Tarleton Museum features lost Titanic movie
By: James Beaver
Guest writer
The Texan Industrial Museum near Thurber, Texas rolled out the red carpet for an assortment of movie posters to commemorate the town’s historic opera house for a showing of the original “Saved From The Titanic” film from 1912.
“Saved From The Titanic” was made mere months after the sinking of the Titanic and starred Dorothy Gibson, an actress who happened to also be a survivor of the tragedy. The film was lost in a studio fire in March 1914 and is now considered lost media, although some snippets can still be found online.
The museum features a photograph of the opera house during the screening of the film, which inspired the creation of this exhibit.
“We decided to look into movie posters and how they have evolved over time and especially posters concerned with the Titanic,” Sue Goodman, the museum exhibit curator, said, “It’s interesting to see how many films and documentaries have been made about that subject matter.”
The entry to the exhibit is lined with posters for many different films based on the famous tragedy, beginning with “Saved From The Titanic” and progressing all the way up to James Cameron’s 1997 classic “Titanic.”
From there, the room opens up to reveal various sections of film posters ranging from remakes to child actors through the years, and even a section on artists famous for designing many iconic posters. The exhibit also features a QR code for visitors to view old footage of Thurber, Texas, filmed in the 1920’s. All the footage is now hosted on YouTube for anyone to discover and enjoy.
“It’s been a fun project to do the research for and people who’ve come to see it are really excited about it,” Goodman said.
Visitors have come to soak in the nostalgia as they reminisce on films of the past, and learn a bit of the town’s history. The Face Of Cinema: Evolution Of Movie Posters exhibit is currently showing at Tarleton’s W.K. Gordon Museum from until Aug. 27.
The exhibit is open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. The W.K. Gordon Museum is located in Mingus, Texas a half hour north of Stephenville off of I-20 on Exit 367. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2.50 for children.
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