This day in the news, 100 years ago.
- Thread starter Thus Spoke Mainer
- Start date
Photo of the Lusitania leaving New York. It sank 6 days later. I look at photos like this and try to imagine what types of lives the people in the photo led. Obviously some on the ship were killed. Some on the dock were undoubtedly killed in World War II. A few may have been, or become, famous. Most probably led ordinary lives like most of us.
Reading "Dead Wake" by Erik Larsen about the Lusitania and the German U-boat U-20 that sank her. Lots of interesting sidelights about life in the early 20th century, including the fact that gentlemen ALWAYS wore hats in the city. You might notice in the picture that there are many wearing the dark fedoras and many others wearing straw hats. Apparently it was considered proper not to wear straw hats until May 1 (which was the date the Lusitania departed New York), so presumably they had just busted them out for the summer.
There is video of the passengers arriving and the ship setting sail that is very nicely described in the book:
Along these lines, Orson Welles was born 100 years and two days ago. I think Touch of Evil is vastly overrated, but I generally like his stuff. I haven't researched this particular tidbit recently, but I recall reading that Booth Tarkington, the author of The Magnificent Ambersons, knew Welles as a boy and based the character of Georgie Minafur on him; of course, Welles went on to make Ambersons with Tim Holt playing Georgie. (Anyone who can recall the opening scenes of Ambersons, with Georgie as a boy, will understand the significance of what I'm saying.)
