 For the opening credits, we see a cardboard cutout display of a show boat  parade, with cutout paper townspeople watching it, on a moving turntable.  The parade revolves past the camera carrying cardboard banners on which are  printed the title and other credits to the film. Most of the parade figures  are simply figures, but among them we can discern cutouts of Paul Robeson  and Helen Morgan (the appearance of these figures does not coincide with  the appearance of their names onscreen). In the background can be seen the  shadows of a paddlewheel and a riverboat.