MovieChat Forums > Titanic (1953) Discussion > 'I'm looking for the Widener maid.'

'I'm looking for the Widener maid.'


When the ship has just taken off, a messenger walks the deck in search of the maid accompanying the wealthy Widener family. He has no success in finding her, but then he sees Maude Young, the new-money westerner and first-class traveler played by Thelma Ritter. Thinking he may have found his woman, he goes over to her and says, "I'm looking for the Widener maid."

She answers, "Don't look at me. I got so many maids, some of the maids are taking care of the maids." He apologizes, then goes back to his search.

Maude then tells the fellow passenger she had been speaking with that she understands the messenger's mistake because she doesn't have "the kind of face that goes with a bankroll."

I kind of wonder if this scene wasn't also a nod from the writers or Ritter herself to her history of playing domestics.

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Coincidentally, that messenger was played by Byron Stevens, Barbara Stanwyck's real life brother. He often had bits in her films, Thelma Jordon and Roustabout are just two. They had very similar profiles, with identical shaped noses.

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