The Key West citizen., 1952-10-02
HOLLYWOOD
NOTES
BY BOB THOMAS

ing the Titanic again, this time
on movie lot, and they're having
dickens of time sitting the
fact from fiction.
The Titanic epic will star Clifton
Webb and Barbara Stanwyck and
is being helmed by Charles Brack-
EFT. The sage producer, who has
brought forth such films as 1.-The
Lost Weekend" and Sunset Boule-
vard," said this is the most fas-
cinating subject in his picture
making career.
1.-THE stories we have uncovered
about the sinking are fabulous" he
remarked ''We have had to dis
card some of them because they
are. too fantastic for movie audi
ences to believe. Some are too
fantastic for me to believe. That's
only natural, since human testi-
mony is inclined to be faulty in
times of great stress"
The facts, as Bracket related
them, are these: The Titanic was
built at a cost of 719 million. It's
building was accompanied by
big publicity campaign citing it
as the most modern, unsuitable
ship. NewSreels still exist of the
captain confidently embarking on
the maiden voyage. Aboard were
nine multimillionaires, several ed
itors, a novelist, countess and Pres
ident Taft'S aide-de-camp.
On the night of April IA, 1912,
lookout sighted an iceberg dead
| ahead. The alarm was sounded and
the ship was swerved to one side,
missing the iceberg. Unfortunately,
the ship struck spur of under
water ice, which ripped open the
bottom of the ship like a sardine
can"
The Titanic went down with 1,517
persons. When the liner Carpathia
arrived on the scene, only 707 sur
vivors could be found
i, Many stories of the disaster
came out of Senate hearings ana
newspaper accounts. Among them:
That the first officer on the
bridge continued the ships speed
for 10 minutes after the waters
were deemed dangerous and that
he shot himself after the iceberg
was struck.
That one rich couple bribed
crewmen to put their luggage in
a lifeboat.
That man donned dress TO
gain a place on a lifeboat.
That a crewman supposed to
take the water temperature was
| seen putting his thermometer in
a water bucket before the crash.
That the captain swan to a lif-
boat, deposited a child there and
swan back to go down with his
ship.
That Mrs. Isadore StrauS de-
clined to enter a lifeboat and leave
her millionaire husband, saying,
81 stayed with him good many
years; I'm not going to leave him
now"
The acts of heroism outnumbered
the selfish ones. Bracket observed
that newspapers of the time cited
| the actions of the disaster victims
| as zone of the high marks of hui
man behavior" AS the ship was
sinking, the people aboard sang
Nearer My God to Thee" and
that is the current title of the pic
| ture. (The title Titanic" is owned
by another producer)
lone good thing did come out
of the sinking" Bracket added.
Investigations brought forth new
| and safer ship design and stricter
code of ship safety. Things that
were carelessness before became
crimes"
| Investigators discovered the Ii
tanic's lookout had no binoculars,
there were no searchlights on the
ship and the lifeboatS were too
few to handle the people aboard.
Also, there we're nearby ships
which did not receive the SOS be-
cause their wireless operators were
not on duty. Maritime law now
| prevents such occurrences.