Double Entendre Music Circus Ad - Pulled ? ? ?

[Casablance]

Local radio had been running an ad for the Beach Boys [ actually the Beach Retirees] which said-

​

" Free lei for the first 200 customers".
Seems the ad has been pulled because the Music Circus had been running a new cleaned up ad for the Beach Boys.

As to the Music Circus - its time has well past. They dropped full theatre productions and musicals years ago and have been told they can't give away tickets fast enough to paper the tent with people.

Perhaps, the Music Circus should follow the lead to the North Shore Music Circus and return to "Book Shows" again. The NSMC and the Eagle Players in Waltham sell out all the time.

The Music Circus now has to rely on double entendre to garner attention. Sad

 

[salesdawg]

Cape Cod Melody Tent is a much better venue than South Shore Music Circus..........better line-up (Pretenders.........AWESOME SHOW!!! 8)), not to mention it's a quick skip down the highway............I don't give the SSMC much longer before they have to pack it up................I'm surprised I missed the "Free lei" double entendre..........it's so corny you'd think it would have jumped right out at me. :

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Cape Cod Melody Tent is a much better venue than South Shore Music Circus..........better line-up (Pretenders.........AWESOME SHOW!!! 8)), not to mention it's a quick skip down the highway............I don't give the SSMC much longer before they have to pack it up

Aren't all those three venues (S. Shore, Cape Cod, N. Shore) all owned and booked by the same company? Or, at least the S. Shore and Cape Cod ones?

Also, there may have been a conflict with Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment) with booking the Pretenders into South Shore due to that Live Nation also booked them into Boston this past week, but Cape Cod is farther from Boston and is not as close to the Boston market. Cape Cod may be beyond the minimum allowed distance (75 miles??) from Boston for a competing company to book the same artist within a certain time period.

 

[salesdawg]

Yes, SSMC and CCMT are owned by the same people..........and yes, the reason SSMC doesn't offer as many acts as the Melody Tent is due to the minimum allowed distance that you mentioned..........it's too bad, because you very rarely see many good acts booked at SSMC these days.

 

[Lucylu]

They should make a return to live theatre then.

 

[Casablance]

I see recruitment ads for South Shore Music Circus Managers, PR Directors and General Managers every couple of months in the local papers. That is a clear indication that the South Shore Music Circus is in trouble when they cannot keep their personnel.

They use to be a class act under when the GM was a fellow named Richard Rawson. May have the first name wrong. He and his wife ran the SSMC well and it prospered. Now, it is just a 'one night stand' which goes right along with its "free lei"

 

[Lucylu]

Think Vince Longo still runs it now. He used to book Club Casino back 'n the day

 

[Garrett]

I see recruitment ads for South Shore Music Circus Managers, PR Directors and General Managers every couple of months in the local papers.

Really? You should apply. Then you can tell THEM what you think...

 

[Varulven]

Doesn't Tony Raine (formerly of The Channel nightclub) run The South Shore Music Circus?

 

[Casablance]

SOUTH SHORE MUSIC CIRCUS STILL RUNNING OFF COLOR AD

The South Shore Music Circus on Sohier Street in Cohasset is still running the Beach Boys radio ad promising -

"Free lei for first 250 customers"​

to The Beach Boys Concert.

If the South Shore Music Circus didn't want the double entendre they might have said "Free FLOWER lei to the first 250 Customers" but they did not.

The South Shore Music Circus used to be a class organization but they have just become another expensive sleeze joint. They should be ashamed of the level to which this 56 year old organization has fallen.

As a former Cohasset resident it was the highlight of the summer to attend a wide range of concerts and shows but no longer.

 

[Lucylu]

Re: SOUTH SHORE MUSIC CIRCUS STILL RUNNING OFF COLOR AD

The South Shore Music Circus used to be a class organization but they have just become another expensive sleeze joint.

Please, the first show ever run there was SHOW BOAT and I remember, as a little girl, seeing Pinky Lee there. Class? I think not. Entertaining, sure. If a third grader's play on words offends you, Christ and I both weep for you.

 

[Casablance]

Re: SOUTH SHORE MUSIC CIRCUS STILL RUNNING OFF COLOR AD

Not sure what Jesus has to do with bad taste and bad form on the part of The South Shore Music Circus.

The first show I saw there was Mister Roberts. Did see Bob Hope there in one of his last summer tours. He still had it into his 80's.

The South Shore Music Circus used to be a class act. Now, it is just a "Circus".

The South Shore Music Circus used to be a class organization but they have just become another expensive sleeze joint.

Please, the first show ever run there was SHOW BOAT and I remember, as a little girl, seeing Pinky Lee there. Class? I think not. Entertaining, sure. If a third grader's play on words offends you, Christ and I both weep for you.

 

[Lucylu]

Show Boat a class act? let me guess: you're white?

 

[Casablance]

If you knew anything about Show Boatyou would know that it was first produced in the 1920's and it was pretty daring to focus and star Black singers like Paul Robson "Ol Man River" and the like. It also drew attention to the discrimination. It was based on an Edna Ferber book of the 1920's. The lyrics for the music were written by Oscar Hammerstein in collaboration with Jerome Kern. If you knew anything about Oscar Hammerstein you would know that he used his talent as the most renowned lyricist of his day to fight racism. May I direct you to his lyrics from "You've Got To Be Taught" from South Pacific, circa 1949 which the theatre critic, Elliot Norton, told Hammerstein to take out of the musical when it premiered in Boston in 1949 because it came down like a hammer of all types of racism.
Oscar Hammerstein did not take out the song. It was my thought that it should have become the Anthem for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.

As to Show Boat. The musical was the first to really integrate story and music together. "Julie" later played by Ava Gardner in the movie was a Black woman married to a white man in an age of anti-misogenation laws. She was played in a very sympathetic light showing the injustice of the race discrimination of the day.

So, yes I am White. If that is a problem for you, that is your problem and demonstrates an underlying racism and ignorance on your part. You cannot jump to conclusion without knowing my history or the history of Show Boat.



SHOW BOAT


Purchase The Cast Album · Sheet Music · The Movie (DVD) · The Movie (VHS)



Book and Lyrics by


OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Music by


JEROME KERN
Staged by


KERN & HAMMERSTEIN

Based on the novel by EDNA FERBER



First produced at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927, with Norma Terris as "Magnolia", Howard Marsh as "Gaylord" and Helen Morgan as "Julie".


THE "Cotton Blossom", a show boat travelling up and down the Mississippi River in or about 1890, has come to Natchez. Stevedores are hard at work on the levee, while the gay crowds have come to welcome the arrival of the show folks ("Cotton Blossom"). Gaylord Ravenal, a dashing young man who is also an irresponsible gambler, meets Magnolia aboard ship. She is the daughter of Cap'n Andy, owner of "Cotton Blossom". She soon reveals to Gaylord that, since she is most at ease in the world of make believe, she would like to become an actress. Gaylord counters by inquiring why the two of them cannot make believe that they know each other well ("Only Make Believe"). After Gaylord leaves, Magnolia asks Joe what he thinks of Gaylord. Joe prefers to be evasive: he advises Magnolia to direct her question to the Mississippi, which knows all the answers ("Ol' Man River").

A half hour later, in the kitchen pantry of "Cotton Blossom", Magnolia confesses to Julie -- star of the Show Boat -- that she has just fallen in love. Julie warns Magnolia to be careful about falling in love, that love is a treacherous thing, that a girl must be sure that the man she loves is worthy of her ("Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man").

A sheriff then comes to the boat to warn Cap'n Andy that under no circumstances are Julie, and her husband Steve, to be permitted to appear in the Show Boat performance that evening. Julie is a Negress, and her husband is half white; local laws forbid miscegenation. Julie and Steve make their leave of their good friends on "Cotton Blossom". Their parts in the show are hurriedly assumed by Magnolia and Ravenal. After the performance that night, on the boat's deck Magnolia and Ravenal confess to each other how much they are in love ("You are Love"), and Gaylord asks Magnolia to marry him.

Several years elapse. Magnolia and Gaylord are married and have a daughter, Kim. Cap'n Andy comes to visit them at the Midway Plaisance of the Chicago World's Fair. Magnolia reveals to her father that Gaylord is irresponsible, that his changing fortunes as a gambler have poisoned their lives; but none the less she loves him still. But before long, Gaylord deserts his wife and child. To earn a living, Magnolia applies for a singing job at the Trocadero. The singing star there is none other than Julie, who entertains her audience with a poignant rendition of the ballad "Bill". When Julie discovers that Magnolia is out of work, she precipitously gives up her own job at the Trocadero so that Magnolia might take over. Magnolia does -- and becomes a huge success. Then Cap'n Andy comes to the Trocadero to take her and Kim back to "Cotton Blossom". There a repentant Gaylord is waiting for his wife and daughter.

With Show Boat a new art form emerged in the American musical theatre for the first time: the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Here was a rich, colorful, nostalgic chapter from the American past filled with humour, gentle pathos, tenderness and high drama. It bewitched the eye, ear and heart. It was a revelation; and it was a revolution. Here was something unique for the musical stage of that day: an American musical comedy with dramatic truth; a plot with a logical, believable line; a love story that rang true. Here were three-dimensional characters in place of the cardboard images previously populating the musical stage. Here were authenticity of background and atmosphere. Here were dialogue and lyrics that were supple, fresh and imaginative -- capable of soaring to poetic heights without abandoning the vernacular and the idiomatic. And, finally, here was a musical score which was an extravagant outpouring of the most wonderful melodies. Though it was a pioneer in creating a new genre in the musical theatre -- and though many remarkable productions since 1927 have developed the musical play into a genuine art form -- Show Boat still remains one of the best of the species. In its frequent revivals, whether on stage or screen, Show Boat still never fails to cast a spell on audiences.

It was for a revival of Show Boat on Broadway, in 1946, that Kern wrote the last song of his rich career, "No One But Me". Before that revival could reach the stage, Kern suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that proved fatal. He died in New York City on November 11, 1945. The revival of Show Boat, for which Kern had come to New York, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on January 5, 1946, to begin a run of 418 performances.

Purchase The Cast Album · Sheet Music · The Movie (DVD) · The Movie (VHS)


This document was originally published in The Complete Book of Light Opera. Mark Lubbock. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962. pp. 807-8.

 

[Lucylu]

I believe, before you started cutting and 'pestering' from the internet, we were talking about class:

“Niggers all work on the Mississippi.
Niggers all work while the white folks play-
Loadin' up boats wid de bales of cotton,
Gittin' no rest till de Judgement Day”


In Show Boat the role of Queenie was in the original production played not by an African-American but rather by the Italian-American actress Tess Gardella in blackface. Classy.

As Mark Steyn said in his article “Where have you Gone, Oscar Hammerstein” published in Slate (December 5, 1997). "Ol' Man River" is not a Negro spiritual. It's a show tune cooked up in 1927 by a couple of middle-class honkies who needed something for a spot in the first act. Yes, Oscar Hammerstein's lyric is full of "dat" and "dese" (obviously, he was self-taught at Ebonics)... Hammerstein's is an unobtrusive craft, an artless art" .

I say the Music Circus, other than that great Kinks show in the rain about ten years ago, hasn’t done much and would not be missed if the closed it down tomorrow. They should return to their musical roots or turn the place into parking for that new train that is running through the South Shore.

 

[mcamp]

I think there is a place for theatre at the SSMC, but you have to ask yourself, with a close proximity to Boston, is the market there?
The North Shore Music Circus (theatre) seems to survive because many from the north shore would rather not go into Boston.
Then you have to ask yourself, nobody from the north shore would go through the hassle of driving to SSMC. It's out of the way, and difficult to get to.
I've only been to SSMC once (for music), and most of the shows booked there are similar to what is booked at the Casino Ballroom, in Hampton....one more reason not go there.
Cape Cod Melody Tent is at least far away from Boston to attract it's own crowd.

 

[Casablance]

You must look at a 1920's musical in the light of its own day and not by 21st century standards. If we don't do that then we might as well through out a good deal of world literature starting with Shakespeare's Merchant Of Venice and it anti-semitic character Shylock.

Bet you sit by your tube and watch every episode of The Soprano's and praise the depth of the acting and the scripts when I might see it as placing individuals of Italian decent in the same stereotypical organized crime/Mafia story line. As a fifth generation American of Italian decent I find that story line anachronistic. Yes, the Italian mafia did exist and probably still exists to some degree but by 21st Century standards it might be more interesting if they looked at Russian,
Korean, Columbian, Vietnamese, Irish etc organized crime in today's society. Of course, that would not be politically correct especially if the organized drug bosses were of color. Still, it would be more accurate in today's society.

The point of my rant is that we can all find reasons that our particular "tribe" is not always shown in a favorable light but as long as it accurately reflect society at that exact time and is truthful our complaints don't carry much weight.

Showboat accurately reflected, for better or worse, the society of the 1920's and may I note - many Black actors -such as Paul Robson - participated in perpetuating stereotypes of their own culture for the almighty dollar. Would you ban or boycott "Gone With The Wind" in which many Black actors made their mark? It was an accurate if disgraceful portrayal or the South prior to the Civil War.

We cannot clean-up history in order not to offend contemporary cultures. Let us just hope that by showing the failures of our ancestors we will learn not to repeat those past horrors.

Locally, a good test may be coming in the next few months if gubernatorial candidate, Deval Patrick, wins the Democratic nomination for Governor. Sadly, I hear the bigots at the door: ' Do you know Deval is Black...?' 'Where did he get all that money to build a family compound in the Berkshires?' ( which is glorious when the Kennedy's have a Hyannis Compound )

On the other hand, some are complaining that he is "acting White" and isn't Black enough,which is a totally ignorant and revulsive insult to any Black person.

I remember someone saying on the Mall in Washington D.C. that we should judge by the 'conduct of their character' and not the 'color of their skin'. Let's hope M.L. King's words finally take root in this country.

I believe, before you started cutting and 'pestering' from the internet, we were talking about class:

“Niggers all work on the Mississippi.
Niggers all work while the white folks play-
Loadin' up boats wid de bales of cotton,
Gittin' no rest till de Judgement Day”


In Show Boat the role of Queenie was in the original production played not by an African-American but rather by the Italian-American actress Tess Gardella in blackface. Classy.

As Mark Steyn said in his article “Where have you Gone, Oscar Hammerstein” published in Slate (December 5, 1997). "Ol' Man River" is not a Negro spiritual. It's a show tune cooked up in 1927 by a couple of middle-class honkies who needed something for a spot in the first act. Yes, Oscar Hammerstein's lyric is full of "dat" and "dese" (obviously, he was self-taught at Ebonics)... Hammerstein's is an unobtrusive craft, an artless art" .

I say the Music Circus, other than that great Kinks show in the rain about ten years ago, hasn’t done much and would not be missed if the closed it down tomorrow. They should return to their musical roots or turn the place into parking for that new train that is running through the South Shore.

 

[Lucylu]

So many black actors made their mark in GONE WITH THE WIND? : I would hardly consider Butterfly McQueen holding back the race 'makng her mark'. Face it, SHOW BOAT was a racist show. Dress it up all you want, it was a still minstrel show. Cohasset in the 50's still found mistrel shows entertaining, that's why the Music Circus put it on for their first show. Point being, The South Shore Music Circus was never a 'class act', it was a converted horse barn for the idle, white rich. :

Could they support more muscial theatre on the south shore? I think so. They are about the same distance from Boston as the North Shore Music Theatre and their nearest comp. would be the Company Theatre in Norwell, which is a community theatre. The nearest proffessional theatre would be on the Cape

 

[Casablance]

Please address my comments.

 

[Lucylu]

Your comment has been given all the address it needs. Stop being a petulant child. :

We were/are talking about class. Would I say The Sopranos shows class? IMO, no. I stopped watching after the second season, so I maybe wrong; but, to quote a lame furniture ad, “I doubt it”.

In the 1950’s did the Music Circus show class by mounting a ignorant/racist production from the 20’s; no. Will the Music Circus ever go back to theatre productions? Unlikely. People like Paula Gates will stick their heads in the sand and pretend they are still entertaining the South Shore because they are a non-profit organization and really under no pressure to perform.

Do people cut and paste off the internet and try to pass it off as research/knowledge? Sadly, yes, and once again the little baby Jesus weeps for you. :'(