The Floating Media Circus

In the heydays of transatlantic crossings the lines created a floating media circus for their advertising purpose. Being named in the society columns of those days was important for the career of stars, but too for society members of " certain"  standing. These lines on the other hand benefitted from being promoted in the articles these bygone VIP´s got. And being filmed for the cinema news shows got them them profitable bookings from those who wanted to be with their adored stars or VIPs.
Those celebrities, VIPs, screen stars, etc., you may call them `ship setters´, had to be on certain vessels to be accepted within their circles ... similar today, you have to be, if from the mentioned group, at certain times at certain places. 

by Earl of Cruise

It was Thanksgiving Day, 24 November 1938, when this photo was taken on board NORMANDIE - own collection
Could there be a better way to celebrate the great American holiday than on an iconic French ocean liner with an acclaimed English actor and a legendary German actress? You know, they just don’t make tablemates like this anymore - or ocean liners. And that named to be last ever built one, is only a cruise ship with a bit of liner disguise.

Anyone believing that media circuses are a recent trend, never sailed on a major transatlantic ocean liner during the early to mid 20th century. As NORMANDIE, BREMEN or EUROPA, REX, CONTE DI SAVOIA, QUEEN MARY pre, and later after WWII, UNITED STATES, BREMEN 5, HANSEATIC 1, QUEEN ELIZABETH, MICHELANGELO or RAFFAELLO, LEONARDO DA VINCI or any other superliner glided toward her North River berth, the boat would often be greeted by a smaller boat or more packed with news hounds eager for a celebrity interview that could be placed in front of readers and viewers within days (for newsreels) or even hours (for newspapers and radio). The tiny vessel would sidle up to the liner and the motley gang would clamber onboard the liner in a manner not dissimilar to clowns pouring out of a tiny car. And sometimes the reporters had been sailing on board as the lines had been hoping to get a good review about the ship they sailed on ... as today.

A late 1930s-era camera crew - own collection

A late 1930s era camera crew prpares for a celebrity to arrive on boat deck

The crew member in the center holding his arms up is using a light meter to find the correct camera exposure setting 

And the lines agreed to that, as it got them into the media and at least more known to the public! The released especially for the media passenger lists to inform them about celebrities on board.

Adding to the usual chaos of arrival day would be the startling arrival of all sorts of aggressive media types, including pushy reporters and combative photographers. Movie cameras, light stands audio recording gear would compete with passengers’ luggage for scarce deck space. Wires and cables were everywhere. Once wide open decks would be blocked and placed off-limits to passengers. Similar is the situation today when TV features like the German ZDF show "DAS TRAUMSCHIFF" (once with DEILMANN), or the ARD TV show "VERRÜCKT NACH MEER" (with PHOENIX SEEREISEN) is produced.

The press, or as some may have said press pack/rats at work. From bottom to top - sound engineers, camera operators, newspaper/magazine reporters - own collection, courtsey Prof. Westerbarkey

I remember my aunt using the "rats" term to discribe her disgust about their annoying presence

But it did take place too when the liners were made ready to sail and passengers boarded for the crossing ... Hosting a Bon Voyage party, depending on stardom, would drsa a massive crowd of reporters.

I remember very well a crossing on board BREMEN 5, ex PASTEUR, when the former UFA star, Swedish actress ZARAH LEANDER was on board. The moment we reached Roter Sand the media swamped on board like pirates in search for booty. The little boy I was back then, just having watched "THE CRIMSON PIRAT / DER ROTE CORSAR", fealt reminded that way.

Duke and Duchess of Windsor - courtsey LIFE

When UNITED STATES was inaugurated they went, "flaged over the top",  to UNITED STATES LINES, on y soit qui mal il pense

The brighter the star, the bigger the show. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, for example, would rate a full three ring circus. A promising movie starlet, on the other hand, might only find herself surrounded by the equivalent of a small tent circus. There were sideshows, too. Interviews with stars, child stars, animal trainers, stage and circus perfomers, people who were rescued at sea and so on, provided great entertainment for readers and newsreel audiences. And not only once stories got bloodier or more spectacular as they have been, because it drew readers.

Today we have this kind with e.g. the 10 creepeast moments and such sensation writings. Turning simpler minded in believing the stupiest blurbs. Those media bubbles are nothing more time thieves, as their news worth is only blood lust.

And having the best sensation was the reason which set TITANIC as a Blue Riband runner and "All saved" as "reality" in the headlines ... alternative facts are not that new.

Before movie, TITANIC was a news story - courtsey St. Augustine Record

Like ocean liners, newspapers and newsreels have faded away. But the media circus has simply moved on. It is truly the show that never ends. And we all have our mobil-, smartphones for a quick shot and post whereever, or for the big deal with a news or tabloid agency.

When sailing through the Aegean sea, a decade and a bit ago on board OLYMPIA EXPLORER of late ROYAL OLYMPIC CRUISES we had a film team and actors for a British comedy show sailing with us. Quite annoying because of closed areas, and allways being carefull taking own photographs not with one of the film team caught in the background. They did not want it, and we got some info papers as passengers. But when we had been circled by their chartered heli, we hadn´t been asked to be part of the set ...

 Filmcrew of "VERRÜCKT NACH MEER", this time at Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro ... still disturbing - courtsey dpa

For the show " DAS TRAUMSCHIFF" I know for sure, that passengers only booked the DEUTSCHLAND to do some comparsery or being with their admired stars on board ...

April 1956 and a radiant-looking Grace Kelly waves good-bye to New York from AMERICAN EXPORT LINE’s CONSTITUTION - courtsey MGM

While I was researching this article, I came across two interesting stories ... 

As OLYMPIC, 1911, entered New York harbor on July 28th, 1920, a huge crowd gathered on the WHITE STAR LINE pier. The masses were there to greet, and hopefully get a peek at, movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, who were returning from their six-week European honymoon. Both had been in those days THE superstars of Hollywood.

Top and below Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, sen.

This was the kind of articles the masses had been thirsty for - own collection

What the crowd didn’t know was that a major celebrity-to-be was also on board OLYMPIC that Wednesday. Among the members of the Bob Pender Stage Troupe, which had come to the US for a two-year vaudeville tour, was a sixteen-year-old singer, dancer, juggler and stilt walker named Archibald Alexander Leach.

Press photographers using bulky GRAFLEX SPEED GRAPHIC cameras taking a photo of an unidentified couple on NORMANDIE

GRAFLEX SPEED GRAPHIC camera, quite unhandy compared to todays possibilities - Source: Wikipedia (original size)

Archie immediately fell in love with America, so much so that when the troupe departed for home he remained behind, performing odd jobs to support himself. Archie returned to Britain in 1923, but later came back to the US to pursue a motion picture career. After adopting a new name and moving to Hollywood, Archie became one of the century’s leading screen actors.

Another star on board, sailing into famedom ...

Legendary Swedish movie actress Greta Garbo, later THE GARBO, or the Divine Garbo, and Finnish director Maurtiz Stiller smile for the press photographers on board SVENSKA AMERIKA LINIEN’s DROTTNINGHOLM, 1905, ex VIRGINIAN, en route to the United States in 1925.

THE GARBO, back then "only" Greta Garbo and Muaritz Stiller on board the DROTTNINGHOLM of SAL - Source: Wikipedia (original size)

DROTTNINGHOLM of SVENSKA AMERIKA LINIEN (SAL), ex VIGINIAN - own collection

Two years earlier, Garbo had left Sweden’s Academy of the Royal Dramatic Theatre to star not only in Stiller’s film "GÖSTA BERLING’s SAGA" , which premiered in 1924 and was a critical and commercial success, but too stared in the German film "DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE"  directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Louis B. Mayer, president of MGM, the film studio with the mowing kitten, signed Garbo to a contract after viewing "GÖSTA BERLING´s SAGA" and she moved to California in late 1925 (her DROTTNINGHOLM voyage was likely part of this journey).  Her first American film was "THETORRENT”, which premiered in March 1926.  "THE TORRENT", "THETEMPTRESS” and "FLESH AND THE DEVIL"  accounted for 13 percent of all of the revenue generated by all MGM films produced during the 1925/26 production year.  THE GARBO was suddenly an international star.

Garbo went on to make 13 more movies for MGM. Many of these films, such as "CAMILLE" (1937) and "NINOTCHKA" (1939), are now regarded as classics. During World War II,  Garbo took a break from acting . Although signing a contract to act in a film in 1947, and considering projects well into the 1950s, she never made another movie.

 

Greta Gabo by R.H. Louise, later she was called THE GARBO or LA GARBO or The Divine Garbo - Source: Wikipedia

After effectively retiring, Garbo moved to New York, where she lived until her death in 1990.

Other stars "arranged" by photographers ...

American actor Jack Lemmon and American film director Billy Wilder, with his wife Audrey Young - own collection

Debbie Reynolds on board QUEEN ELIZABETH

Joel McCrea and wife Frances Dee leave New York for England on UNITED STATES September 1952