THE PAST AND NOW TRAVEL AND SOCIAL HISTORY

In December 1934, the refurbished Earl Carroll Theatre located on the south-east corner of 7th Ave and 50th Street, New York City, opened as the French Casino. This glittering supper club was described by Fortune magazine as ‘a vast scarlet and silver restaurant which, in terraced rows of tables, seats ... Read More »

After the WW II war, the MS BATORY returned to the Transatlantic trade following a refit in Antwerp in 1947. Beginning in May 1949 and lasting through January 1951, the BATORY of the Polish Ocean Lines was the subject of a series of political incidents relating to the Cold War ... Read More »

Poland’s Gdynia America Line (GAL), two 14,000-tons passenger ships, the BATORY, and PILSUDSKI were the pride of the fleet. They began their trans-Atlantic run from Europe to America in the mid-1930s. Built-in Cantieri Riuniti del’ Adriatico Shipyard, Triest-Monfalcone (Italy), the twin liners were 526 feet (160,3 m) long and could ... Read More »

David Bowie (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), who starred in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, had a long-standing fear of flying. Bowie sailed aboard Cunard’s QE 2, the Italian Line’s Leonardo da Vinci, P&O-Orient Line’s Oronsay and Canberra along with many other ships.   So while ... Read More »

The first postwar cruise ships with their spacious cabins signaled no return to the painless light-happy wardrobes of 1939. The fashion point of view, like everything during the long hiatus in travel, had changed. Modern travelers in 1947 were thinking in terms of versatility and packability into a single suitcase. ... Read More »

EARLY CRUISING The earliest ocean-going vessels were not primarily concerned with passengers, but rather with the cargo that they could carry. Black Ball Line in New York, in 1818, was the first shipping company to offer regularly scheduled service from the United States to England and to be concerned with ... Read More »

The Cap Arcona was considered one of the most beautiful ships of the time, launched in 1927, was the largest German ship on the South American run. In 1940, the Cap Arcona was taken over by the Kriegsmarine (the German Navy), painted overall gray and used in the Baltic Sea as ... Read More »

First as the trans-Pacific record holder liner, then serving during World War 2, followed by being renamed the Empress of Scotland on the trans-Atlantic run and then finally sailing under the German flag. It was ironic, the allied ship used during WW 2 to fight the Nazis, was sold to ... Read More »

Why it’s time for Carol Reed’s Berlin-set thriller The Man Between to come out of the shadow of The Third Man. Starring James Mason and Claire Bloom, the film captures many scenes of post-war Berlin. The Man Between (1953)? When reviewing Carol Reed’s postwar thrillers, it’s usual to dismiss The Man Between (1953) ... Read More »