Finding Dorothy: A Biography of Dorothy Gibson

Hello ET!

This is my first posting, although I feel like I've been a part of the site for a long time, having heard about it and its interesting personalities from Randy Bigham. Randy has been a coworker of mine and a very close friend for several years. So it's great to now be working with him on another project - and one he feels so deeply about. For me, the Titanic was always an interesting topic but I didn't realize the extent of the actual disaster until seeing the 1997 movie.

On meeting Randy, when we were both junior reporters, and learning about this passion of his, I started seeing it as more than a disaster but as a window into a very fascinating period of history. Randy's knowledge of the culture of that era - particularly as it relates to the changing role of women - has opened the story up to me in a new way. He has made it live.

And that's what we hope the first five women we have selected for our "Titanic First Ladies" book series will do - live. We want them to live again for readers who are interested in discovering more about them than their Titanic experience.

For this series, Randy has delved into the human side of these women, and the tale he tells is captivating. Dorothy Gibson was not his first choice to begin the series. He had his heart set on another of "my gals," as he affectionately calls these inspiring women. But Dorothy was chosen as the most marketable to launch the project.

I know Randy was expecting me to ask specific questions of members in this post but I am going to do that privately. I have a folder filled with names of experts, some of whom I have been in touch with, and there are still others I plan to run questions by. We welcome their participation and each will be duly credited in the finished product. We are making this extra effort as Randy said the Titanic community will not forgive glaring errors of fact!

For more information, please feel free to contact me. We have already received questions about pre-ordering and that will be covered in a release I'll send to E-T, the Titanic-Titanic site, and to Michael Tennaro's book site.

Important facts: a significant percentage of proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit the British Titanic Society and the Fort Lee Film Commission. The book is actually a package enclosing a soft cover book in magazine format, a CD-ROM of select images and two reproduction art prints, suitable for framing. The price will be $24.99.

I look forward to corresponding (and hopefully meeting) with some of you in the near future.

Regards,
Jennifer Mills,
Project Coordinator/Editor,
"Finding Dorothy"

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Jennifer, welcome to the board. We look forward to hearing more about this project as it grows and develops.

all the best, Michael (TheManInBlack) T

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Thanks Jennifer for making the effort to reach out. Hopefully, you'll get to know some of the group here.

Also thanks to all of you who've been helping us get the Titanic portion of the story just right. Drafts will go out next week. I appreciate you and so does Jen.

Jen is very modest but she's a big part of this project. She is only 24 but is the best editor anyone could have (though she's just a little bossy ). I hope you all get to meet her. She's not only talented but is one of the most charming, attractive young women you could hope to know.

Thanks again to everybody. I hope you will enjoy this book.

Randy

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"Finding Dorothy" is nearing publication — just 4 weeks away, pending the arrival of photographs from several archives and private collectors.

A press release will be going out to Michael Tennaro next week for his Website, along with files of the front and back covers. Meantime advertisements will be going up on a number of silent movie Websites while print ads will be published in upcoming issues of several magazines and journals, including the Atlantic Daily Bulletin.

Thanks to all in the Titanic community who have helped us make the chapters on Dorothy’s experiences in the disaster as accurate as possible.

Along with the participation of the leading authorities on Titanic, this book has enlisted the assistance of numerous other experts, including film historians Frank Thompson and Marc Wanamaker and art historian Q. David Bowers. Numerous collectors of art and movie memorabilia have lent material from their collections. There have been incredible gestures of generosity and some amazing discoveries in the last few months. Museums, libraries and archives — from Fort Lee to the Vatican — have provided some of the most gracious help I have ever encountered in my years of research.

The story of Dorothy Gibson Brulatour’s life was far more penetrating than I could have imagined. I began the project with my primary interest being Dot’s film and modeling career but have ended it with a fresh appreciation of her as a human being, flaws and all (and there were many).

From press interviews and movie reviews during her days of fame to intelligence dossiers when she was giving a different kind of performance, this woman’s extraordinary force and charm captivated me. I’ve even been able to bring her story down to the present day, having found the priest who aided Dot in her escape from the Nazis, still living and preaching in the Italy he loves. Elderly but full of memories of his days as a proud resistance fighter, this man’s words gave wondrous color and texture to the mysterious side of Dorothy, whom he recalled as a shattered woman but "with a spirit of hope," all the more radiant in that most perilous moment of her life. "God has saved my soul," she told him tearfully when she had reached the safety of the Swiss border. "And you have saved my life."

The title for this book, "Finding Dorothy" was always just a working title because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to uncover enough to justify its use. But with the help of so many of you, especially Phil Gowan, who after all found her first, I believe I’ve gotten as near as anyone can probably get to understanding her. I hope you, too, will enjoy "Finding Dorothy" as you read of her amazing journey.

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Dorothy and Lusitania's Rita Jolivet have fascinated many for a long time-more for their personal lives than anything on screen I suspect. I recall Don Lynch really ignited the interest in Dot when he was helping author Rustie Brown with Titanic, Psychic and the Sea-which was one of the very early books before the deluge of Titanic material. Don was a real catalyst in inspiring many young people to pursue passenger investigations, His work on Dot was around 1984 I recall because Rustie Brown was visiting and working on her book Maritime Trivia, and a lighthouse opus which I heard was published before her untimely death. She came out to meet Marshall Drew, and I was glad she did as he passed away about a year later.
Jack Eaton also did an issue of Voyage#8 in June of 1991 featuring Titanic in Films with a large segment on Dot, extracts from The Moving Picture World. May 11. 1912 and the four stills of Dot from the Library of Congress collection. The one of Dot looking pale and haggard pointing to the spot on the map where Titanic sank is particularly moving. Eclair's ad in the same issue touts "A film without parallel" and mentions 6 color and gold posters and the Herald's photos. Sure would be great to see all that material- it must exist somewhere. I was sorry to miss Jack's Dot Gibson lecture to the Irish society a couple of years ago- and I think also to BTS two years ago. The fascination will never end I am sure.

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Shelley:

You’re right, there were many people interested in Dorothy’s story long before I or Phil Gowan came along. Don, however, told me he found very little, although he was in touch with the family. At any rate Don has since helped me a lot and he is duly credited, as is John Eaton, whom I don’t know, but his article (which you sent me long ago) was very helpful in my research.

As to the six posters mentioned in the Moving Picture World ad, only two are known to exist — they are at the UCLA Library. The actual stills of "Saved From the Titanic," of which only four are known to have been made, don’t exist, although several collectors do proudly own issues of the film magazines in which reproductions appeared. Frank Thompson, who wrote "Lost Films," is loaning me his beautiful copies of the stills. Thompson’s book was actually one of the first to explore Dorothy Gibson and both Stephen Bottomore and Simon Mills did great sleuthing in their books as well.

So, although others laid the groundwork for the search for Dorothy, I stand by my statement that Phil Gowan "found her first" because he is the one who discovered what ultimately happened to her. Everybody thought she lived out a simple, quiet life in Paris, It was Phil who debunked that myth. In fact, there could have been no definitive article — and certainly no book — written about her without the research that he did.

As you know, I’d worked on Dorothy for some time myself and although I’d found much about her professional career, I knew Phil had the "goods" on her later life and didn’t want to horn in on the expose he was writing.

By singling Phil out for recognition, I don’t mean to downplay the work of Don Lynch or John Eaton or anybody else. Like I said they are also credited. But as my book owes much to Phil’s initial work, I just wanted it made clear that I’m giving credit where it’s due.

Randy

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Looking forward to the new book, Randy - and thanks to all those researchers who contributed to what we know of her life. Phil G certainly did cast a fascinating new light on this woman. I might not be a Dorothy fan (although perhaps that impression will change once I've put the events in the Titanic's aftermath in the context of the rest of her life), but she was one of the more colourful individuals on board and it is fortunate that Randy and people like Phil and others named in this thread have investigated her life and career, and that Randy has decided to give it a fuller biographical treatment.

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Inger,

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate the support.

Randy

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I freely admit to not being particularly interested in Dorothy Gibson until I read Stephen Bottomore's excellent book on early cinematic Titanica. Now that he's piqued my interest in her, I'd like to know more about what made her tick. All I can say to a full length biography is 'bring it on.' That's excellent news.

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I'm looking forward to the book as well, Randy. Other than what's in her bio on here, I don't know much about her, so I'm sure it will be a fascinating read on her life.

The title suits the book perfectly.

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Hi, Fiona and Jason!

Thanks for the encouragement. We are working hard to meet our deadline.

Fiona, I also didn’t think there was much to Dorothy Gibson. After her Fascist politics were revealed, it almost derailed my interest in her! But I’m glad I stuck it out because there’s a lot more to her than that phase of her life, a lot more to her even than her Titanic experience.

Some will come away with a new-found respect for Dorothy, others may still not give a whit about her, but I think everybody who reads the book will understand her a little better. She has thus far been presented as an innocent and a near-villain. The truth lies, as usual, somewhere in between. Some of my opinions differ from other writers — and my approach definitely does — but I’ve tried not to make many conclusions. I’ll leave the reader to that.

Jason, I’m glad you like the title. I was squeamish about it at first, but so much has come to light in a few short months that I think it’s about as apropos as you can get.

Randy

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