Cruise Ship History: In a 1951 Holiday Magazine Advertisement for the United States Lines SS America – Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. had spent nearly 1500 days at sea “crossing the pond” from New York to Europe!

Holiday Magazine 1951 Advertisement for the United States Lines SS America.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., 1898–1974, became a well-known writer, newspaper publisher, and movie producer.  By 1951, he had made 140 trans-Atlantic crossings from New York to Europe.

SS America leaving New York Harbor.  

His mega-bucks parents, General and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, bailed out Vanderbilt on several occasions including paying California tabloid creditors $2,257,000 to keep their lanky ex-publisher son Cornelius Jr., out of “debtor’s prison.”

For a while Cornelius was estranged from his parents for writing in what they considered the lurid, gumchewerish William Randolph Hearst Sunday Magazine.

In 1951 Cornelius joined many celebrities by being part of transportation and other advertisements.

SS America in classic post card view.

Herbert Tareyton Cigarettes Advertisement, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. (right) with Mr. and Mrs. Livingston Biddle Jr.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.