" Ol'

 Paul Robeson in Showboat, 1951

“Ol’ Man River”...“Make Believe”...

“You Are Love”...“Bill”...

“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”...

And so then they did invite Mr. Robeson and his party to better seats, but he was deeply hurt. But they then made a big fuss over him. They asked him if he would like to sing in the dining room. There was a beautiful balcony where sometimes a passenger who was talented would go up and in this beautiful balcony area and sing down to the people dining. And there were some beautiful opera singers, especially Jews fleeing from Germany, people of wealth, getting out before the war broke out at that 

time… and Paul absolutely refused to sing.

And I said to him, “I’m the ship’s chairman. Will you sing to the crew?” And he accepted. And of 

course anyone who heard that will always remember it. He sang so beautifully

PAUL ROBESON AND THE NMU

From an oral history interview with Rolfs recorded by Joe Doyle on February 8, 1984. Courtesy of Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University 

here

here’s an old man called the Mississippi

That’s the old man I don’t like to be

What does he care if the world’s got troubles?

What does he care if the land ain’t free?

You and me, we sweat and strain

Body all achin’ and racked with pain

Tote that barge

And lift that bale

You show a little grit

And you lands in jail

But I keeps laughin

Instead of cryin

I must keep fightin

Until I’m dyin

And old man

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.river

MGM ： Show Boat " Ol' Man River "

here

Moving from 1890s Mississippi to Chicago to “Roaring 20s” Broadway, Show Boat follows the lives of a company of theater folk — deeply involving us in their triumphs and sorrows, while illuminating the racial and social changes that were shaping the country.