The year was 1955 and it was summer in Boothbay Harbor.
I owned a 22-foot boat called the “Peggy.” She was Torpedo stern powered with a 5 hp Kermath engine. I used her for lobstering in the ’50s. I had the bad luck of losing all 100 traps off Damariscove in Hurricane Carol. I then went to work at Bath Iron Works for about 10 years before returning to fishing.
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The makers of the movie “Carousel” approached me about renting my boat and hiring me for the boat parade. My wife Barbara and I thought we were so lucky. We circled the “Peggy” around the inner harbor with a couple of other boats for the parade. Our passengers were Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell and Robert Rounseville. We all had a great time. Imagine back then being in the company of “movie stars” we only saw on the silver screen?
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Another day we watched the June Taylor Dancers dancing on the wharf. As they hung from the pipe mounted on the roof edge of the small building, I thought “that’s gonna go.” Sure enough. The pipe broke loose and several dancers were hurt. Not real bad but enough to keep them off roof pipes from then on.
Another day I was invited to have lunch with Cameron Mitchell. We ate at Brown’s Wharf and Douglas Carter’s mother Dot was our waitress. Brown’s Wharf was different in those days. It was smaller and seated only two dozen.
Robert Rounseville, the opera singer, worked with me on breathing techniques. He taught me how to expand my lungs so I could hold my breath longer under water. I was swimming a lot and training to become a deep sea diver.
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I got the movie director’s (Henry King) attention when I was talking with the sound man. The sound man would announce when it was clear to start a scene. Someone in a skiff came by the wharf running an outboard motor. Outboard motor sounds for the era that the movie was based were not yet commonplace. The movie was based on the 1945 musical and the outboard sound was all wrong for the background. I said “that sound is all wrong.” So they re-shot the scene. I learned that there is a lot of work that goes into making a movie because everything has to be authentic and perfect.
I was fortunate enough to be paid $1,000 for boat rental and so called acting. I recall that Robin Colcord worked as a photographer and paymaster. Hopefully all those photos are archived somewhere.
The movie “Carousel” was adapted from the 1945 Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Gordon MacRae played Billy Bigelow (a Carnival conman) who falls in love with a Maine fish factory girl Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones). Cameron Mitchell co-stars as Jigger and Barbara Ruick as Carrie. Ironically Frank Sinatra was set to star as Billy but backed out.
I think the making and the production of Carousel really put Boothbay Harbor on the map. The movie was released in 1956 and it set a chain reaction of tourism to the region. I know it will always hold special memories for me and Barbara.
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