The Queen Mary was the most civilized and luxurious way one could travel to America in the late 1930s.

O’Hara’s remark frames transatlantic travel before the jet age as a social and sensory experience rather than mere transportation. Calling the RMS Queen Mary “civilized and luxurious” evokes the liner’s reputation for refined service, formal dining, and a carefully staged atmosphere of comfort and prestige—especially appealing to performers and emigrants moving between Europe and Hollywood in the late 1930s. The quote also implies a contrast with later, faster but less ceremonious modes of travel, suggesting nostalgia for an era when the journey itself signified status, safety, and a certain cultural polish amid a decade marked by economic strain and looming war.