were ever*

Based on the accounts of other first class passengers, the couple largely kept to themselves. Some even spread rumours that they were spies. On May 7th, 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German u-boat and neither Lee nor Henry were never seen again.

By the spring of 1915, for unknown reasons, the two resolved to return to Europe. Despite the dangers of war and the wishes of family, the two booked passage on the famous Cunarder ‘Lusitania’. The ship sailed on May 1st, 1915 amidst speculation that she was about to be targeted by the Germans.

The two remained in Paris until 1914 and sent postcards home to family signed “Love, Uncle Henry and Lee”. At the start of the war, they moved back to the United States, spending most of the time at Henry’s mother’s home. They bought a mausoleum in which they intended to be interred together (awww).

The men met each other in 1900 when Lee became a bookkeeper for the Sonneborn family’s successful business in Baltimore. In 1903, Lee moved into the Sonneborn home. In 1906, Lee and Henry travelled to Europe together, then again in 1908 and again in 1910. In 1911 they moved to Paris together.

How dare he not tell us more?

I wish I was there!

Or awkwardly piled on your neck, in the mode here demonstrated by my boys, Ernest and Niles.

😍 Tell them I love them!

Honestly. How dare it NOT be in technicolor!? How dare!

I beg to differ…

I never knew you got so leaky 👅

When can I drink from the firehose?

Thanks, handsome!

I’m down for a few weeks at least twice a year. Let’s make it happen!

No problem! The weather looks like it’s going to be perfect this weekend (right when I’m heading home). Have fun, handsome!

Canopy wine bar is great. On sunday afternoon hit up the Tea Dance at Oscar’s (I think cover is free until 4), then head somewhere on Arenas if you’re not too drunk, otherwise go to Thai Smile for curry. If you’re leather / jockstrap guys skip the bars on Arenas and head to Toolshed instead.

I never thought of it that way, but it’s so true. I’ve seen almost all the versions and the German one is such a fascinating artifact. It never dawned on me to draw the comparison between that one and Cameron’s!

I suddenly feel an urge to do a PhD.

Amazing! The Titanic story was dramatized in film almost immediately, too, so you really get see how each generation/culture reflects itself in each of the reinterpretations. From an historical perspective the best is A Night to Remember, much of which Cameron remade near-verbatim in 1997.