Events, movies and TV shows mark 100th anniversary of Titanic tragedy

<i>"There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable."

- Phillip Franklin, vice president of the White Star Line shipping company that owned and operated the RMS Titanic, in 1912 (From webtitanic.net) </i>

It has been a century since the RMS Titanic passenger liner sank to its watery grave. One hundred years since the ship deemed "unsinkable" by its builders set out on its maiden journey from Southampton, England, to New York.

On board, some of the world's wealthiest people - financier John Jacob Astor IV and New York merchant Isidor Straus - enjoyed libraries, fine restaurants and Turkish baths in their first-class quarters. While emigrants, with their life savings in their pockets, climbed aboard the ship, hoping to get a fresh start in a new country.

Since April 15, 1912, the world has been fascinated and haunted by the tragedy that took the lives of more than 1,500 people.

Here are some events, movies and television shows recalling that chilly, moonless night in the North Atlantic 100 years ago.

<b>- Laura Stewart</b>

<b>In Movies</b>

"Titanic," like Celine Dion's heart, will go on.

And on. And on.

James Cameron's 1997 romantic tragedy won 11 Oscars (among them Best Picture and Best Director) before sailing into the history books as the second-highest-grossing movie of all-time.

Last week, Cameron's epic disembarked on yet another theatrical voyage, this time in a digitally remastered 3-D version released in both regular movie houses and IMAX theaters. IMAX screenings of "Titanic" are at the AMC Showplace Naperville 16 and the AMC Showplace Village Crossing 18 in Skokie.

Meanwhile on home video screens, a new documentary titled "The Titanic Disaster" is available on DVD, featuring commentaries by two local Titanic experts, Eric Surchuk of Mount Prospect and Anthony Serafini, an Elk Grove Village resident and science teacher at Niles West High School.

"What fascinates me is the human aspect of the disaster," Serafini said. "All the people who tried to be saved and how people tried to be chivalrous about it, women and children and that sort of thing."

In the mid-'90s, Surchuk and Serafini became friends with a common interest in the Titanic story. Both men went on a 1996 cruise to the wreck site, then became so knowledgeable about the infamous disaster they evolved into experts on it.

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry even used Serafini as a guest expert when it hosted an exhibit of Titanic artifacts.

"What intrigues me is all the things that had gone wrong that contributed to the run-in with the iceberg," Serafini said. "It's just amazing how many things went wrong aboard that ship on one voyage."

Serafini, who teaches chemistry as part of his science curriculum, has also found ways to apply his Titanic knowledge in the classroom.

"I bring it up when we study the density of water and ice," he said. "To this day, there are microorganisms called rusticles eating away at the iron of the ship."

So, in a sense, the great ship Titanic is being slowly destroyed a second time.

"It's been quite an experience," Serafini said.

Go to titanicdisasterdvd.com for information.

<b>- Dann Gire</b>

<b>Titanic on TV </b>

Television screens are awash with programs on the sinking of the Titanic. These programs look back at the nautical disaster from different perspectives, either in the form of dramas or documentaries.

Perhaps the highest-profile is the miniseries drama "Titanic," which was created by Academy Award and Emmy award-winning writer Julian Fellowes ("Gosford Park," "Downton Abbey") for the ITV network in the U.K. It was filmed in Budapest, Hungary, and eventually sold to more than 95 international TV markets, including ABC in America.

"Titanic" follows characters in first, second and third class (the latter known as steerage). Though the series was originally broken up into four episodes, viewers didn't have to wait for the ship to start sinking since each episode shows how different characters ranging from British aristocrats to an immigrating Irish Catholic family all deal with the scramble to survive. Rather than air each episode of "Titanic" on successive nights, ABC combines the first three episodes into one block (at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 14), while airing the final episode at 8 p.m. Sunday, April 15.

"It is amazingly close to 'Downton Abbey,'" said reviewer Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4's arts program "Front Row," drawing a parallel to the award-winning PBS/ITV miniseries and the class division storylines similarly explored in the "Titanic" miniseries. "(Fellowes) takes on another story that people think is over-told and oversold, and yet he does find another approach to it."

On the PBS affiliate WTTW-11, the two recently aired hourlong documentaries "Titanic with Len Goodman" and "Saving the Titanic" are scheduled to be rerun in a pairing starting at 2 a.m. and then again at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 15. (The two documentaries and another hourlong one called "Titanic Belfast: Birthplace of a Legend," are to be rerun on the digital channel WTTW Prime starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 14.)

"Titanic with Len Goodman" features the "Dancing with the Stars" judge journeying to Belfast in Northern Ireland to interview descendants of shipbuilders and survivors to explore the legacy of the Titanic. "Saving the Titanic" seeks to explore how the workers in the engine and boiler rooms reacted after the ship struck an iceberg.

There are also plenty of documentaries on cable TV outlets like the Smithsonian Channel and The History Channel, though fans of the 1997 film will probably be most interested in "Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron" airing at 8 p.m. Sunday, April 15, on the National Geographic channel. This documentary follows what the Academy Award-winning director of "Titanic" discovered on his more than 30 dives to the sunken ship through the years.

And speaking of filmed versions of the sinking, "A Night to Remember" from 1958 is based upon Walter Lord's book of the same name where survivors were interviewed about their experiences aboard the doomed ship. It airs on Turner Classic Movies at 10 p.m. Saturday, April 14.

<b>- Scott C. Morgan</b>

<b>Local commemorations</b>

Looking for a more personal way to remember the Titanic? There are lots of options throughout the suburbs.

Ÿ Friendship Village retirement community in Schaumburg invites the public to its "Titanic Remembered" evening on Friday, April 13. The event features an eight-course dinner and a performance by re-enactor Lynn Rymarz, starring as Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, best-known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

A number of re-enactors will participate in the event, portraying passengers from the RMS Titanic while they mix and mingle with guests, said Donna Brown, activities manager at Friendship Village. A string trio from Fremd High School and the Schaumburg Youth Orchestra will provide background music.

"I would like our guests to experience taking a step back in time to the magnificence and mystery of the Titanic," Brown said. "And I would hope they feel compassion and pray for those who lost their lives at sea. We are not here to celebrate, but to remember."

Seating begins at 3:30 p.m., with dinner at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, at Seasons at Friendship Village, 350 W. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg. Lynn Rymarz portrays "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" at 7 p.m. in Assembly Hall. Dinner is $25 per person. For reservations, call Donna Brown at (847) 843-4254 or (630) 659-9332.

Ÿ The Button Room Museum in Gurnee will honor each Titanic passenger and crew member by reciting names and placing a button in their honor on a charm string, said Leslie Klocek Pencak, executive director and curator of The Button Room Museum.

Klocek Pencak said there will be a special significance in reading the name of one particular Titanic passenger - William James Elsbury - a Gurnee resident who perished in the disaster at the age of 47. Elsbury's great-great granddaughter Ruth Young is currently a member of The Button Room.

"I hope that Ruth can personally string the button for her great-great grandfather," Klocek Pencak said.

Local re-enactor Shannon Ferguson-Munns will also be on hand at the museum to portray "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

The event runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 14, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 15, at The Button Room Museum, 4072 Old Grand Ave., Gurnee. Admission is $3-$6. Children under age 5 are free. (224) 399-9870 or thebuttonroom.org.

Ÿ National Geographic photographer and Titanic explorer Emory Kristof shares his personal experiences with researching the Titanic's underwater wreckage in the "Exploring the RMS Titanic" lecture at Loyola University Chicago's Lake Shore Campus. Kristof will feature video footage and photos from the Titanic's resting place.

The lecture is 7 p.m. Friday, April 13, in the Mundelein Center at 1032 W. Sheridan Road, at Loyola University's Lake Shore Campus, Chicago. $10 for the public; $5 for Loyola students, faculty and staff. For information, visit luc.edu/titanic.

Ÿ Historian and actress Leslie Goddard portrays Titanic stewardess Violet Jessop in a program at the DuPage County Historical Museum. Jessop survived not only the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, but also lived through the sinking of the HMHS Britannic ship in 1916.

1 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the DuPage County Historical Museum, 102 E. Wesley St., Wheaton. Free. (630) 510-4941 or dupagemuseum.org.

Ÿ Historian Hal Tinberg looks at the research that went into identifying a young victim of the Titanic who remained unidentified for nearly 100 years in "The Unknown Titanic Child" program at Cook Park Library.

7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, at the Cook Park Library, 413 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville. Registration is required. Call (847) 362-2330, or visit webres.cooklib.org.

<b>- Laura Stewart</b>