Under the soft rock format, KBKB promoted itself as a hip modern rocking "River Town" station that still had its roots firmly planted in the local Southeast Iowa river valley heritage, and often used a bumper jingle that was based on the blues song "Ol' Man River" with the line: That Ol' man river, he keeps on rolling, just keeps on rolling with K-B-K-B.
The film makes several references to African-American slaves for comedic effect, and has Daffy uttering the line "Tote dat barge! Lift dat bale!" from the song Ol' Man River.
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Edens headed the search for the right singer-actor to play Joe, the key supporting character who sings "Ol' Man River", and he discovered William Warfield after reading a rave review of his performance in a New York song recital.
Paul Robeson, who appeared in several productions of Show Boat (though not the original Broadway production), made many recordings of the song Ol' Man River from the show.
After his voice changed, he appeared frequently in musicals and won the International Kiwanis Talent Contest in New York City at 17 for his performance of "Ol' Man River" from Show Boat.
Perhaps to appeal directly to teen audiences of the day, the film included two versions of "Ol' Man River" - the first a straightforward version sung by African-American actor-singer Caleb Peterson and a black chorus as part of the "Show Boat" medley, and the second a "crooner version" performed by Frank Sinatra (then wildly popular with bobbysoxers), featured as the film's grand finale.
The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Act I of Show Boat, with the order of some of the songs shifted - "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is sung after "Life upon the Wicked Stage", and "Ol' Man River" was used as an Act I Finale, dissimilar to the show.