Andrea Doria Anniversary, Phoenix Reisen Gathering and Silversea Silver Shadow at 25
Shoreside Remembrance
Last month, on the 69th anniversary, an exhibition themed to the Italian liner Andrea Doria and its tragic sinking (on July 25-26, 1956) opened at the Italian-American Museum in Lower Manhattan. Along with great interest, some news articles followed.Our friend Mary Brogan sent us one, which included memories of the tragedy.
One Doria passenger was a 23-year-old songwriter named Mike Stoller, who lived in Los Angeles and had a ticket to New York on another ship. But before Stoller left, an agent at the Automobile Club of Southern California told him: “We can get you on the Andrea Doria. It’s gorgeous. It’s new. And it’s unsinkable.” But it wasn’t.
“Within a period of 24 hours,” he recalled on Thursday (July 24), “I thought I was going to die, then I got picked up from a broken lifeboat into a freighter, and then I arrived in New York and found out that I had this enormous smash hit by some kid named Elvis Presley.”
Stoller had never heard of him. “I had been in Europe,” he said. “The song was “Hound Dog.” He got the news from his songwriting partner, Jerry Leiber, with whom he later wrote hits that included “Jailhouse Rock” and “Stand by Me.”
The Fleet is Together
Phoenix Reisen is one of Germany’s popular cruise operators. Recently, their four ships came together at Bremerhaven.
A Few Facts
Italian-built, the Silver Shadow is now 25 yrs old. But it remains a wonderfully happy, splendidly served and fed ship. In fact, it has the highest rating in the entire Silversea fleet – and only 8% of the staff & crew (out of 292 & from 40 nations) are new to the ship itself. Ozgar, the superb Hotel Director and from Turkey, began his career 30 years ago, as a dishwasher on the Rhapsody of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). Among the 350 guests, 44 have logged more than 50 voyages on Silversea cruises while, in reverse, only 28 are on their very first Silversea journey.
