Monday, October 4, 2010
Lost Memphis The "Hollywood" Showboat - 1933
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Poring over a November 1933 issue of The Commercial Appeal, I noticed this ad for a production of "St. Elmo" aboard the Hollywood showboat.
Reserved seats were 40 cents, which seems a bit steep for the time, but maybe this was a classy boat, and a good production that was well worth the price of admission.
What's interesting is where the boat was docked — near "Second Street and the Wolf River Bridge." I would have thought they would have just tied up at the cobblestones, about where the Memphis Queen Line is located today. But back in the 1930s, the riverfront was considerably busier than it is now, so maybe this was the only place the boat could stay for extended periods of time. I really don't know. Do you?
Comments (8)
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I remember this production involved seven friends who graduated from college in Georgetown and began to adjust to life after graduation. One played the saxophone, another was studying to be a lawyer and infatuated with a beautiful young doctor. Still two others were living together and not sure what they wanted from their future ... but when things got tough, they still stuck together! WOW ... it's been 77 years already? It seemed like just the '80s or so when I saw it!
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Funny you should ask this now, Vance. I belong to another forum where someone else was asking about this same boat. He has 2 pictures of it up:
http://www.steamboats.org/forum/steamboats…
Yes, you are probably right when you say that commerce was too heavy at the foot of Union Ave. for a showboat's extended stay. Wharfage fees would have eaten up any profit they would make.
The short street car ride up 2nd to the Wolf River Bridge would not have been much for people that lived in a city that was only slightly larger than 5 miles square. The showboat being docked at the foot of Second on the Wolf river is not an improbability, I have read stories how the Wolf River during the "War of Northern Aggression" was able to be traveled by steamboat all the way to Moscow. The Last big stop-over was just north of Collierville / Wolf River was the big "plantation" house just off Collierville-Arlington Rd (I think the Barzizza Family owned this house in the late 60s) I don't even know if it is still there.
I have attached a city map of Memphis from 1922 to help your readers get their bearings on the location of the Show Boat you have written about
http://condrenrails.com/MRP/maps/Official-…
Thanks for this great blog, and interesting quips.
"Steam Heated"? That sold it for me, do they have online booking?. I also like "Plenty Free Parking", sounds so pidgin and you know how many pidgins there are downtown. Bring back the "Showboat" buses to MATA, that's what I say.
PS Peterwertz that map has FINALLY explained the house-numbering system for houses to me! Maybe all Americans are taught it at birth but I knew it wasn't distance in feet from the river (or the post office marker), and yards still didn't seem to be correct ... now I know it is 10's of feet. Brilliant! (I would have asked Vance but it is probably too obvious and would have been handed to his minions to answer.)
Warbird, I would be proud to be one of Vance's minions ... I wish I still lived closer to Memphis ... but the outstanding warrants keep me away! Plus there is always the in-laws.
Peterwertz, I meant to tell you that is a great map. Thanks for sharing it. The house number system here got a bit insane in the city's early days, and at one point in the late 1800s, or maybe it was very early 1900s, they just gave up and renumbered everything. That's why you'll sometimes see an address, followed by the notation "Old Numbering" or "New Numbering." And the rules about "Street" versus "Avenue" are also blurred, the best example being Beale STREET. And don't even get me started on why certain major streets are stilled called "Roads." Quince comes to mind, in East Memphis.
Naming of roads, streets, and avenues was left up to developers in many instances. My father, who worked for the Treadwell family and who were in the group of original Memphis families, told me they had developed the land bordered by Quince and I-240. Many of the street were named for family members or longtime friends. Timmons is named for Timmons Treadwell. Yorkshire was named for the York family and owners of sporting goods store York Arms. It would be interesting if people knew the origins of the street names and history behind them. Look at the map I linked you to and you will see names of many of the prominent Memphians, like the Lauderdales.
