Radler

The S.S. United States was the ocean luxury liner of its day and sails again in the poetic sense in a new PBS documentary from Thousand Oaks filmmaker Robert Radler.

Over much of the 1950s and '60s, the ship ferried celebrities and heads of state between New York and Europe. It carried Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland; it carried Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy, and even a young Bill Clinton bound for England to pursue his Rhodes scholarship. It once transported the "Mona Lisa."

It broke speed records set by the Queen Mary and, Radler's film states, could go faster in reverse than today's cruisers can go forward. It remains the largest and fastest passenger liner that our country ever built. Its very name suggests at least an honorary title as the nation's flagship.

But for almost 40 years, the S.S. United States has done nothing. Mothballed in 1969 after 400 voyages due to the rising popularity of transatlantic jet traffic, it's moored today at a Delaware River pier north of the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia, tethered like a ghost from another time.

Despite its mammoth size — 990 feet (more than three football fields) long and 12 stories high — it's a largely forgotten bucket of bolts, a haven for rust, erosion and dead birds.

But Radler, a Brooklyn native who as a child stood in awe of the ship in New York Harbor in 1958, remembers. His 57-minute film, "S.S. United States: Lady in Waiting," which airs at 11 p.m. Saturday on KCET, is both a heartfelt salute to a now-gutted giant's glory days and a plea to save the ship.

Radler, a 15-year Thousand Oaks resident whose director-producer career stretches back more than three decades, does not hide the fact that this is advocacy filmmaking. He has aligned himself with preservation groups that feel the S.S. United States is a national treasure.

"We feel it would be anathema for this great icon to be turned into razor blades," said Radler, 56. "Its resurrection would be like when they redid the Statue of Liberty."

Norwegian Cruise Line has owned the ship since 2003, but is being secretive about its plans. Amid such a tide of sentiment, Norwegian Chief Executive Officer Colin Veitch bravely appears in the film but straddles an imaginary deck railing; at one point, he says the ship's rightful place is the open sea but calls bringing it back "a very challenging task." Later, he assesses the chances of rebuilding it as reasonable but adds, "I wouldn't bet your pension on it."

Radler calls his film "surprisingly emotional." After its premiere earlier this month — oddly enough, aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach — a teary-eyed man approached Radler. "He told me, This isn't a film about a ship; it's a film about a country. Anything was possible in America at one point, and we've lost that.'"

Ashes, dust and celluloid

For it being such a fast liner, little about the S.S. United States has moved swiftly in the past four decades. Asked how a ship that hasn't sailed in 39 years somehow has managed to avoid the scrap heap, Radler replied simply, "No one knows."

The film, as well as Radler's own experiences with the ship, also have been a long, slow trip.

His dad took him to see it in New York Harbor in 1958 when Radler was 6. It was parked next to the Queen Mary and others of its ilk. He remembers how shiny the S.S. United States was, and how its funnels were painted immaculately in red, white and blue.

"It just blew me away," he said. "It was the space shuttle of its day. The others looked old and stately, but this represented the future."

That image stayed with him. As a graduate film student at New York University, Radler decided to do a movie on it. Or, as he only half-jokingly put it, "Principal photography on this film began in September 1975."

Excited, he went down to the harbor to reunite with the ship that had captivated him as a kid, only to find that it was no longer there. It took him more than six months to locate it — in Norfolk, Va.

There, he had an odd scene with Judy Garland's "ashes."

While filming, Radler went to the ship's best suite; legend has it that Garland was the last occupant. (The ship's last run was in 1969, the same year that Garland died). He found a full ashtray — full of, he almost swears, Garland's cigarettes with her lipstick still on the butts.

Quite a testament to how little is often done to ships once they're benched.

Alas, his 1975 celluloid "fell victim to my mother on a cleaning jag," Radler noted with a hearty laugh.

As his film career took off in other directions, Radler put his ship movie in mental dry dock.

But his interest rekindled in 2004 when, through the nascent S.S. United States Conservancy, he met writer-producer-liner buff Mark Perry, who became his partner on the film. They found the ship in Philadelphia, were allowed around it in 2006 and were granted full access in 2007.

How the mighty have sat

It was an emotional entry; Perry, Radler reported, "got real choked up." What they found, Radler said, was "an empty shell a thousand feet long."

The S.S. United States had been towed to Turkey for asbestos removal in the early 1990s. The insides were totally stripped, save for a couple of telephone switchboards.

They found only one walkway into the metallic belly of the beast; one wrong step, Radler said, meant a "13-story plunge into darkness."

"It's fairly dangerous in there," he said. "And if you like dead birds, this is the place for you. Also, it's a little haunted."

Something about inexplicable gigantic banging noises — echoes from the past, maybe?

It was something, Radler said. On its maiden voyage in July 1952, the S.S. United States went from New York to Le Havre, France, in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, beating the Queen Mary's record by about 10 hours. (The S.S. United States also serviced Southampton, England, and Bremerhaven, Germany.)

During speed trials the same year, Radler said, the ship hit almost 50 mph — unheard of for its size — and that, he added, was with "only two-thirds of its boilers lit." Its true top speed remains a mystery.

Some of that might stem from its dual identity: The S.S. United States was a secret Cold War weapon, able to be turned over in 24 hours to transport 15,000 U.S. troops anywhere in the world. But it was never pressed into military service.

Classified designs

It explains why the Navy put up half the $75 million that it cost to build, why the hull and engine designs were classified, and why passengers were never allowed to look at the hull, propellers or onboard power plant.

Radler fills his film with interviews of maritime historians, former ship employees, people who were on the maiden voyage and those who met their spouses onboard. Many recall the fine china, the spiffy linens and the days when service truly meant something.

Walter Cronkite and painter LeRoy Neiman offer fond remembrances, and Cronkite is among those who bemoan the ship's decrepit state.

Said Perry: "This is truly a crime against art and American history."

The S.S. United States is, Radler averred, the "last real superliner left in the world."

Its fate — scrap yard, floating museum or much-desired return to sailing the open sea — is up in the air. Rebuilding estimates run as high as $500 million, and some in the film don't see it happening — or if it does, the ship won't be what everyone so lovingly recalls.

But hope abounds.

The film ends with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Steely Dan-Doobie Brothers fame doing a nifty, tasteful version of "America the Beautiful" on electric guitar as the S.S. United States is lighted at night, still tied up in Philadelphia, still stuck on 400 trips as it has been for four decades.

Echoing many in the film, Radler said, "Voyage 401 is the one I want to be on."

Thousand Oaks filmmaker Robert Radler's documentary "S.S. United States: Lady in Waiting" airs at 11 p.m. Saturday and at 3:30 p.m June 29 on KCET. For more on the film and ship, check out http://www.bigshipfilms.com.