Cunard Yanks Tall Tales 3

Remembering.

I�ve no grandkids of my own�but at the last count I have forty five great nieces and nephews. Many in the late teens early twenties, so you can guess how old I am. You
know� one of them remarked�you must have seen some great sights� have some great memories�What do you remember most of all.
Okay you and I�all of us�have walked the same streets in New York�Montreal� Cape Town�Hong Kong�and a hundred other ports in our time�But how can you explain the thrill of being young and travelling the world�a different world to the one they know today�to a group of young people who can visit their world in a hour� via the internet�
Anyway I said � I�ll tell you of some of the times and places �the sights and sounds�that still stay with me fifty eight years on�

AMERICA�New York� sailing up the Hudson� stunned by the Lady with her Torch�even though I had seen it a hundred times before� in the movies at my local flea-pit�The Hope Hall in Hope Street�

BROADWAY�at night�fascinated by the lights� the colours� and the sounds of the Great White Way�again� even after seeing it so many times� in so many movies� after over fifty five years I�m still gobsmacked�

The theatres of New York�The Shubert�The Majestic�The Winter Garden where in 1957 I was fortunate to see West Side Story�it was strange to walk up 52nd or 53rd street from pier 92 to Broadway� and see them duplicated on stage�But over the years I saw dozens of shows� My Fair Lady�Camelot��The Sound of Music�The Music Man�The Flower Drum Song� and many ,many more�

As you can tell music was my thing � Jazz was my heaven� and in New York� the best�the very best of jazz was there�Birdland�The Village Vanguard�The Five Spot�Metropole� Condons�I�ll bet many of you spent nights at these clubs� like me �seeing and hearing guys like Miles Davis Gerry Mulligan�Coltrane � Rollins�Mingus�Brubeck�and the big bands�Kenton�Basie� Ellington�Goodman � Rich�we could never see these guys at home�what a thrill�what fun...I even got too The Apollo Theatre�saw Ray Charles there�great showman�but I still preferred Eckstine or Nat King Cole�

There where many other places too�

MONTREAL� warm summer nights on Mount Royal�looking over the lights of the city�and if you were with a pretty girl� the view was so much better�

SYDNEY� Bondi beach�the surfing�though if I remember, it was only the London boys who were good at that� but the beer and the barbecue�it seemed every one knew the way�

The bar in Barbados�sitting on the edge of the Caribbean�watching the lads full of rum�going for a swim�fully dressed of course�well it was rather strong�

PANAMA� Colon in the late forties�wooden stores and bars� on dirt roads�

CAPETOWN�no more than a dozen blocks in the early 50�s�what was the name of the nightclub�I think it began with an M� but standing behind it �in all its majesty� Table Mountain�what a sight�

HONG KONG�not the city of today with its towering skyscrapers�but the old buildings from the 20s and 30s�the floating city�it really was the mystic east �

SHANGHAI�BOMBAY�BANGKOK�SINGAPORE�RIO de JANERIO�SAN FRANCISCO� we sure got around�didn�t we?

We could go on forever �couldn�t we�everyone of us has a thousand memories�and most of them good�some very special�I have listened to some great stories�some of course that cannot be repeated�I have left out Havana�the Two Brothers Bar� Valparaiso�and one or two other places� but I am hoping that some of you�many of you�will fill in the blank spots�

One of my nieces remarked� you know my grandfather hasn�t any memories like yours�no I said�your wrong� your grandfather and I share many memories�this city of ours holds memories for everyone who ever lived here�great memories�and I told her of a few of them�I�ve put them down �and I know that if you think about it�you too can fill a kids mind with great memories world we use to know and of our home towns� Of Liverpool� London �Southampton�Glasgow�and all the other towns and cities that we came from�And I�m sitting here hoping to hear from you�and you� and you�SOON�

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�I REMEMBER THE FIFTIES�

Day old chicks� clustered around a light bulb in the pet shop window� behind St Johns market� For sixpence� you got a handful of life� and love�
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The Majestic on a Sunday night�the queue growing from two or three� to six or eight� as friends crushed in�The girls in their finery� the boys � washed and scrubbed� For the price of a ticket� you got a movie� plus all the latest fashions and gossip�
If you couldn�t afford a ticket� you waited till the show was over�and if you were lucky�
meet a girl you knew� you may have been able to walk her home �
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Lizzie Christian� and all the other flower girls in Clayton Square�Lizzie �tiny lady�red cheeked� hair pulled back in a bun� a skirt down to her ankles�a black piny around her waist�with two big pockets in it�for the money�She could have graced any artists dream� as a perfect picture of a flower seller
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The girls I walked home from the dance�
and kissed in shadowed hallways�
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The little man� he must have been five foot two� or three inches�with a Zither suspended around his neck� serenading the crowds outside the cinemas�The Harry Lime Theme�
and other hits of the day�He really could play that thing�
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The Silver Blades ice rink in Prescot Road� finding myself soaked� as I tried to keep my feet � ending up wet and miserable�
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The Roller Rink in Myrtle Street�better luck here� lost a couple of inches of skin � from both my elbows and knees�but � I was able to stroll around�and smile at the girls without falling over�success was mine�boy did I feel good�
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A summer evening� coming back from New Brighton�Boarding the ferries�singing all the latest songs�if you missed the last tram� you walked home�still singing�
We have been a city of song for two hundred years�
not just the last forty five years�
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Chalkins and Silvers bakeries� penny bagels�four and a halfpence for a loaf�
coming home in the early hours of the morning� I would stop and buy one right out of the oven�
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For whatever few coppers the crowd would throw�Hughie Smith� from Brownlow Hill�Would be wrapped in a sack and chains� on the �Oller�opposite Lewis�s�if he managed to struggle out�and there were a few occasions when he didn�t� then for an encore� he would have a pavement flagstone smashed with a sledgehammer on his chest�He was very well known at the Royal�Hughie was a terrific ballroom dancer�and some afternoons you could see him at the Locarno�He was up for every dance�on a hot Summer day he was sweating so much that rivulets of sweat ran down his face and neck. from his hair�they were black�from the dust and dirt from the sacks..
or a bad hair dye job..
never did ask him�
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Horse drawn carts� full of farm produce�at the Fruit Market in Queens Square� In winter plumes of steam coming from the horses nostrils as they waited to unload�
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Walking through town� all dressed up�nowhere to go� oh yes there was�Down the steps in Church Street� where for the price of a cup of coffee�you could hold court for hours�
Snug and warm the Kardomah�
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The Overhead Railway� the docker�s umbrella � Thousands of men � the docker�s �seamen�office workers� crowed onto the trains from early morning to late evening�1st class was for the professional people�they had covered seats� 3rd class� was for the docker�s and seamen travelling to work�seven miles of wonderment�from the Dingle to Seaforth� the world and all it�s treasures brought to this great seaport�
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Runcorn Bridge� the smell of carbolic soap�
it was like Aunt Polly�
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Dalglishes pawnshop� the bottom of Mount Vernon� being at sea� a great number of my suits spent more time there� than on my back�but paying off a ship� you had the money to redeem them� and they always kept them tidy�
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The Landing Stage�a place of dreams� for thousands of young men and boys�
The liners that berthed each week� from New York� Montreal� Boston �with
The Cunard and Canadian Pacific�Havana� Santiago� Valparaiso�
with P.S.N.C.
Welcome to a new and exciting world�
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Two up and two down terrace houses� in the poorest neighbourhoods� in the kitchens�fridges� freezers� washing machines�brought back to Liverpool by seamen�
with the aid of a step down�made by friendly ships electrician�we had different electrical current in the U.K. it was welcome to the 20th century�
But don�t forget to take paper with you when you went to the �
outside lavatory�
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Mr. Dovers . dairy in Shannon Street� he kept six cows there�every couple of months� he would walk the cows up to a local farm� and bring six new cows back with him�I still remember watching them being milked� by hand of course�sometimes when you went for milk� it had just come from the cow� when you sipped it� it was nectar�
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Brownlow Hill was a mix�pre war blocks of flats� next to houses that had been built in the mid 1700s� I lived in one of the latter� Great Newton Street�in 1802 Brownlow Street which was next to Great Newton Street � was the last street in the city of Liverpool�
it was pulled down in 1952�
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The �toss School� in the Bullring� St. Andrews Gardens�on a Sunday� anything up to a hundred to a hundred and fifty men� could be seen gambling on the toss of a couple of pennies�a couple of men keeping douse�( watch )�the moneys bet� anything from a shilling to �5��10� even �50s As it was on a Sunday�not too many lost there wages�
though some did�
and in those days one man losing his wages was one to many
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The Peirhead at midnight�from a ship in the river,,,
MAGIC

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The Grafton� Locarno�Reece�s� Rialto� and the dozens of other dance halls�the dream palaces of our youth�Where else could you hold a dozen or more pretty girls in your arms�and get knocked back by all of them�(well almost all)�in an evening�If you got to the dance early�you had a much better chance�for the girls outnumbered the boys� by about five to one�until 10 o clock that is�Then the boys would come in from the pubs�from Ma Shaw�s� The Clock� full of ale� and Dutch courage�
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Ten-thirty at night� the city� like the Marie Celeste�deserted�everything stopped� the pubs�cinemas� dance halls� trams all finished at ten-thirty
At the weekends however�there were always parties at someone�s house�after the dance�
If you weren�t invited personally� then your entrance fee was either� a crate of ale�or a Dansette gramophone player� and a stack of records�
Or in the case of say Vinnie McCardle or Gerry Devine guys with great voices�and the ability to entertain anyone�everyone�just yourself�
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Morning mist across the river�Cranes� skeletons� striding down the quays�
Stevedores�like a thousand ants� moving to and fro�
A watery sun� casting long shadows� across the ships along the dockside
so tired from their journeys�
The dock gates and warehouses� gaunt in the chill air�line the roads�
like monolith guardians...never looking like the changing houses they are�
Gorging and disgorging the new Gold�Frankincense� and Myrrh�
of the twentieth century�

Seaforth 1953

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The warmth� the wit�of the people of this city�this City of the Sea�

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Hi Ritchie,

You left out Bermuda, Hamilton, St. George. The pink and white beachs,The princess Hotel, The Bermudiana, Elbow Beach .Dancing what was left of the night away after we had finished work. The Calypso bands, Lord Kitchener I think was one of them in the Bermudiana. What was the popular calypso at the time.Back to back, belly to belly, I don�t give s damm, cos I�m done dead already, at the Zombies Jamboree. Don�t write songs like that anymore do they. Thank God.
Midnight parties on Elbow Beach, I believe some of the boys went skinny dipping. Not you and I of course ,we didn�t want the girls laughing.
The policeman in Hamilton main street, directing traffic in Bermuda shorts. The bikes with those little motors .There must have been more scraped elbows and knees there than in any other place in the world.
How did we fit it all in, all the good times ,we were working ten, twelve hours a day. But we did and I remember it well, and with a great deal of affection.
J.C.

I suppose every one remembers New York, you walk along Broadway, and people would offer you tickets to the afternoon, or evening T.V. shows. The Ed Sullivan Show, Perry Como�s Show, The Johnny Carson Show and many others. I saw a couple of the rehersal shows in the afternoons for both the Ed Sullivan and Perry Como Shows .I think it was about 1958,the shows were quite long as the stars would sing four or five songs, which in the evening would be shown live of course. I saw Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Frankie Laine, and Ricky Nelson at these afternoon shows.I also went to the Johnny Carson Show in the evening as it was broadcast live. His guests that night were Patti Page and Johnny Mathis.
All for free, of course you had to spend more time with them, than you would if you were going to a normal show. But it was very exciting for me to see all these stars up close in person. On Broadway you would often see major stars of the entertainment world going to and fro to work. It was another world to this guy from Liverpool , believe me.
J. H.