Today’s date marks the anniversary of the first performance of Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat,” produced in 1927 at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. by Florenz Ziegfeld.

Show Boat’s book and lyrics were by Oscar Hammerstein II, adapted from Edna Ferber’s novel, which had been published only the year before. It was a most unusual story for a musical, and dealt frankly with alcoholism and interracial marriage. Mixing tragic and comic elements was something simply unheard of in American musical theater of that time.

Ziegfeld’s secretary recalled that before the Washington premiere, he fretted that audiences would be disappointed that the girls on stage were wearing much too much clothing for a typical Ziegfeld show. There was little or no applause following the November 15th premiere, and Ziegfeld assumed that “Show Boat” was a flop. But the Washington audiences were simply too stunned to react.

When Ziegfeld’s secretary told his boss that there were long lines waiting to buy tickets for subsequent performances, at first Ziegfeld didn’t believe it. But by the time “Show Boat” opened on Broadway the following month, even the Great Ziegfeld knew he had a hit on his hands—and one based on great music and a powerful book, with nary a scantily-glad show girl in sight!