{"id":332173,"date":"2021-08-28T15:03:08","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T12:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/steamships-inspired-a-screenwriter-heroines-and-hedy-lamarr\/"},"modified":"2021-08-28T15:03:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T12:03:08","slug":"steamships-inspired-a-screenwriter-heroines-and-hedy-lamarr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/steamships-inspired-a-screenwriter-heroines-and-hedy-lamarr\/","title":{"rendered":"#Steamships inspired a screenwriter, heroines and Hedy Lamarr"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Steamships inspired a screenwriter, heroines and Hedy Lamarr<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>In 1908, 21-year-old Violet Jessop began her new job as a steamship stewardess, assisting lady passengers aboard the Orinoco, headed to the West Indies from England.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Women workers were still a novelty at sea, and most shipping companies preferred hiring older widows who wouldn\u2019t inflame the desires of the libidinous men on board. But Jessop \u2014 who had an ill, widowed mother and five siblings to support \u2014 promised to be \u201cmost circumspect and careful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The dark-haired, gray-eyed beauty im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely attracted attention: Sailors fell over themselves to assist her; prurient passengers ogled her slim figure. Later, a captain dismissed her after she snubbed his romantic overtures, accusing her of \u201cflirting with the officers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not realize at the time that youth, feminine youth, is almost a fetish to seafaring men and has a tremendous power over them,\u201d Jessop later recalled. \u201cThe adulation I had accepted as chivalry was largely a demonstration of sexual attraction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-nypost-small-post is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=231\" alt=\"Still a novelty at sea, women had a lot to gain from working on luxury boats, including independence.\" class=\"wp-image-19271228\" width=\"231\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=462 462w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=347 346w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=231 231w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=116 115w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/luxury-on-deck.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\"\/><figcaption>Still a novelty at sea, women had a lot to gain from working on luxury boats, including independence.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Yet Jessop sailed on, embarking on more than 200 ocean <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>s in the course of her 42-year seafaring career, first as a stewardess and later, during World War I, as a nurse. Her knack for evading death on some of the most treacherous voyages in history earned her the nickname \u201cthe unsinkable stewardess.\u201d Aboard the Titanic, when she was just 24, she showed panic-stricken passengers how to get on a lifeboat, saving herself and several others in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the danger, the seasickness, the punishing hours and the lusty lotharios lurking on the decks, Jessop relished life at sea, according to \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Maiden-Voyages-Magnificent-Liners-Traveled\/dp\/1250246466?tag=nypost-20\">Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them<\/a>\u201d (St. Martin\u2019s Press), out now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Transatlantic travel gave the fairer sex unprecedented independence, writes the book\u2019s author Si\u00e2n Evans. Between the two world wars, when ocean voyages reached their peak, women from every background and class set sail as a means to start anew.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some \u2014 such as Jessop \u2014 sought employment on ships at a time when jobs for women were hard to come by. Others took to sea to find a new life on another continent, such as the dancer Josephine Baker, who fled racism in the United States for a sensational career in Paris, or the promiscuous romance novelist Elinor Glyn, who escaped scandal in London and reinvented herself as a successful screenwriter in Hollywood, eventually penning the Clara Bow fl<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>er flick \u201cIt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still others became card sharps or \u201csea vamps,\u201d seducing and swindling rich men during a whirlwind voyage \u2014 the kinds of dames immortalized in \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d and \u201cThe Lady Eve.\u201d Evans mentions one former chorus girl who in the 1920s completed 16 round trips on the Atlantic, netting about $1,000 per voyage by beguiling then blackmailing faithless married men.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/violet-jessop-titanic.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Violet Jessop tended to passengers as a stewardess and saved them when the Titanic sunk.\" class=\"wp-image-19271278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/violet-jessop-titanic.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/violet-jessop-titanic.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/violet-jessop-titanic.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Violet Jessop tended to passengers as a stewardess and saved them when the Titanic sunk.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Crown; Bettmann Archive<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These \u201cpioneering and intrepid women,\u201d whether passengers or seafarers, \u201chad their lives transformed by their experiences, mostly for the better,\u201d writes Evans. \u201cTheir motivations were as diverse as their personalities, but for each of them, to embark upon a sea voyage at all was to take a step into the unknown.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before the 1800s, sailors largely barred women from their boats \u2014 save for the voluptuous carved mermaids on the prow. However, by the beginning of the 19th century, captains began bringing their wives aboard some naval warships, whaling ships and smaller merchant vessels. Some boats even hired women \u2014 usually relatives of the boss \u2014 to help with catering, nursing and bookkeeping. Yet as emigration to the New World grew in the 1880s, passenger ships from Europe increasingly carried women and children as well as men, and these ships had to employ female crew members so that \u201cproprieties could be observed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These women crew members acted as chaperones, caring for seasick female passengers and \u201cdealing with all the personal hygiene issues likely to arise on an ocean-going trip lasting many weeks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hilda-marjorie-james.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Olympian Hilda James escaped an abusive home and made a life as a swimming instructor on Cunard\u2019s ships.\" class=\"wp-image-19271290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hilda-marjorie-james.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hilda-marjorie-james.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hilda-marjorie-james.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Olympian Hilda James escaped an abusive home and made a life as a swimming instructor on Cunard\u2019s ships.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Apic\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 1875, England passed a law requiring passenger ships carrying women to employ a matron, \u201cwho would look after the interests of female and child migrants\u201d in third class. On the upper decks, stewardesses (like Jessop) acted as \u201cchambermaids, personal maids and sometimes nurses\u201d to the ladies, serving their meals, helping them dress and catering to their whims and ailments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the physical demands and cramped quarters, women applied for these jobs in droves. As Evans writes, \u201cThe idea of going to sea and earning an independent living was appealing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Take Hilda James, an Olympic medalist who taught swimming aboard Cunard\u2019s luxury ships. Born 1904 to a poor family in Liverpool, James shot to fame at 16 when she won silver at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. Two years later, Cunard invited the so-called \u201cBritish Comet\u201d on a free transatlantic trip. The awe-struck 18-year-old sat at the captain\u2019s table in the plush Louis XVI-style dining room, attended galas in glamorous gowns and even experienced her first kiss (from fellow swimmer and future \u201cTarzan\u201d actor Johnny Weissmuller).\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hedy-lamarr-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Hedy Lamarr cozied up to studio big Louis B. Mayer on a ship \u2014 and earned herself a contract.\" class=\"wp-image-19274355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hedy-lamarr-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hedy-lamarr-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/hedy-lamarr-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Hedy Lamarr cozied up to studio big Louis B. Mayer on a ship \u2014 and earned herself a contract.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yet when she returned home, James was beaten by her father and got verbal lashings from her mother, who prevented her from attending the 1924 Paris Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So James called Cunard, and when she turned 21, ran away from home, snuck aboard the company\u2019s brand-new Carinthia and began her new life as a seafaring swimming instructor and \u201ccruise hostess.\u201d She traveled the world, organized treasure hunts and water polo <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>s for passengers, dealt cards in the officer\u2019s mess, danced the Charleston till late and bought herself a motorbike before settling down and marrying a fellow crew member.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignleft\">\n<blockquote><p>The people who use these ships are not pirates, they do not dance hornpipes; they are mostly seasick American ladies.<\/p>\n<p><cite>Cunard architect on their steamship passengers<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When James took her first trip in the 1920s, ships had evolved from utilitarian vessels to gigantic \u201cfloating hotels,\u201d designed specifically to appeal to feminine tastes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As one of Cunard\u2019s architects explained: \u201cThe people who use these ships are not pirates, they do not dance hornpipes; they are mostly seasick American ladies, and the one thing they want to forget when they are on the vessel is that they are on a ship at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once women got their sea legs, they expected more than just cozy settings: They wanted glamorous backdrops. Soon, architects installed dramatic sweeping staircases and mirrored walls \u201cwhere exquisitely dressed passengers,\u201d such as a fur-covered Marlene Dietrich or couture-clad Adele Astaire, \u201ccould pose in their finery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Such lavish backdrops certainly aided stage actress Hedy Lamarr, who had just escaped her Nazi-sympathizing husband with nothing but a pile of gowns and jewels. She somehow secured a third-class ticket on the same ship headed to the United States as Hollywood studio honcho Louis B. Mayer, and she was determined to make him notice her. Every night, she debuted a new dress, piled on her jewelry and descended down the mirrored staircase to the dining room \u201caccompanied by a succession of wealthy and ardent young men.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/29PS.marlene-dietrich-astaires.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Stars like Marlene Dietrich and Fred and Adele Astair enjoyed the luxe life on ocean liners.\" class=\"wp-image-19271388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/29PS.marlene-dietrich-astaires.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/29PS.marlene-dietrich-astaires.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/29PS.marlene-dietrich-astaires.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Stars like Marlene Dietrich and Fred and Adele Astair enjoyed the luxe life on ocean liners.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images; Library of Congress<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She had a studio contract before even reaching shore.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During World War II, most of the great ocean liners were converted to war ships, but women continued working aboard them as nurses, cooks and stewardesses as well as engineers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once the war ended, \u201ca new generation of women seafarers\u201d emerged to help far-flung families, GI brides and their husbands and refugees reunite via steamliners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-nypost-small-post\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"231\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=231\" alt=\"Maiden Voyages\" class=\"wp-image-19271425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=462 462w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=346 346w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=231 231w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=115 115w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maiden-voyages.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>But the boom in seafaring trips proved short, thanks to commercial air travel, which made crossing the ocean much faster and cheaper. By the middle of 1959, Evans writes, two-thirds of passengers between Britain and America traveled by jet. By the early 1960s, 95 percent of transatlantic travel was by air.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis effectively marked the end of the ocean liners as a form of mass transportation,\u201d notes Evans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, a generation of women who had taken off because of steamliners continued to make waves, shaping postwar America and Europe through culture, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>, humanitarian efforts and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For these brave travelers, writes Evans,\u201cthe great ship\u201d offered \u201chope, opportunity, romance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the journey they took would \u201cchange their lives forever.\u201d\u00a0\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/08\/28\/steamships-inspired-a-screenwriter-heroines-and-hedy-lamarr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Steamships inspired a screenwriter, heroines and Hedy Lamarr&#8221; In 1908, 21-year-old Violet Jessop began her new job as a steamship stewardess, assisting lady passengers aboard the Orinoco, headed to the West Indies from England.\u00a0 Women workers were still a novelty at sea, and most shipping companies preferred hiring older widows who wouldn\u2019t inflame the desires&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":332174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/Ladies-Who-Launched.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[115039,70938,5021,75327,41847],"class_list":["post-332173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-28-21","tag-boats","tag-hollywood","tag-luxury","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}