advertisement will run first.)

November 1, 1999: We Lost Walter Payton

At age 45, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears, known in the NFL as “Sweetness,” succumbed to a rare liver disease. In videos of all-time rushing leaders, you can pick him out by his zig-zagging movement followed by the “stutter-step”, a high-stepping, irregularly-paced run. He is also known for taking advantage of his high school experience as a long jumper to leap high over his opponents, landing on his head on the other side of the pack to gain yardage, as you can see instances of in the video below. Payton had legendary grace; after scoring a touchdown, he declined to celebrate but instead would often hand the ball to his teammates.

His family continues his legacy through the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation, which is “dedicated to the emotional healing of neglected, abused and underprivileged children by providing tools and opportunities to build self esteem and encourage a better family unit, giving hope for a brighter future.”

Almost ten years after his passing, the jersey number 34 still means something very special to football fans.

October 31, 1992: The Vatican Admitted it was Wrong About Galileo

Okay, so it took 359 years, but who’s counting. Fortunately, science went on in spite of the Vatican. And even pop culture got ahead of the curve! It only took 325 years or so for Carole King to announce:

I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down,
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down…..

(According to popular legend, after recanting his theory that the Earth moved around the Sun, Galileo allegedly muttered the rebellious phrase And yet it moves, but there is no evidence that he really said this.)

Tell them how the universe works, Carole!

Tom DeLay “Tagged Him [Obama] As A Marxist Months Ago”

Tom DeLay claims to be ahead of the curve. On Obama’s analysis of the Constitution [reminder: Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School], DeLay says: “If that’s not Marxist, I don’t know what is!” Well Tom, you don’t know what it is; you’ve got that right….

More “Meet the Press” McCain Accusing Obama of Socialism: I Drive in the Right Lane! No wait, I Drive in the Left Lane! No wait, I change the definition of right and left lanes!