A Titanic minute by Bruce M. Caplan
The Titanic slammed an iceberg on the North Atlantic at 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912. Two hours and forty minutes later the great ship sank, carrying over 1500 souls to their demise.
One of the people to perish was a theatrical impresario by the name of Henry Birkhardt Harris. At the time he died he represented many of the stars on Broadway. Everyone assumed that Harris was a millionaire.
His wife Irene (Rene) Harris survived the Titanic. She soon discovered that her late spouse was dead broke! He left her with no assets.
Rene, was not a person to sit around and mope, and she became an actors agent too. One of her clients was a very young Barbara Stanwyck. In 1953, Barbara Stanwyck had a leading role in the movie Titanic, along with Clifton Webb.
This movie was the catalyst for Walter Lord to write his great narrative “A Night to Remember” and also for the creation of the “Titanic Historical Society.”
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