Ships Nostalgia banner

Films at sea, early 60s

Tags
1960s films
11K views 53 replies 33 participants last post by  Ian Robertson 
#1 ·
A friend and I are discussing memories about film shows at sea. I recall my dad saying Yogi Bear was popular, and he says that my dad must have acquired a Yogi Bear cartoon because I was aboard.

I'm curious about anybody's memories of watching films aboard cargo ships, especially in the early sixties. And how it worked - who sent the films? How were films selected etc.

My dad (Capt. Bill Pascoe) had a story that when his ship (One of the Garth ships) was in Murmansk one time - probably mid or late sixties - they showed From Russia With Love, setting up seats on the hatch covers and projecting onto the bridge front. And that the Russians invited thought this was fantastic.

My friend questions the veracity of this story! Says it couldn't have happened for various practical reasons e.g. the projectors used then were too puny, they wouldn't have gotten such a good film, and etc etc.

I don't know the details - it could be that my Dad made it up or embellished a simpler story.

What do you all think? Yogi bear a favorite? From Russia with Love shown to Russians in Murmansk?

Love to hear others' experiences and opinions!

Jackie
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Interesting story Jackie...I know of one instance where the heavy film box was 'lifted' in Russia and when it was returned half of the films had been removed...... " for security reasons".

I must admit that the odd film show I saw onboard in the Tees had very very poor projecting capability, even for a Cory Maritime vessel!

geoff
 
#4 · (Edited)
I don't know about British ships but on the Norwegian cargo ships and tankers that I sailed on in the late 60's /70's, the films were shown by a volunteer (me a lot of the time) or someone willing to learn how to operate the projector. On all the ships the projectors were good ones, Bell and Howell usually and so the films were good quality to watch, the films were shown in the crew day room. As to selecting the films it was down to the projectionist and the steward who went ashore to the Seamens missions to pick the films (some of the crew put in requests), On some of the tankers the films were brought to gates or the jetty in a van by mission staff. one of advantages of being the projectionist was that you got to pick some of the films.....

Cheers Frank
 
#5 ·
Just remembered they were Walport film boxes and like the Seafarers Education Library boxes had to be collected and redelivered to Middlesbrough station....this unpleasant job was usually mine in BISC(Ore) days...the office car had a few small dings in it from corners on the film boxes.

The projectors were quite decent,for showing in a mess room, but had a tendency to need repair fairly often ,again, a job for the more Junior Water Clerk!

geoff
 
#6 ·
In my first go at sea, late 50s, in Blue Funnel,there were no films. I dont know if its true or not but there was supposed to have been a vote ,within the fleet, for either a de-mountable swimming pool or films,and the swimming pool won.I certainly remember having a pool on the Alcinous ,or I think I do.

When I did my 2nd stint late 60s,I first sailedon the WX ships and we had five films to cover a four week stint,they were all fairly recent releases. I assume they were provided by the Air Ministry,we were charged a small amount for them. However if you volunteered to show them there was no charge. I did volunteer and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I eventually ended up in he RFA and the films there were not as recent and quite a mixed bag. I suspect they came from Walport.

I was a bit spoiled on my 1st ship in 1956, which was the Parthia. I was allowed to go to the showings in the Passenger lounge.

The memory I have of all this was ,the cry that went up, when the Bugs Bunny cartoons appeared and the name Fred Quimby appeared in the credits.
 
#8 ·
In my first go at sea, late 50s, in Blue Funnel,there were no films. I dont know if its true or not but there was supposed to have been a vote ,within the fleet, for either a de-mountable swimming pool or films,and the swimming pool won.I certainly remember having a pool on the Alcinous ,or I think I do.
.
I was with Blue Funnel from 1952 until 1956 and there were no films or swimming pools on the ships I sailed on. We did have though, in the crew recreation room an old fashioned radiogram which was put on board by the company and every trip the top ten records were put on board, picked by a lady in the office. OK in port or on a flat calm sea but useless when we were rolling around.
 
#7 ·
Walport, usually carried 3 boxes, could be changed in some ports where they held them.
Cadets got the job of rewinding them by hand, and setting up/showing the film on Saturday . So that meant we had the late afternoon in the bar unsupervised, and spent the evening behind the bar as projector was sat on the bar!! Sometimes the 3rd reel didnt work very well!
Dannic.
 
#14 · (Edited)
......
My dad (Capt. Bill Pascoe) had a story that when his ship (One of the Garth ships) was in Murmansk one time - probably mid or late sixties - they showed From Russia With Love, setting up seats on the hatch covers and projecting onto the bridge front. ......

My friend questions the veracity of this story! Says it couldn't have happened for various practical reasons e.g. the projectors used then were too puny, they wouldn't have gotten such a good film, and etc etc. .......

Jackie
Hello Jackie, while movies were normally shown ' indoors' I was on one ship in 1970 - Eastern Muse - where the projector was set up at the frd end of #3 hatch and a screen set up at the after end of the hatch.... all this aft of the accomodation and out of the wind..
This was while at sea in the Malacca Strait etc.

So yes quite feasable...

My first experience of movies at sea was in 1964 on 'Hector Hawk'.

A weekly 'big night out' in the Captain's private dining room... Capt Cornwell would beaver away in his private pantry knocking up small eats that would be served.. by him.. at intermission.... happy days :)
 
#17 ·
My last voyage as a Cadet we used the show films to the crew (Rotterdam international Spanish speakers) They were well received and I noticed that love stories and western's were most popular.
One night we were showing an absolutely rubbish western and unfortunately at the end of the second reel found the we had reached The End.
We tried to bluff our way out of us leaving reel 2 out but the crew were far from pleased and it was some time before harmony was restored.
 
#22 ·
Recollect on the Mobil Radiant we had a screen above the catwalk aft of the midships accommodation. Projector was set up in the smoke room and pointed through a port hole. This allowed all the crew to view a movie.[/QUOTEW

Had a similar situation when in Kandla,India on the Sugar Importer. The a/c wasn't up to much so we moved the projector and screen onto the boat deck and "watched away"
The film was well attended by practically the entire crew plus a second audience of Indians who appeared out of the gloom to watch.
They were so quiet and well behaved we never noticed that they were there untill the end when they melted away as quietly as they arrived!
 
#23 ·
Posted this 10 years ago:
Departing the Carribbean eastbound with a cargo of bananas we had Dr No (of tarantula on Connery's chest fame) shown on a screen attached to the mizzen.
After dinner and accompanied by a can or two I watched the film and then turned in for a couple of hours before the middle watch. (Aahh luxury).
The Matina wasn't air conditioned so the ports were open and I only had a single sheet up to my waist (didn't want to frighten the fourth's junior).

Just as I nodded off I was abruptly catapulted to full wakefulness by SOMETHING scrabbling on my chest! I remained still and slowly reached back to my bedlight switch. Looking down the bunk, I clicked the light on only to see a tiny seabird attempting to stand on its little webbed feet

Lucky for birdy I hadn't taken immediate direct action so he got nest and board as far as the Azores where he was paid off - didn't want to go - recognised a cushy berth when he saw it.
 
#33 ·
Re your previous post, I think the drawback of watching movies on deck in Murmansk would be the bloody iron ore that was everywhere!

As far as James Bond films were concerned, I remember swapping films with Russian ships and they loved 007. Can't remember watching any of the stuff they gave us in return, they were just considered a safety deposit, so we got ours back.

The Russkis sometimes suggested football matches and boxing matches to which the response was usually: "Why don't you just have a beer, Tovarich?"

John T
 
#26 ·
All,
I joined the R.F.A. in 1969 and found that our films were supplied by the R.N.F.C.
I remember one of the comments on the report sheet about "Gunfight at the OK Corral" it was described as 'a short range gunnery drama' and cartoons being referred to as 'Mickey Ducks".
Oh! Happy Days.
yours aye,
slick
 
#28 · (Edited)
BP Tankers were subscribers to WALPORT, and the bx of three films, usually an A film, and two B horse operas, there was more of John Waynes horse droppings on the main deck, than wet hankies shedding a tear for the story line.
Once seen the box of films would be exchanged, with visiting ships in the foreign ports, or the missions, where their was a WALPORT agreement.
With these films in the box were the safety films under the general title ''it should not happen at sea, safety features how to lash a ladder on deck or in an enclosed space, when working at a height. or the correct fire extinguisher to use from the ships equipment, and BP pere resistance 'FIRE DOWN BELOW'
 
#34 ·
In 1975 in Ravenna, Italy on the Sugar Trader we were moored next to a Russian bulk carrier. Her crew turned out to be a friendly bunch and as they were not allowed ashore (Soviet era) we organised a football (wasn't easy to raise a team) After the game (we lost 2-0) they insisted we went back to their ship for refreshments. This consisted of liberal quantities of vodka and a film which showed WW2 from the Russian point of view. It was very interesting if one took to vodka slowly and I had a long talk with the Commisar. We were shown all over their ship but if I remember they were not allowed to come back to ours
 
#35 ·
In 78 Fort Steele tied up alongside a Chinese vessel which was an ex P&O Strath boat. They were not allowed ashore and so we lent them our Walport boxes. In return they invited us aboard for dinner. The vessel had no air conditioning and we did. The meal was one of the best I have had but what really amazed me was that the ventilation onboard seemed to be every bit as good as ours. So much for progress.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Aud Schønemann scares the Americans.

In May 1968 I had no knowledge of the riots that took place in Paris. The street fighting between students and police that named my generation passed unnoticed by in the place where I spent themonth of May 1968. This was in Mombasa, specifically Kilindini harbour, where I served as an ordinary sailor aboard a war-built American standard ship belonging to NAL. There was a harbour strike in Mombasa and ships lay outside each other by the quay, and in clusters in the harbour basin. Most were, like us, merchant ships waiting to load and unload, but there was also a significant amount of naval vessels there. A large American troop transport ship on its way to Vietnam and its escort provided an electrically charged atmosphere. (Why did they not use the Suez –I do not know). Groups of healthy young farm boys with uncomfortable thoughts of possible premature death marched in sideways groups up and down the main street, looking for an opportunity to demonstrate toughness.

Which irritated a few Brits fromthe Royal Navy, who in the former colony were allowed to wear civillian clothes and whose numbers therefore were unknown to the Americans - but that is another story. It was something that did not concern us Norwegians much. Other things were more important. A great number of days in port had severely depleted our purchasing power. Most of us were now unable continue to down Tusker Beer and enjoy"shorttime", never mind "longtime foki foki" with the girls at Anchor and Sunshine bar, and that included me. So I gladly accepted the job as a night watchman when I was offered it, earning overtime money by sending them back on the quayside those who trundled aboard in mistaken belief that ours were their ship. There were not many ships ahead of us, just inside the gate lay a British “Empress” from which emanated distant cries of “Bingo” semingly 24 hours a day. Aft of her lay a black-hulled Welma Lykes, with damaged railings on the forecastle, and combs of running paint beneath the “LYKES LINE”. Maybe there were two three more ships ahead of us, but whatever the reason, I received a lot of disoriented visitors that had to be escorted off the ship.

Nearing midnight, a couple of Russians arrived, both sober, impeccably dressed, quiet and polite, for whom I immediately felt great sympathy. And when they asked for “showers”, I showed the two enemies of Western civilization our rows with shower faucets, deeply saddened by their lack of such amenities, and nearly crying at my own magnaminity. “No, no, shower officer, shower officer!” protested the two. Okay, so I found the first mate awake and handed the two to him.

The next thing that happened was that the face of Norwegian comedienne Aud Schønemann, fifteen meters times twenty, appeared in the middle of the harbour pool, accompanied by hysterical Russian laughter. They showed the film "Hurray for the Andersens" projected on the front edge of the midship house, and they did it every night, and with their laughter thundering over the water every time Schønemann appeared. The mate told me that when he understood that it was films they were after he had offered them "Billy the Kid" with Paul Newman, borrowed from the Lykes liner, but in this movie they were uninterested.

This nightly ”shower”went on the nerves of the Americans in naval uniform. I remember when a Russian ship, maybe it was the same one as our”shower” loving one, aimed to tie up outside an American warship.This resulted in some sort of alarm signal, “uunk, uunk, uunk through the loudspeakers on the American. And they now probably were certain that this spectacle was entirely staged by the KGB. At the destroyer right above us, an officer lay on his stomach on the deck and with big binoculars constantly aimed at "Mrs. Andersen's" appearances.

This story is not much of a story if you cannot visualize Kilindini harbour at night, absolutely propped with ships, and with the giant face of Schønemann with her rasping voice screaming in Norwegian and reverberating across the still water. But I will have to confess that the Russian reaction to the lady turned out to be less mysterious than I had thought. Many years later I learned that “Hurray for the “Andersens”, a story of simple folks battling the bureaucracy and winning, had been extremely popular in Russia, So they probably laughed at more than the mere face and voice of our Aud.
 

Attachments

#37 ·
Aud Schønemann scares the Americans.

In May 1968 I had no knowledge of the riots that took place in Paris. The street and unload, but there was also a significant amount of naval vessels there. A large American troop transport ship on its way to Vietnam and its escort provided an electrically charged atmosphere. (Why did they not use the Suez –I do not know). Groups of healthy young farm boys with uncomfortable thoughts of possible premature death marched in sideways groups up and down the main street, looking for an opportunity to demonstrate toughness.

.
Stein, in 1968 the Suez Canal was closed due to the Arab - Israeli war......

Cheers Frank
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top