In order to combat this development, they grew in size and became more colorful and elaborately designed in the 1900s. With the improvement of roads, the rise of the automobile, motion pictures, and the maturation of the river culture, the popularity of showboats again began to decline. New inventions such as the steamer tow and the steam calliope greatly increased both territory and audiences, and Stephen Foster’s songs added charm to their simple programs. Major boats of this period included the New Sensation, New Era, Water Queen, and the Princess. Upon their revival, they tended to focus on melodrama and vaudeville. Showboats disappeared entirely with the advent of the American Civil War, but began again in 1878. By the middle of the nineteenth century, showboats could seat up to 3,400 and regularly featured wax museums and equestrian shows. Rogers, built in 1851, that featured large-scale equestrian spectacles. One popular showboat during this period was the Floating Circus Palace of Gilbert R. Many other showboats followed the Floating Theater onto the rivers in the following years, and some of them began to do other performances besides theater. Spalding's showboat The Floating Palace on the Mississippi River - Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion (1853) In 1837, it was renamed Steamboat Theatre. In 1836, the family was able to afford a new, fully equipped steam engine with a stage. After reaching New Orleans, they got rid of the boat and went back to Pittsburgh in a steamboat in order to tour down the river once again the following year. The price of admission was anywhere from a peck of fresh vegetables to 50 cents a person. He and his family of nine, along with two other people, lived on this boat and performed plays with added music and dance at stops along the waterways. created the first deliberately-planned showboat, named the Floating Theater in Pittsburgh in 1831. If they did, in fact, perform on the boat (as is probable), then Ludlow's Noah's Ark would have been the first showboat.īritish-born actor William Chapman, Sr. It is not clear whether they ever performed on the boat, or just used the boat as a means of travel. Ludlow and 11 associates, together known as the American Theatrical Commonwealth Company, climbed aboard and traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, stopping to perform whenever they could. Noah Ludlow, an early pioneer in travelling theater, purchased a keelboat in 1816 for $200 and named it Noah's Ark. Actors traveled to America from England, and theatre venues as well as touring companies were developed. During the American frontier era, populations of potential audiences were widely scattered about the area that is now the United States.
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