The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1937-03-19

Hollywood. when good ships die,
they 60 TO Hollywood. They go to
Hollywood for scraping and paint
ing and calking and rerigging into
proud old ghosts OF the once-proud
days Of sail. Then they join the
considerable feet which the movie
companies have been accommodating
in nearby harbors since the days OF
BLACK Pirate" sea Hawk and
Treasure Island"
With SO many ships, it's little
wonder that the cycle Of salty
cinema begun with "Mutiny OH
the Bounty" and Captain Blood"
and "Lloyds Of London" Is being
continued with Captains Coura-
geous,' Souls at Sea" "Slave Ship"
Coast Patrol Navy Spy" and
Others yet untitled.
Most Of the vessels, a bark,
schooners, lie at anchor In Long
Beach harbor now, idle but kept in
good condition by skeleton crews
paid by their new guardians, the
movie companies.
a' One OF the scho6ners used in
Captains Courageous" has been
returned to her wealthy sports
man-owner, Morrison Morrison,
who'll keep her for another few
years but will lease her OCCASION
ally for other films. This is the
Mariner, which still holds the rec
ord for the race to Honolulu. For
+. a few years she belonged TO John
Barrymore.
Another schooner used in that
picture Is the Oretha f. Spinney,
which two years ago was one OF
the staunchest members Of the
Glouchester fishing fleet. M-G-M
owns her now. but may put her
up for sale. She'll be back,
though, for further service In the
fltckers.
A famous vessel still riding in
the iarbor Is local reconstruc-
ton Of Captain Bligh's II. M. s.
Bounty. The studio won't sell that
one; she's the only one Of her
type In the movie fleet. Then
there's the veteran Pandora, orig
inally the whaler Nanook. w.
8. Van Dyke and his company
sailed her to the Arctic TO make
Eskimo" and recently she was
rerigged for use In MAID OF Sa-
lem"
Lucky ~star"
The bark, Star of Finland, has
had the most interesting his
tory because she was built In 1899
for Kamehameha, the titular king
Of Hawaii. Later she was sold
to an Alaska packing company,
and finally she spent 10 years ly-
ing despondently In the mud OF
the Alameda Estuary. But she
was Just what Paramount wanted
for the Gary Cooper-G George Raft
picture, "Souls at Sea-" SO she was
raised, repaired, and transformed
into q clipper.
"Slaye Ship" with Warner Bax-
ter and Wallace Berry, required
the use Of several old sailing YES
sells. But for the title role they
chose the Lottie Carson, three
mastered schooner built in 1885 and
uUW 1CItiOlACO AivO o. bUAAs
Visitors to the studios usually
are astonished to find that movie
companies are not content with
having real ships In the harbor:
they reproduce them in the most
minute detail on Hollywood sound
stages. an do most Of the film
ing there.
On Stage Is at Goth Century
Fox, the Albatross, duplicate OF
the Lottie Carson, proudly rides
on wheels and % hydraulic jacks
the latter TO make 1t roll and
pitch. It's only half ship, really,
because 1t isn't finished on the
starboard side. But the port side
Is complete-15l feet over all,
weight SO tons.
Melancholy Dane
The man who designs and builds
most Of these studio ships Is
Chris Christensen, who went ~
sea from his native Denmark o..
the age OF ~ and sailed for n
years. Fourteen years ago Doug
las Fairbanks started him build
ing imake-believe craft In Holly
wood. and he hasn't set foot on
n real quarterback to this day.
lie won't reproduce anything but
sailing vessels. and Is pretty sad