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Porgy and Bess, the George Gershwin
musical was taken from the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward. In the
1950s stage version, Cab
Calloway plays the part of Sportin Life, the
drug dealing, fast talker who runs off with Bess to New
York City. The part is played by Sammy
Davis Jr. in the 1959 movie.
William
Warfield played the title role of Porgy
in the original stage version. Sidney
Poitier played the part of Porgy in the 1959
movie opposite Dorothy
Dandridge. Porgy was modeled after an early
Charleston, South Carolina character named Samuel Smalls who lived on
Catfish Row, (Originally called Cabbage Row), during the early 1920s.
Samuel Smalls is buried in a graveyard located at the James Island
Presbyterian Church grounds on James Island just south of Charleston.
Cabbage Row, which was the scene of the
opera and the movie, got it's name from the peddlers who sold their
vegetables from carts and windowsills. The area encompasses 89 to 91
Church Street and is a part of many of the local tours.
A
synopsis of the Play and a List of the Main Characters
Two
Photos of Catfish Row as it Looks Today
Cast
of Characters and Synopsis of the 1959 Movie
George
Gershwin's Original Score from the Library of Congress
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