Friday, December 30, 2011

A Titanic Century

A Titanic Century

Introduction: The novel is often released before the movie. This is the text of my next animated comedy cartoon about the sinking of the Titanic.
The Titanic sinking is not the worst maritime disaster, there are quite a few that are a lot worse, with more lives lost at one time, but this one is memorable because of the historical period and also because of the wealth associated with this historical event.







A Titanic Century 1/2





A Titanic Century 2/2


The 1950s was a time of wealth and prosperity.


Downtown, at Grenville Island hospital, the billboard asked, "How fucked up are you?"

April 12, 1952 was the 40th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I was at the hospital visiting my grandfather whose name was Frank Goldsmith. He was wrapped up in bandages like HG Wells The Invisible Man who I saw at a movie recently.

He mumbled constantly but in spite of that, I was able to understand what he was saying. I asked him about his time on the Titanic and why he was bandaged up like
that.

"He was the first engineer aboard the Titanic. He graduated in 1907 with an honorary degree after a getting a scholarship to study at Eton.
The night the iceberg struck the ship, He was there when the iceberg ripped a tear along the rivetted seam of the ship.
He knew that the ship would sink and that lives would be lost. He never imagined that the disaster would wind up being as bad it turned out to be.
He walked across the cavernous passageways of the ship, walking past the engine room boilers and the stokers who fed those boilers with coal. In less than two hours, all of these men would be dead.
He walked along the labyrintheian hallways pass the staterooms and the private cabins of the first and second class passengers. He knew the full extent of the disaster while the rest of the passengers did not.

I was staying in the second class room of the Titanic. The toilet was plugged and water was rising and flooding the bathroom. I yelled, Help Help Help!

He heard the yells of help help help! He rushed into the room and saw me on the floor trying to wipe up the water. He thought, what an insolent thing to have this distract me while a life and death situation is going on, so he kicked me in the jaw. That is why my face is bandaged to this day.

As you know, the rest is history. I usually don`t tell people this story, but considering that today is the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I thought, Why not.



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