A young woman climbs over the railing of a luxury ocean liner, with only a precarious foothold, and stares at the icy black water below as she contemplates whether to let go.
Fortunately for her, she is soon talked out of it by a handsome third-class passenger who — even more fortunately for her — happens to look exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio. But not before she almost falls, tearing her red evening gown.
In the world of the film, that dress probably ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic — but in real life, the torn gown worn by Kate Winslet in “Titanic" is in the possession of a Buena Vista couple, Lew and Carolyn Vinci, who have amassed one of the most expansive — and expensive — collections of props and memorabilia from the 1997 blockbuster anywhere.
That gown and its companion, a coat worn by Winslet during the first sinking scenes, have been on public display only once, in Branson, Mo. — but as the 100th anniversary of the sinking in April 2012 approaches, the Vincis are looking to partner up for another exhibition to benefit their non-profit Animal Friends Foundation.
“They've literally not been seen on the East Coast," Lew Vinci said. “And next year, it's going to be Titanic mania."
The Vinci's love affair with the film wasn't always total — in fact, Lew wasn't really that interested in seeing it when it first opened.
“I heard it was a chick flick," he said. “Carolyn dragged me. I had to say, there were a little tears going down my eyes."
Vinci was sold. Lew, 48, and Carolyn, 51, had already been long interested in the Titanic and maritime history in general, but items that survived the actual sinking itself are few and far between. Lew showed a 1998 video from the Today Show in which Katie Couric, told that a spoon taken from the Titanic into a lifeboat was priced at $46,000, reacted with a response that can be loosely translated as “Yaghcgh!"
Anything retrieved via submarine is just as expensive — and as for clothes, they might as well have had washing instructions that advised: machine wash warm, tumble dry, avoid soaking in seawater for 100 years.
But James Cameron's film opened a new avenue for collectibles — and being the then-record-holder for the highest-grossing film of all time, it had an historic cachet of its own.
So just a few feet from a signed Steve Carlton Phillies jersey — the centerpiece of the Vincis' other collection — hangs a first class server's jacket from one of the dining scenes. A lifejacket, stained with an actor's makeup, is behind glass in a nearby room, next to replica Titanic dinner plates and utensils — each of which, despite the camera never getting in close enough to see it, bears the engraved emblem of the White Star Line.
“And that's why the movie cost $200 million to make," Lew said.
Of course, no collection is complete without a replica of the jeweled “Heart of the Ocean" necklace — which, unfortunately, is a little too clunky to actually grace a woman's neck, Carolyn said.
“I tried putting it on," she said. “It's so flippy and not practical to wear. I probably would just hold it up to my neck."
At least she still has it, unlike the character of Rose in the film. The elderly woman decided to dump the jewel overboard rather than, say, bequeath it to her granddaughter to pay for her kids' college or something.
But the true heart of the collection, of course, are the two outfits worn by Winslet — both kept in an undisclosed location, safe from thieves and icebergs.
There were seven red evening gowns made for the film — “They always make duplicates in case something gets damaged," Lew said. “Most of them got shredded" — but according to 20th Century Fox, they said, theirs is the only one in private hands.
It was the tear, they said — ripped in the same spot as in the film — that sealed the deal on the authenticity of the gown, which they purchased through exclusive retailer J. Peterman via his arrangement with the studio.
And on the wool coat they purchased next, there was a seawater stain from when Winslet's character was struggling through water-clogged hallways.
“There was actually a line of demarcation of where it was wet and where it was not," Carolyn said.
That's not all they have of Winslet's outfits. A pair of earrings she wore during the scene at the stern of the ship are displayed in a glass case, having earned a rare — and not particularly wanted — distinction of becoming the most expensive set of costume jewelry ever sold at auction.
“It cost $25,000 for those," Lew said, “a world record for costume jewelry used in a movie. I didn't want to hear (that) ..."
Add a replica pair of the shoes Winslet wore, made in Italy by Peter Fox, and one could say they have everything from that scene except for Winslet herself — and they can almost say that, too, if you include the letter Winslet wrote them in 2004.
“She was very nice," Carolyn said. “She talked about how many times she wore them, how uncomfortable the dress was, how she liked the coat because it was loose. And she actually asked us how much we paid for them. She said, ‘I hope this isn't rude ...'"
So what was the price? The coat came in at $10,000, Lew said, but the evening gown went for a cool $35,000. So one can imagine the distress in the way they ended up receiving it.
The Vincis had already purchased the coat, Lew said, when Lew decided to buy the gown as a Valentine's Day present. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready until a few weeks later.
“I got nothing for Valentine's Day," Carolyn joked. “Not a card, nothing."
“Boy, did I hear it," Lew recalled.
Then, one day, it arrived in a box at their doorstep — in the pouring rain, while both were away.
“I had to ask a neighbor to bring it off the porch," Lew said. “We didn't tell her what was in it."
As a way of thanks, Carolyn added, they eventually allowed the neighbor to wear the dress she unknowingly rescued.
After all that, Lew said their collection could have been even bigger. The purple striped outfit Winslet wore as her character arrived at the dock at the beginning of the movie — and which Couric was wearing when she had her visceral reaction to the spoon — was offered to the Vincis after they bought the first two outfits.
“I figured, ‘Oh, I laid out enough money already, I think I'll pass'," he said. “Then J. Peterman and 20th Century Fox argued, and they pulled it off the market. Now I'm kicking myself in the ass. I should have made the move."
Of course, one might tend to wonder if it was really worthwhile to spend so much on Hollywood costumes. In the end, was all of that really money well spent?
“We appraised it," Lew said of the gown. “It's worth about $300,000 now."
In other words: they're not about to dump it in the ocean any time soon.
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