For decades, fans of the 1997 hit movie Titanic have obsessed over the possibility of Jack surviving the sinking of the eponymous ship if Rose had just scooted over enough and let him share their floating door.
While it has sparked many a debate (and too many embarrassing re-enactments to mention), Gino Hart has built an exhibition big enough to carry the many South Africans who were forgotten aboard the ill-fated vessel.
“Edith Brown Haisman, a South African-British woman who was the oldest survivor of the Titanic disaster, went out on a research vessel to pay her respects to her father on the centennial anniversary,” says Hart. “She was out there in a wheelchair pushed by her granddaughter, Dorothy Kendall. Sound familiar? That’s what the movie scene was based on. Rose was based on South African history.”
Rose’s South African roots, and many more facts, are uncovered by Hart in his upcoming exhibition, Tintanic: The Ship of My Dreams.
It immortalises survivors such as Haisman, along with her tales of her hotelier father, Thomas Brown, who ominously predicted that disaster would strike from the moment he laid eyes on the turbines of the ship.
“I had a passion for the Titanic,” Hart says. “I was an enthusiast.”
Hart’s tale reaches back to the Free State, where he moved between Oranjeville and Villiers in his tweens and teens. Not interested in being just another cashier, farmer or mechanic, he became known for his Titanic models that have since seen the bottom of the Vaal Dam. With most of them built in his high school’s carpentry shop, he returned years later to bring his “Tintanic” to life in the very same school halls.
The 8.7m tin replica was inspired by Hart’s childhood memories of watching young boys sell or play with wire car toys. It holds the record for having the most room replicas (4,000-plus) and the most rivets (105,000), which is a feat never seen before, as most remodels are built without an interior.
With more than 1,000 pieces that hark back to the Titanic, his most recent addition to the globe-trotting remodelling is the infamous grand foyer shown in the final scene of the movie.
“Titanic came out in such a rush that they did not have time to photograph her,” he says, showing us his image of the staircase.
Hart has carefully pieced together the foyer’s ornate candelabra (also seen in the movie) now hangs in Durban's Oyster Box Hotel.
“Some staff members were shocked to hear that this thing in their corridor was so important. It blows their minds that they didn’t know.”
Even the kids today know the story by heart, even though they can’t read yet.
— Gino Hart, Titanic enthusiast
During the early stages of building the Tintanic and collecting the forgotten memorabilia of South Africans who were on the ship, Hart reached out to the official touring Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition that came to South Africa in 2014, and he quickly graduated from an usher to a main tour guide, sharpening his knowledge of the sunken vessel.
Some of the special items Hart has collected include newspaper clippings about Captain Smith (seen in the movie defiantly sinking with the ship) trekking to South Africa with his troops for the Boer War, and even the grandchildren of a Titanic crew member who settled in South Africa after he warned them against the worrying number of lifeboats.
The exhibition also includes items Hart had to part with but has photographed. These include Haisman’s father’s pocket watch, which she last saw on the night of the sinking.
Hart retells her account of her father calmly ushering his wife and daughter onto the few available life rafts and serenely stepping back to enjoy puffs from his cigar before confidently telling them they would all “meet each other in New York”.
Unfortunately, he never made it, and his body was not originally recovered. However, in 1987 it was found and returned to Haisman. The tale has since opened his mind to archiving some memorabilia and replicas.
“Even the kids today know the story by heart, even though they can’t read yet. They spin the propellers and tell you about the propulsion system of the Titanic. They even know about Captain Smith,” says Hart.
Titling them “fragmented art pieces”, Hart hopes to inspire more Titanic enthusiasts who may not have realised the long-running history told through wood chips from the ships and the replicas that keep the heritage alive.
“I’m a torch-holder. Nobody else is doing it to the lengths I am,” he says.
The exhibition runs from June 14 at 27 Boxes in Melville, Johannesburg.
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