Cunard Yanks Tall Tales 4

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Remember the �bloods�, you hoped for ten singles... and ended up with two families of five...Priests and Nuns... now they always paid well... normally ten dollars a head... and sometimes a set of Rosary beads as well...
I remember on the Empress of England... sailing from Liverpool to Montreal...We were carrying Prince Rainier... and Princess Grace... Grace Kelly the film star...Joe Ryan was picked to be their waiter... he was made up... good tips here he thought...On docking day... Joe was presented with a pair of gold cufflinks... Hell he said...or words to that effect... I would sooner have the money...but it was explained to him... that the Rainier family never tipped cash... he still wasn�t happy... the cufflinks probably ended up in the pawnshop... or sold on...
Vinnie McArdle
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Many thanks to John Smith for the photographs...there must be a lot of faces waiting to be recognised in the lot...also the ones from Billie Bennelli... I noticed Gerry Dunning in the crowd... but wasn�t sure about the others...also John Redhead and Mel Hall�s contribution...thanks again...R.B.

Thinking about all the football teams we had on board the liners... there are quite a few pictures in the gallery... but I bet there are an awful lot more lying about...so if you want to remember when you could run around... had your own hips...send them in...R.B.

Anybody looking in at your site, have any picture of the Grafton or Locarno...had some great nights at both of them...be fun to see the old places... and maybe some old faces...Davy Kendall...

On 42nd between 8th and Broadway... on the left hand side I seem to remember a steak house... It sold only T-bone steaks... with a baked Idaho potato...that was big... and a side salad... with a choice of three dressings...French ...Italian... and Blue Cheese...the steaks weren�t that big but for $1and 95cents it was a hell of a meal...this was about 1953-54... further up I seem to remember a Pizza parlour...the guy in the window whirling the pastry base�s over his head... they must have bee about four feet across...never did try one... did you...D.K.

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Hi, the night club in Cape Town, I think it was called The Delmonico. It was a great place. With Spanish theme d�cor .It had a very high ceiling, painted like the night. With lights for stars. Slightly up market from the Two Brothers in Havana as you will well remember .As you say the town was quite small , but it also had a very nice theatre, though I cannot remember it�s name .But as it was in 1953 it�s not surprising.
By the way I got to the top of Table Mountain, did you?.
Regards Tommy Cain.

The Market Diner had a fantastic name, but the Cunard Diner was just as good for food, even though it didn�t have the social back up that Joe Zellin gave to the boys on the liners. H.B.

But memories of the diner, the blood bank, the left laundry, fifty cent movies, it all comes back doesn�t it, you tend to forget the good times, and then someone mentions a time, or a place, and you are right back there. Thanks for the picture gallery, I had forgotten how good we looked. H.B.

�UNDER THE CLOCK�

You wait at the station�It�s almost midnight�
Looking around for a familiar face�
A battered suitcase at your feet�
The collar of your coat turned up against the chill night air�
They come to join you�in ones and twos�
Some strangers� some old friends�
The platform smells� of oil and dust�stale cigarette smoke�
The guy from the pool comes along�with the train tickets�
London�Southampton� a new ship� a new job�
The old story� under the clock.

Many times in the fifties

We have all been there� done it� got the sweat shirt.

One trip on the Mauritania we picked up the Count Basie band returning from Europe .The band gave a show for the boys on the way across. A couple of the lads ,Pinky Purcell. Freddie Deveraux and myself invited some of the band to our quarters. We had lain on a buffet, got the drink in and we were looking forward to a great time. Particularly Pinky who was a great jazz fan and a very knowledgeable one. Late that evening a group of the musicians came down to the cabin .including Count Basie himself. When the boys got to the cabin they stopped, looked in the cabin were food had been put out. I�m sorry fellows but we can�t stay. Made their apologies and left .We were gob smacked , couldn�t understand it .And quite angry too. The next day one of the musicians got hold of me. Man how many of you live in that cabin. Ten I said. Well I�ve lived in some of the worst dumps in the states and around the world, but I have never been in a room that smelt so bad. I�m sorry but there was no way we could have played there. Okay I said I understand. And I did, but living in a cabin with very poor ventilation week after week, I guess you get used to the smell of bodies. But it made me realize just how bad conditions were and how we took it for granted. Still we did enjoy the show the band put on for us. It was a great night enjoyed by all who where there. VinnieMc Cardle�

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Vinnie�s memories of the Basie band takes me back to the great nights we had in New York� The Metronome bar on Broadway�what a place� an eighty foot bar� behind it a stage� the full length of the bar. On stage there were normally three sets of drum kits. One belonging to Cosy Cole�another to George Wettling�and the third to the incomparable Gene Krupa�Three of the greatest swing era drummer�s� they were usually trios or quartets. But the music they made, it sounded like a fifteen piece band. They played alternate one hour sets, from eight until the early hours�there you could listen to some of the greatest small band sounds around. In the early sixties� in the upstairs room� great modern jazz could be heard�Dizzy Gillespie�Cannonball Adderley�Stan Getz�Dave Brubeck� and countless others�We all bought their records� but seeing these guys live �it was the greatest�
Pinky Purcell.

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Hi� may I say thanks to the many guys who are sending me pictures� and some great stories of their time at sea�Cunard Yanks was a term heard in Liverpool and no doubt Southampton� to describe the young merchant seamen who sailed to America �to Montreal � Boston� Halifax�and most of all New York. And because they copied the American ways�their dress� music �even their mannerisms�folk at home would say �look at these guys�off the Cunard ships dressed up like yanks� and so we were called Cunard Yanks�But it also included the lads with C.P.R. who sailed to Montreal as well as New York in the winter months .And any young seaman who was very smart� and there were thousands of us.. Wasn�t there�But this site is about them�about you� the ships �the lines� are secondary�The pictures here are your pictures � your memories�This country was built on the efforts of seamen� though you would never guess�our heritage has gone�we have no merchant fleet to speak about�our kids don�t even know how we lived �how we worked� the times we had� both good and bad� so �lets see if we can give them something to remember�I must say a special thanks to Billy Harrison� fifty per cent of the pictures here are his�So if you can add a little more to the story.. come on� lets see them..Ritchy

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I sailed on the Britannic, the Mary, and the Lizzie in the 50s, I never made it to the dizzy heights of the 1st class dining room... and don�t think I ever saw the inside of Veranda Grill. But they were fabulous times to work on the great liners. It seemed that anyone who was famous, whether it was in sport... politics... or entertainment sailed on these ships.
Churchill... the Kennedy�s...De Gaulle...Kissinger...Eisenhower... and most of the world�s statesmen. Movie stars...Liz Taylor...Mike Todd...Billie Holiday...Debbie Reynolds...Clark Gable...Jimmy Stewart... Ava Gardner ...Rita Hayworth ... she was married then to Aly Khan...the list was endless. The only one I ever met was Alan Ladd when he came down to the Pig. He was travelling with his family, and was a lovely guy to talk to. I am almost sure that was on the Britannic...but fifty or more years on I can�t be sure... you know the problem.
Reading Vinnie McCardles story of the Basie band brought back a lot of memories. We carried Stan Kenton...Duke Ellington...Ella Fitzgerald...Peggy Lee...Johnny Ray...Sinatra...Guy Mitchell...Frankie Laine... Eddie Fisher who was married to Debbie Reynolds at the time, and shared a table, I believe with Liz Taylor and Mike Todd who were married then. Richard Burton also crossed with us, again I can�t remember when.
The boxers... Joe Louis...Marcel Cerdan... and many others... also sailed with us.
The boys who waited on these statesmen and stars, all had great stories to tell of them. It would be great to hear those stories again, especially from the guys who had them on their table...would�nt it.
Terry Haines...London.

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Hi, what do you think of �Cooks Corner.�.. a terrific group of photos... now Billy�s grand children , and their children, will have an idea of how he looked, and the ships he sailed in...That�s the main reason for this site... to leave behind pictures and stories of the men and boys we were... so that your kids... and their children ... can remember you ... I�m receiving quite a few stories... that I will put in later... if you have some stories ... Bobby Burns can show you the way... to tell how it was... In his book...�New York to Liverpool� he tells a great tale... I �d like to quote him... but it would be unfair... after all the time...and work he�s put into it... but get it yourselves... when you read it, you will find that we all have a great deal in common...stories to tell....memories worth reliving... there are so many places in your mind that you can go back to... so, come on... forget the aches and pains...the dodgy knees...those scrub outs have a lot to answer for I know.. .let us see if we can raise a smile or two...R.B.

Love New York don�t you... I guess we all did... I remember docking there...Going up to Broadway...window shopping... Brooks Brothers... Tie City... Bonds....what was there advert... two pairs of trousers with every suit...the small tailor shops on lower 42nd street...but window shopping was all I did on Broadway...being on deck I didn�t have the cash that the stewards had...so it was down to Orchard Street on Sunday mornings... But you could pick up some great bargains there...Fruit of the Loom underwear... first time I bought boxer shorts...but you could buy almost every kind of gear there... couldn�t you...suits... topcoats... shirts...shoes... but you had better check them out before you paid for them... and haggling over the prices... worse than the bum boats at Port Said...but fantastic times anyway...Tommy Lawton A.B.

Hi Ritchy,
It was great to see the old pictures of my dad on the web site... no one seems to know who his shipmates are... but my mother was made up... brought back some good memories for her... thanks...
Martin Bellis

I remember Havana...1952... Old world city...broad avenues with the Spanish style buildings...balcony�s with fancy railings... and bedding hanging over them... beautiful houses around open squares... small parks...were on most evenings you could see the local people walking... As you came to the harbour from a distance the houses looked neat and white... But when you got close up... you saw that a lot of them had no windows... and were a dirty grey...
Like dockside houses the world over...the people though were great... always smiling ... friendly... there was not much to buy there that I can remember... except rum... Bacardi of course... and cigars...that rum was powerful... firewater ...I remember it well...no... I don�t remember it that well... but my mates told me we had a great time... I never got to the Two Brothers bar.... at least I can�t recall if I did or not... what was it like... I have heard so many tales...did I miss out... This was when Batista was in power...but you know... we knew so little of politics we never noticed anything... at least I didn�t... only that it was a great place to visit ... and a lot of guys will I think agree... Jacky Roberts.