World's Longest Running Melodrama
by Maria Coulson
Title
World's Longest Running Melodrama
Artist
Maria Coulson
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art, Fine Art Phototgraphy
Description
Riverfront mural by renowned artist Robert Dafford in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The longest continually-running melodrama in the world began with modest roots on March 28, 1936, by Julia Arnold on a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers barge that had been redesigned to resemble a riverboat and renamed the Dixie Belle.
"Gold in the Hills," an 1890s-era melodrama, was written in 1930 by J. Frank Davis. The play was set in the New York Bowery and featured a classic "good" versus "evil" plot.
Over the years, hundreds of volunteers have comprised a cast of cancan dancers, Nell (the heroine farm girl), John (the hero farm boy), the villain and his accomplice.
In 1948, "Gold" moved to the Sprague, the largest and most powerful sternwheel towboat ever launched, which had been decommissioned and purchased by the City of Vicksburg to serve as a floating theater and river-related museum. When the Sprague burned in 1974, the play was performed in a number of places until a new theater was built in 1977.
No matter what obstacles arise, "Gold in the Hills" delights audiences every year who come to cheer and clap for the hero and heroine, boo the villain (often throwing peanuts at him), and sing along with the cast.
Proceeds from the sale of this photograph goes to help orphaned and abandoned children in Colombia South America.
Uploaded
March 19th, 2021
Statistics
Viewed 143 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/09/2024 at 5:22 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
