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In 1923, Tom Reynolds' new Showboat Majestic
slid into the water near Pittsburgh. This started the Majestic
on a career that carried her over the Ohio River and it's tributaries
for the next 20 years. The Reynolds family lived, played and performed
on the "Boat" until World War II, when it was tied up at
Henderson, West Virginia for three long years.
In 1945, Hiram College and Kent State University leased the Majestic
from the Reynolds family as a summer theatre experience for students.
This academic alliance revived the concept of Showboatin' and tramped
the "Inland Waterway" once again. In 1960, Indiana University
took over and maintained the tradition.
The "Safety at Sea Act" of 1965 finally prohibited the wooden-hulled
Majestic from transporting its company town to town. It was
tied up and dry-docked, this time in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
The City of Cincinnati purchased the Showboat Majestic in
1967 to serve as a focal point for the developing Central Riverfront.
Until 1988, it was leased to the University of Cincinnati as a summer
stock theatre for its students. Now, under the administration of Cincinnati
Landmark Productions, in cooperation with the Cincinnati Recreation
Commission, the Majestic is a professional summer stock theatre
utilizing local performers, providing them opportunity and experience
in a theatre rich with history, nostalgia and river romance!
While there are newer boats on the Ohio today, the Majestic
was the last of the purpose-built "floating operas", the
last to make one-night stands, the last to actively travel, the longest-lived
under one owner and home of the largest family - the eleven Reynolds
children - ever reared on a showboat.
With the burning of the original Goldenrod Showboat in St. Louis,
MO., on June 1, 1962, the Showboat Majestic became the last
survivor of the singularly American tradition of floating theatres.
In 1989, the Showboat Majestic became an official National
Historical Landmark. |
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