Saw it for the first time tonight

You have to remember that that particular scene takes place in the 1880's, and in the 1880's, blacks were not allowed to perform onstage, especially in the South. So every time a black character was portrayed onstage, he/she was played by a white actor with blackface makeup. If you had been able to see a performance on a show boat in which a black character appeared, you would have seen a white actor with black makeup.

We don't know what the portrayals of blacks were actually like on 19th century stages, but I'd guess they were similar to what was done in that song. They probably were pretty exaggerated. Minstrel shows existed back then.

The only black character portrayed in a dignified way onstage back then was probably Shakespeare's "Othello", and yes, in the 19th century, Othello was always played by a white actor with black makeup.

Of course, that blackface number in "Show Boat" wasn't really necessary - it's not from the original show. It was written by Kern and Hammerstein especially for the film.

I agree, that song is the only real problem with this movie version, and I've never understood why it was added. It was not part of the original play. Most of the songs in the movie that deal with black characters are dignified but this one almost undoes a lot of what the others accomplished. The blackface act isn't offensive in and of itself to me (although I know it is to a lot of people), but it's highly unfortunate that the song perpetuates certain sexual stereotypes of black people as extremely promiscuous. It's the same stereotype that we saw in a more virulent and hateful form the following year in "Gone With the Wind" in the sequences where the freed slaves immediately begin seeking out white women to rape. I can't explain why Hammerstein wrote the song or why it was added to the play. Blackface entertainment wasn't even popular any more in the late 30s, but I assume they felt that since a lot of the appeal of "Show Boat" was nostalgic they could include it as a period piece. I also think that by the 1920s and 1930s the stereotypes presented in the "coon shows" had become so extreme that they were almost completely divorced from the reality of black people in most people's minds, especially since these shows had gone on for so many generations that they actually became traditional. I don't think that many people thought about it the way we would now. But Oscar Hammerstein was a very liberal guy in a lot of ways so it's hard to explain why he wouldn't.

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'

'Gallivantin' Around' was a really bad addition to what should have been a great film. I'm sure that you are aware that it was NOT in the original "Show Boat"

"I love corn!"

That's how it was back then. In the movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy" about the career of George Cohan and his family (known as the Four Cohans), if I'm not mistaken there was a blackface number. Not all of it but a clip, meant to show the various songs they sang.