May 13- At Sea

We woke up early to go for breakfast in the Compass Rose Dining Room because there were three interesting sounding lectures that began at 9:00AM and we wanted to hear them all.

After a filling breakfast we made our way to the Constellation Theatre on Deck 4 for the first lecture given my Drs. Charles and Blanche Iliff. They have lived all around the world and currently live in Alaska. Their lecture was entitled “What’s the connection Between Benedict Arnold and 13^th Century Chinese Explorers?” His answer was the Newport Tower which has a number of theories of its origin. However the lecture gave lots of facts about lots of things but wasn’t very clear or connected. Did learn that Toll House cookies were really created in a way station on the toll road from New York to Boston in the 1800’sThey do know a lot about whales and talked of the kinds of whales we should see on this journey….so we’ll see what we actually see.

The second lecture was by Sandra Bowen. She was terrific and we had heard her on some other ship. She talked about the immigration patterns into the US. Three big waves of immigrants came from Europe- 1850, 1880, and after WWII. They mostly came in the 1^st waves from Bremen, LeHavre, and Liverpool. In 1907 1,200,000 people left Europe for the US. All were looking for a new life. As she said some came for justice and some came to get away from justice. Many were not educated and took day laborer kinds of jobs. In a short period during the Irish famine, ¼ of the population of Ireland came to the US. The same was true over a 9 year period with Italians.

Third lecture was part of the PTV as Sea- a partnership between Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Artful Travelers, and Public Television. Michael Kantor, the creator of the series about Broadway did a great history of Florenz Ziegfeld and the importance of the Zigfeld Follies in American theater. Flo Ziegfeld went to see Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and out shot Annie Oakley gaining some fame. He came back to Chicago and went to work for his father at the Chicago Academy of Music. His Dad set up a Night Club with a classical focus that didn’t go so well. Flo found a muscle man Sandow and put him on stage. Being quite a showman, Ziegfeld invited society ladies to come touch Sandow’s muscles- even sold a glove for folks to wear when they touched the muscles. The follies were a blend of art and commerce- showcasing talents like Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplain, WC Fields, and Fanny Brice- to name a few. Ziegfeld did have performers wear just enough clothing to keep the censors away.

The follies at first took place in roof top theaters so patrons could be more comfortable in hot weather. Then they designed a way to cool the theaters-blowing fans over big blocks of ice. Great quote- “Broadway musicals take you to another place. Songs are the pulse of a nation’s heart. Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. Songs then make you feel a thought.”

At noon the Captain announced we had traveled 330 nautical miles since Ft. Lauderdale and we have about that much left to go to get to New York City.

After lunch we watched a screening of the 1^st Episode of The Boardway Series from PBS. Was great fun and these lectures fro PTV at Sea all look interesting.

Tonight we dine at Signatures. That should be very good. We'll let you know.