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From "Titanic" (1953)  

Titanic experiences that don't go near the multiplex

By Theodore Fischer, Washington Sidewalk

Titanic monument. The world's only Titanic memorial statue, a female figure with arms outstretched in eternal gratitude to the women-and-children-first spirit of the Titanic men, is located beside the Washington Channel in Waterside Park near Fourth and P streets S.W. The statue was sculpted in 1931 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and relocated here as part of a late-'60s neighborhood revitalization scheme. On the anniversary of the April 15, 1912, disaster, the 20 male members of the Titanic Society don formal attire and arrive by limousine to toast those who perished when the great ship went down.

Titanic fountain. Maj. Archibald Willingham Butt was a military aide to Presidents William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. His friend Francis Davis Millet was a distinguished artist whose work hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and London's Tate Gallery. After the two men went down with the Titanic, their friends erected the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain, with a soldier and an artist etched into opposite surfaces of a central shaft at the intersection of Executive Avenue and Ellipse Drive N.W., between the Ellipse and the White House.

From "Titanic" (1953)

 

Other flicks. The Titanic has been the subject of at least seven previous films. Titanic (1953), a floating soap opera starring Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb and a young Robert Walker, and A Night to Remember (1958), a semidocumentary based on a nonfiction bestseller, are available on video and are playing during the new Titanic's opening weekend at the American Film Institute cinema. Also on video: S.O.S. Titanic (1979), a made-for-the-tube docudrama, and Raise the Titanic (1980), a Cold War thriller. But forget about Saved From the Titanic, released a month after the disaster and starring real-life survivor Dorothy Gibson. Internet Movie Database says: "No copy of this film is known to exist. Please check your attic."

Unsinkable models. Revell's R.M.S. Titanic, an 18½-inch version at 1:570 scale, sells for $13. The basic Academy Minicraft R.M.S Titanic, a 30¼-inch, 1:350 scale number, begins at $70, but "photo-etch detail" sets – with railings, people and deck chairs – nudge this baby into three figures. Available at Granddad's Hobby Shop (5260-A Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA, 703-426-0700) and Hobby Works (12274 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 301-468-6330).

Titanic's greatest hits. The original soundtrack of Titanic is already available everywhere, and most stores also carry Titanic: A New Musical, from the critically panned (but still running on Broadway) winner of the 1997 Tony for best musical. It might take a trip to Tower Records or another well-stocked store to track down Titanic: Music as Heard on the Fateful Voyage, a Rhino compilation featuring "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" and, portentously, "I'd Like to Be Beside the Seaside."

Titanic books. Of the 200-odd Titanic books in print, some of the most curious are Inside the Titanic: A Giant Cutaway Book by Ken Marschall; Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes From the Great Liner by Dana McCauley and Rick Archbold; Titanic: The Official Story, reproductions of 18 documents; and Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Tragedy by William Seil. Find them at Borders Books in D.C. and elsewhere.

Titanic video. The gift shop at National Geographic Society Explorers Hall sells Secrets of the Titanic, an exploration of "the watery grave of the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic," singly and as part of "Ghosts of the Deep: History's Greatest Shipwrecks," a four-video set.

 
Theodore Fischer, 1801 August Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20902, Tel: 301-593-9797, Fax: 301-593-9798, email: tfischer11@hotmail.com