LURLINE (1948)

 

Matson tapped industrial designer Raymond Loewy to remaster the Lurline. The result matched the product with the message Matson is Hawaii, similar to the French Line campaign "You're in France the minute you walk up the gangplank!"

 

Aside from the mechanical areas, the ship was completely gutted; gone were the woefully out of date stylings, and in their place, fresh, contemporary spaces, loaded with Polynesian touches.

 

It would make sense Loewy was to handle the Mariposa and Monterey as well. Would the interior treatment have been duplicated on all three ships? Maybe. Shifts in color schemes, perhaps. Would the same roster of artists have been used? Would there be more emphasis on the South Pacific, less on Hawaii? But those two ships would be laid up midway through their overhauls due to escalating costs. Mariposa would become Home Lines' Homeric, while Monterey would be sold to the US Government, before being repurchased and renamed Matsonia.

 

ARTIST ROSTER

Al Banner, Helen Bruton, Margaret Bruton, Don Clever, Marion Cunningham, Francesco Di Cocco, Merlin Hardy, Sargent Johnson, Anton Refregier, Jacques Schnier

 

BASIC STATS

Length: 632'  |  Beam: 79'  |  Passengers: 715  |  18,564 gross tons  |  Speed: 20.5 knots