A 'Titanic' dream: Branson exhibit celebrates film w/ Titanic video, photo slide show & interview audio

By Dave Woods

dwoods@joplinglobe.com

BRANSON, Mo. — Open since 2006, Titanic Branson has welcomed almost 1 million visitors across the museum’s gangway to relive the short life of the ship and its ill-fated maiden voyage.

Now, almost 100 years after the “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic and sent more than 1,500 souls to the ocean floor, owners Jim Joslyn and his wife, Mary Kellogg, have given Titanic buffs a new reason to set sail for Branson again: “Titanic: the Movie Exhibit.”

Joslyn said that he and his wife were trying to figure out last year what to do next to keep the attraction fresh and interesting.

“Mary said, ‘Let’s do the 10th anniversary of Jim (Cameron) winning 11 Oscars,’” he said. “Well, that’s exactly what came out of it. We got Jim to do an interview and talk about him and (Titanic co-producer) Jon Landau. It just really came together. We got props, we got the dresses that Kate (Winslet) wore, and all of the Oscars Jim won, and behind-the-scenes footage.”

What’s next?

Joslyn was the producer responsible for the landmark live TV event “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault,” a 1986 special hosted by Geraldo Rivera.

He said he became interested in the Titanic’s story almost out of necessity.

“From the (TV) networks you always get the age-old question: What are you going to do next for us?” Joslyn joked. “They are constantly in need of new material to put on the air.”

He remembers watching a National Geographic special on the Titanic in 1985 and thinking that it should be his next adventure and TV project. He convinced his friend and co-producer, Doug Llewelyn, to get on board. He found some investors with deep-pockets, chartered salvage ships from France and put a $6 million expedition together.

His crew successfully dove to the Titanic wreck-site 40 times, to a depth of more than 2.5 miles. The expedition returned to the surface with hundreds of hours of detailed — and often haunting — film footage. They were also the first to retrieve artifacts from the bottom. The expeditions to the wreck site led to Joslyn creating his second hit show, “Return to the Titanic ... Live.”