Peter Rukavina's Podcast

A CBC “Off the Beaten Track” episode in which I talk about Showboat and the history of the song Old Man River. Originally aired on August 20, 2000 on CBC Radio’s Mainstreet program in Prince Edward Island. Ol’ Man River Introduction: A brief history of the song “Ol’ Man River,” along with two very different interpretations by Canadian artists Curtis Driedger and Jane Siberry. Show Boat In 1926, a book called “Show Boat” by Edna Ferber was published – she was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan who had won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924 for her book So Big. Show Boat follows the life of Magnolia, daughter of the captain of the riverboat The Cotton Blossom. Magnolia marries a gambler, Gaylord Ravenal. As a result of his gambling, they separate Magnolia moves to Chicago where she takes up life in musical comedy. Their daughter follows her mother into show business, and eventually Magnolia and Gaylord are reunited years later at a performance of their now internationally famous daughter. Woven throughout this plo