Dark Voyage

It was a dark and chilly night - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
How better to follow my Downton Abbey blog, than to talk about RMS Titanic – the luxury ocean liner that met its chilly fate on April 15th 1912, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The unsinkable ship actually played a role in Downton Abbey's season one plot line. And what befell this magnificent ship? As if the reader hasn't seen the movies and books ... we'll do a little refresher.

Titanic's Captain Edward Smith seemed to ignore ice warnings from the nearby Californian; Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40PM, tearing open 5 of its 16 watertight compartments. Sadly ironic, the Californian was only 10 miles away and could’ve saved Titanic’s passengers – but the officer handling ship communications duty had gone to bed. Californian sped happily away as the Titanic foundered and then split in two, swallowed by the unforgiving North Atlantic.

The Titanic has been turned into two highly acclaimed movies – 1958’s A Night to Remember and 1997’s Titanic. It’s no wonder that the disaster has loomed so large in our collective memories. The ship was teeming with all classes and varieties of people – it was a floating, social microcosm of 2,224 people ranging from house maids to robber barons. With only 20 lifeboats, Titanic was the ultimate survivor show -- 90 years ahead of reality television. The very extremes of human behavior, cowardice and nobility, played out during the two hours and forty minutes that the wounded vessel kept above the water line. In a footnote of gallantry, 67% of 1st class male passengers perished – while only 54% of 3rd class women met the same watery fate. Gentlemen seemed to accept what was coming – hypothermia and drowning – with little drama or hysterics.

It probably helped that many passengers were well-lubricated on alcohol. Also many, including the handsome and wealthy John Jacob Astor IV, thought that the ship would survive and that help was on the way. In fact, the Carpathia had received the SOS and was steaming toward them; its 4 hour distance would prove too late. It had to be the ultimate, frantic moment when the last lifeboat was dispatched. Shortly thereafter, the surviving stern turned vertical, pitching people into the water as it embarked on its 2.5 mile descent downward. Some hearty soles endowed with athleticism and swimming skills were actually able to swim toward lifeboats. Many more were gobbled by terror, cold and infinite black water.

1,514 people perished on this infamous night. Only 710 (far less than could’ve fit in the 20 lifeboats) survived. In an act of incredible selflessness, 67 year old Macy’s owner Isidor Straus insisted that younger men be placed on lifeboats before him. His wife Ida remained with him steadfastly, refusing a lifeboat that was offered. Such were the acts of sacrifice and heroism on this terrifying night.

AFTERMATH / FOOTNOTE

The US Senate and British Trade Board both investigated the accident immediately after it happened. Regulations were updated for lifeboats, lifeboat drills and an International Ice Patrol was established for all ship travel.

The Titanic was actually a “triplet”; it had two nearly identical sister ships – the Britannic and the Olympic. The Britannic hit a German landmine in 1916, but the Olympic actually survived until White Star Lines scrapped it in 1936. Various decorative pieces were auctioned off for use in hotels and ships in England. Given the intense fascination with the Titanic now, one has to figure that maybe the Olympic should’ve been docked and preserved as a permanent attraction. Would-be Kate Winslets could imagine how things were on that night to remember.

© 2012 blogSpotter

High Tea and High Drama

Shocking, appalling and very entertaining - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Pass me the smelling salts! I think I shall faint… you see Lady Mary just kissed Matthew Crawley as his fiancée Lavinia lay upstairs, suffering with Spanish flu. Where are their morals? Aren’t they worried someone might see? ? I’m watching Downton Abbey, the incredibly popular costume drama now taking England and America by storm. This lush, lavish period show is in its essence a soap opera – a very classy soap to be sure. Averaging 6 million people per episode, Downton Abbey is the most popular period show since 1981’s Brideshead Revisited. In fact, it’s one of the most popular shows overall – it garnered 6 Emmies this year for such things as directing, writing, costumes and overall series. The venerable Maggie Smith won for best supporting actress as Dowager Grantham.

Downtown Abbey is Julian Fellowes’ brilliant fictional creation, portraying the lives of the Earl and Countess of Grantham with all their servants and extended family. It’s set in the era of World War I, in the lavish environs of a country estate in Yorkshire. Exterior scenes of Downton are shot at Highclere Castle in Hampshire – a real country estate. Village scenes are filmed in Oxfordshire. We’re immersed in a bygone world -- no budgetary shortcuts have been taken. Downton gives us luminescent clothing, cars and furnishings that hark to the beautiful world of English nobility in the early 20th century. The show also offers some historical perspective along with the glossy imagery. With talks of class warfare, and Lady Sybil betrothing her chauffeur, it’s clear that pure aristocracy is fading – a new, egalitarian world is fast approaching.

Too often in historical dramas, people are sporting modern hairstyles or speaking in current idiom; Downton is painstakingly accurate in all of its costume and speaking styles. The people are no less human though – there is as much sex, intrigue and double-crossing as there ever was on Dynasty or The Young and the Restless. The series offers some cultural diversity as well as sex... Coproduced by British and Americans, Downton also has a starring character, Countess Cora, who's American. She has a down-home, Yankee sensibility and a lack of any stuffiness or pretension. It may be this mixing of the cultures that gives the show such a big following on both sides of the Atlantic.

Is there anything not to like? I’m probably the wrong one to ask – I’ve already seen all the episodes and am champing at the bit for Season 3. Are there things that other people would find silly or unbelievable? This is essentially a soap, so of course. Mrs. O’Brien goes from evil schemer to faithful redeemer and then back again! Captain Crawley comes back from WW I paralyzed and impotent but he miraculously gains back the use of all his body parts in less than one episode. Every plot twist seems to guarantee that the sexiest and most comely people will survive to flirt, nay, make sweet Edwardian love again. Some characters have “expendable” stamped on their foreheads and you know they’ll be a next casualty. Spanish flu really gave the writers a chance to clean house all in one episode.

But I must give credit to the series creator and chief writer, Julian Fellowes. Julian is known mostly for Gosford Park in his previous endeavors. With Downton, he’s created a mix of enchanting, believable, flawed, exciting people in an era which was pivotal and exciting itself. There is a gift to making us care and making us wait impatiently for a next episode or season. Bravo (and maybe cheerio?) to all that.

© 2012 blogSpotter