June 26, 1959
London
When I was a young soldier in the United States Army, I was stationed in Germany in 1958 and 1959. In the summer of 1959, I took a ten day leave to London. Being a tourist, and an incurable Anglophile, I gravitated to the river Thames. South of the river, probably in Southwark, I happened across a camera crew shooting a scene for a film. I was told the film was to be called Jazz Boat. Anthony Newley was the star.
I believe I appeared in one scene. The crew was shooting a group of revelers ascending a gangway onto a Thames craft. I was in a crowd of onlookers -- on the left side when facing the boat, and would be easy to locate because I was in uniform. Of course, the scene I was in likely found its way to the cutting room floor. But even if cut, perhaps I was once seen in the rushes. And most of us know David Mamet’s comment that even Moses looked good in the rushes.
Jazz Boat. My brilliant career.
Postscript: I have sought a television showing, a video or a DVD of Jazz Boat for years – to no avail.
