Daniel A. Clara
Guest
That rumor has no foundation Katie. It sounds like a hoax from the word "go."
-
Let's stay in touch! Sign up for our occasional (but interesting) newsletter.
Discover new research on all aspects of the sinking, interesting Titanic facts, and learn more about the Titanic's passengers and crew.
A Cinema on the Titanic
- Thread starter Katie Sharrocks
- Start date
-
- Tags
- cinema history
Brian R Peterson
Guest
Hi Daniel,
The Titanic Cinema is a hoax and the website that originally sparked it as a topic of conversation admitted it to prove that people will believe anything they read if it sounds true.
Best Regards,
Brian
The Titanic Cinema is a hoax and the website that originally sparked it as a topic of conversation admitted it to prove that people will believe anything they read if it sounds true.
Best Regards,
Brian
Roy Kristiansen
Member
Hi, all!
This is my first post to ET, but I've been following your many comments for quite a while. Cheers!
I've been pursuing the elusive William H. Harbeck for several years now and I thought I'd share something with you that more or less pertains to this thread. It's a short magazine article, published in 1911, on the *possible* origin of showing motion pictures at sea:
MOTOGRAPHY, May, 1911, p. 103:
MOTION PICTURES CURE SEASICKNESS
W. H. Harbeck, of Seattle, official motion picture photographer of the Canadian Pacific railway, returned yesterday from Europe, where he took several thousand feet of views for the company, to be used on its theaterette cars.
On the voyage across the Atlantic on the steamer Empress of Ireland some rough weather was encountered, and a number of the first and second cabin passengers succumbed to the motion of the vessel. To draw their minds from their troubles, Mr. Harbeck put on a set of motion pictures of Canadian Pacific scenery in the salons, and while watching the peaceful scenes in the Canadian Rockies, at Seattle and Vancouver, the ailing passengers, Mr. Harbeck declares, forgot their seasickness and when the show closed had recovered their usual composure. "I believe this is the first time a motion picture show was ever put on for a deep-sea audience," he declared, "and I cordially recommend the method as a sure cure for seasickness."
_______________
There are two things I find interesting in this article. First, that true innovations in the fledgling film industry--the kind that still have an impact on us today--were taking place a lot earlier than many people realize. Harbeck was definitely right there on the cutting edge, as can be seen from the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railroad was already showing his films in dedicated theater cars at least as early as 1911. That he had the presence of mind to throw together a little impromptu showing for the seasick passengers on board a ship is commendable. When we travel today, whether by train, plane, ship, or even automobile, we should think back to Will Harbeck while we're watching those in-transit films.
Secondly, and a bit off point, I've noticed that Harbeck showed a knack for traveling on ships that ultimately came to a bad end (I supposed it could be argued that *no* ship from that era came to a "good" end...). Before he boarded the Titanic in 1912, he had already crossed the Atlantic not only on the Empress of Ireland, but on the Lusitania as well.
Anyway, best wishes!
Roy
This is my first post to ET, but I've been following your many comments for quite a while. Cheers!
I've been pursuing the elusive William H. Harbeck for several years now and I thought I'd share something with you that more or less pertains to this thread. It's a short magazine article, published in 1911, on the *possible* origin of showing motion pictures at sea:
MOTOGRAPHY, May, 1911, p. 103:
MOTION PICTURES CURE SEASICKNESS
W. H. Harbeck, of Seattle, official motion picture photographer of the Canadian Pacific railway, returned yesterday from Europe, where he took several thousand feet of views for the company, to be used on its theaterette cars.
On the voyage across the Atlantic on the steamer Empress of Ireland some rough weather was encountered, and a number of the first and second cabin passengers succumbed to the motion of the vessel. To draw their minds from their troubles, Mr. Harbeck put on a set of motion pictures of Canadian Pacific scenery in the salons, and while watching the peaceful scenes in the Canadian Rockies, at Seattle and Vancouver, the ailing passengers, Mr. Harbeck declares, forgot their seasickness and when the show closed had recovered their usual composure. "I believe this is the first time a motion picture show was ever put on for a deep-sea audience," he declared, "and I cordially recommend the method as a sure cure for seasickness."
_______________
There are two things I find interesting in this article. First, that true innovations in the fledgling film industry--the kind that still have an impact on us today--were taking place a lot earlier than many people realize. Harbeck was definitely right there on the cutting edge, as can be seen from the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railroad was already showing his films in dedicated theater cars at least as early as 1911. That he had the presence of mind to throw together a little impromptu showing for the seasick passengers on board a ship is commendable. When we travel today, whether by train, plane, ship, or even automobile, we should think back to Will Harbeck while we're watching those in-transit films.
Secondly, and a bit off point, I've noticed that Harbeck showed a knack for traveling on ships that ultimately came to a bad end (I supposed it could be argued that *no* ship from that era came to a "good" end...). Before he boarded the Titanic in 1912, he had already crossed the Atlantic not only on the Empress of Ireland, but on the Lusitania as well.
Anyway, best wishes!
Roy
Mike Herbold
Member
Roy:
Deja Vu. I just put a note on the "Market Place" thread "1912 Titanic Film Photo" about a book by Stephen Bottomore titled "The Titanic and Silent Cinema." Then I came upon your note here and was prompted to re-read Bottomore's chapter on William H. Harbeck. He's got 22 pages of information on the film pioneer, including time he spent in Colorado, Yellowstone, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Seattle, British Columbia, and Alaska. There are also some scenic photos included that were shot by Harbeck.
You may have all this information already, but I thought you might be interested in Bottomore's book. It is well footnoted, and may help you in your research on Harbeck.
Deja Vu. I just put a note on the "Market Place" thread "1912 Titanic Film Photo" about a book by Stephen Bottomore titled "The Titanic and Silent Cinema." Then I came upon your note here and was prompted to re-read Bottomore's chapter on William H. Harbeck. He's got 22 pages of information on the film pioneer, including time he spent in Colorado, Yellowstone, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Seattle, British Columbia, and Alaska. There are also some scenic photos included that were shot by Harbeck.
You may have all this information already, but I thought you might be interested in Bottomore's book. It is well footnoted, and may help you in your research on Harbeck.
Roy Kristiansen
Member
Hi, Mike!
Thanks for writing!
George Behe was kind enough to tip me off some time back that Stephen's book was about to be published. And I managed to induce (coerce?) our local public library into obtaining a copy.
Stephen did an excellent job with Harbeck, who is probably one of the most unjustly neglected figures in American film history. In the 1910s he was widely known, not only in the United States, but throughout Canada, Great Britain and Europe. Now, just a handful of us Titanic followers seem to know anything at all about him. I feel that Stephen really raised the bar on Harbeck research!
Did you know that, when Harbeck left New York in 1912 for England and Paris, he was planning a Russian journey that would have taken him all the way across Siberia to the Russian Far East, then by boat to northern Alaska, and finally back home to Seattle? My guess is he intended to film the TransSiberian railroad under construction and also parts of Alaska he hadn't visited yet. No wonder he told a New York publisher that the films he intended to bring back were going to "make your mouth water"!! And double-drat the White Star Line for making him that $10,000 Titanic offer he couldn't refuse.
BTW, those Russian plans also cast Harbeck's "relationship" with Henriette Yvois in a slightly different light. To wit, can you *imagine* him dragging along a young, pretty French model all the way across Siberia?? '-)
Best wishes!
Roy
Thanks for writing!
George Behe was kind enough to tip me off some time back that Stephen's book was about to be published. And I managed to induce (coerce?) our local public library into obtaining a copy.
Stephen did an excellent job with Harbeck, who is probably one of the most unjustly neglected figures in American film history. In the 1910s he was widely known, not only in the United States, but throughout Canada, Great Britain and Europe. Now, just a handful of us Titanic followers seem to know anything at all about him. I feel that Stephen really raised the bar on Harbeck research!
Did you know that, when Harbeck left New York in 1912 for England and Paris, he was planning a Russian journey that would have taken him all the way across Siberia to the Russian Far East, then by boat to northern Alaska, and finally back home to Seattle? My guess is he intended to film the TransSiberian railroad under construction and also parts of Alaska he hadn't visited yet. No wonder he told a New York publisher that the films he intended to bring back were going to "make your mouth water"!! And double-drat the White Star Line for making him that $10,000 Titanic offer he couldn't refuse.
BTW, those Russian plans also cast Harbeck's "relationship" with Henriette Yvois in a slightly different light. To wit, can you *imagine* him dragging along a young, pretty French model all the way across Siberia?? '-)
Best wishes!
Roy
Robert T. Paige
Member
"The Poseidon Adventure" was also filmed aboard the then (Hotel) forner R.M.S. Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, USA.
Arun Vajpey
Member
Sounds like a claim that a certain member with a penchant for outlandish theories would make and argue endlessly why it could not be refuted because there was no evidence to disprove it.
Seriously, a more likely scenario is that in the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure they were showing the 1953 Barbara Stanwyck film Titanic when the tsunami struck. It has been a long time since I saw that film and so I am just guessing.
Robert T. Paige
Member
I have seen such stuff as this on other websites but I have always been impressed with the serious nature of this website. I don't understand why anyone would post such nonsense on this website.
Just a bit of trivia, which will mark me as an old geezer.I was just a teen-ager, had just been promoted to PettyOfficer , was celebrating the event by seeing tbe 1953 "Titanic" on the "big screen" while on Liberty in San Diego.I also have a DVD which I watch occasionally. To be honest, I don't remember ever hearing of the Titanic disaster at that time.I was mo re impressed by the snappy dialogue btween Webb and Stanwyck.
Just a bit of trivia, which will mark me as an old geezer.I was just a teen-ager, had just been promoted to PettyOfficer , was celebrating the event by seeing tbe 1953 "Titanic" on the "big screen" while on Liberty in San Diego.I also have a DVD which I watch occasionally. To be honest, I don't remember ever hearing of the Titanic disaster at that time.I was mo re impressed by the snappy dialogue btween Webb and Stanwyck.
Robert T. Paige
Member
Years later, we saw "The Poseidon Adventure" at a theater in Oklahoma City......during a snow storm ..........LOL
