What Happened to Steve?
Does anyone know what happened to Julie's husband?
shareHe simply walked out. Edna Ferber's male characters do that a lot. Her female characters generally grow in stature after their men walk out, but Julie is an exception. Probably the curse of her mixed blood.
shareI have read the Ferber novel, and Ferber never explains what happened to him. She simply has Julie reappear in the second half of the novel working in a whorehouse (not singing in a nightclub as in the musical).
The musical offers the only explanation of what happens to Steve, and that, I guess, was Hammerstein's idea.
But then, the question is still why did he walk out? He already knew she was bi-racial; that wasn't the issue. Maybe because word spread about her and she was "blacklisted" (no pun intended) from performing, so she could no longer support him?
shareIt wouldn't necessarily have anything to do with her race. Marriages and partnerships break up all the time for many reasons. Maybe she was drinking too much before they broke up. Maybe he found somebody else. Maybe he couldn't stand that they weren't famous anymore. It's not important to the storyline, so there was no reason to go into it.
shareI believe a very subtle visual clue to his future departure (it gave me a premonition anyway) was when he was walking down the gangplank with Julie (having been let go) and a black member of the crew offered him his hand (in condolence), and he brushed it away angrily and wouldn't even acknowledge the gesture....
share