Show Boat to be shown during the Sixth Annual Ava Gardner Festival at the Neuse River Amphitheater

Festival Celebrates Ava's Life and Career
By: Jessica Meadows Hammett
 
Sept. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- (Smithfield, NC) – Each year the Ava Gardner Museum celebrates Ava's life and career by hosting the Ava Gardner Festival.  This annual event includes heritage tours, screenings of classic Ava Gardner films, and special exhibits.  

This year’s festival will kickoff during the Ava Gardner Festival Gala on Friday evening, October 8th and will continue Saturday, October 9th from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.   The 2010 Ava Gardner Festival marks the 10th anniversary of the Ava Gardner Museum.  

During the Festival, the classic Ava Gardner films The Barefoot Contessa and The Night of the Iguana will be screened at the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield during the afternoon of Saturday, October 9th.  That evening at 7:30 PM, the musical Show Boat will be screened at the Neuse River Amphitheatre, 200 Front St., Smithfield Town Commons.  All film screenings are free to the public.

Show Boat (1951)
By the time Show Boat was released in 1951, the story was much loved and well known.  Based on a novel by Edna Ferber, Show Boat opened on Broadway in 1927 and had already appeared on film twice, in 1929 and 1936.  MGM’s production of Show Boat was a lavish, Technicolor affair that mostly disappointed critics and fans of the original story.  

The tale deals with three generations of the Hawks family, all of whose lives revolve around a showboat cruising up and down the Mississippi River in the late nineteenth century.  When the show’s lead stars Julie LaVerne (Ava Gardner) and her husband Stephen Baker are accused of miscegenation, they have to leave the boat, and Captain Hawk's daughter Magnolia (Kathryn Grayson) and the gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel) take their places. They fall in love, get married and move to Chicago, where they live off Ravenal's earnings from gambling. Unfortunately, Ravenal’s luck runs out, and, broke and ashamed, leaves Magnolia, not knowing she is pregnant.  Magnolia returns to her father's boat and business and raises her daughter with her parents.

Originally, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and Dinah Shore were all considered for the role of Julie.  Lena Horne, a close friend of Ava’s, was actually the first choice of Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern.  However, racial attitudes in the Country at the time were strained and MGM was not comfortable in casting the African-American Horne in a lead role.

After being cast as Julie LaVerne, Ava Gardner worked diligently with voice coaches for her two songs, “Bill” and “Can’t Help Loving Dat Man.”  However, MGM chose to dub her voice with soprano Annette Warren for the film, although Ava’s versions can still be found on the Show Boat soundtrack.  Despite negative criticisms for the film, Ava received mainly positive reviews for her turn as the brave and alcoholic Julie.

The Ava Gardner Museum is located in downtown Smithfield, at 325 E. Market Street and more information may be found on the museum website, www.avagardner.org or by calling 919-934-5830.  The museum is open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm and Sunday 2pm-5pm with admission of $6.00 adults, $5.00 seniors and groups and $4.00 children.
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Source:Jessica Meadows Hammett
Email:***@avagardner.org Email Verified
Zip:27577
Tags:Ava Gardner, Museum, Festival, Show Boat, Film
Industry:Travel, Tourism, Entertainment
Location:Smithfield - North Carolina - United States



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