How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Having just returned from a long, lovely vacation trip overseas, I can’t resist sharing some thoughts, observations and pictures with you. If you recoil at the idea of friends boring you with their home movies, I promise to keep this as brief as possible…and yes, there are some movie tie-ins along the way.
George Clooney's Leatherheads
plays on the giant screen at sea.
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I was invited to be a guest lecturer on Princess Cruise Lines’ Grand Princess for a twelve-day trip around the British Isles, and being of sound mind, I accepted. Landing at Heathrow Airport in London my family and I were immediately reminded of that old joke about England and the U.S. being divided by a common language. At Heathrow, signs lead you to “Baggage Reclaim,” which I suppose is more precise than “Baggage Claim” as we say here in the States. (Later on, watching the Olympics coverage on TV, I heard a commentator say, “England have not performed well” in a certain sport, where we would say “the U.S. has not performed well.” As a lover of language I find this endlessly fascinating.)
During the cruise, I delivered a lecture and hosted a movie trivia contest, which my daughter Jessie helped me put together. I also was asked to introduce one of Princess' “Movies Under The Stars.” These screenings have proved to be extremely popular on the cruise line, especially in warmer climates, but even on this voyage people happily wrapped themselves in blankets on the upper deck, popcorn in hand, to watch movies on a gigantic video screen every night. The effect is something like attending a drive-in movie, without the bother of being confined to a car, or swatting off mosquitoes. What a neat idea.
Olivia de Havilland looks as serene as a monarch aboard the Grand Princess.
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While strolling around the ship one night I noticed a surprising movie connection: when the vessel was launched ten years ago it was officially “named” by a member of Hollywood royalty, rather than British royalty: Olivia de Havilland. A lovely portrait of her appears on the wall alongside the front desk in the atrium. A standee on the desk below describes her career in brief--for younger passengers.
Our first port of call was the island of Guernsey, off the coast of France. We visited the house where Victor Hugo lived for many years while exiled from Napoleonic France. It was here that he wrote Les Miserables, among other works, but the real surprise is the home itself. It turns out that Hugo loved interior design and put great effort, money, imagination and whimsy into this multi-story residence, giving each room an individual theme and style. (Never mind the fellow American tourist who repeatedly asked our guide if Hugo spoke French.)
 A century later the island was occupied by the Germans, from 1940-45. We took a fascinating tour of an underground hospital constructed by forced labor over three years’ time. Ironically it only served as a hospital for twelve weeks before the island was liberated, but it was impossible for us to picture anyone regaining their health in such dim, dank surroundings. The biggest surprise of all: a cavernous room labeled CINEMA. I wonder if movies were actually screened there before the Nazis were kicked out.
We found a great used bookstore in Inverness, Scotland called Leakey’s (seen below), which inhabits a former church. I only wish I’d had more time to browse, as there are many British film books and show business biographies that never made their way across the Atlantic.
We were lucky enough to visit Edinburgh on the first day of the annual Fringe Festival, which meant that the streets were packed with musicians and performers of all sorts handing out leaflets to attract attention to their upcoming shows. I recognized one peculiar looking man as a dead ringer for Manuel, the soft-headed waiter from the classic TV series Fawlty Towers. Sure enough, there were look-alikes for John Cleese and Prunella Scales as well, promoting their dinner theater homage to the show. I also noticed a hand bill for a one-woman show about Anna May Wong. It’s impossible to describe the depth and breadth of this festival, but I can tell you that the city is transformed into a giant happening. I wish we could have stayed.
The Greyfriars Bobby
statue in Edinburgh.
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Before leaving town, my wife wanted to see the statue honoring Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog whose story was told so well in a 1961 Walt Disney movie of the same name. (A 2005 British remake has never opened in this country, to my knowledge. And if you’ve never seen the Disney film with Donald Crisp and Laurence Naismith, you should; it finally came out on DVD a couple of years ago.)
 On the outskirts of Glasgow we visited Bannockburn, site of the legendary battle over the fate of Scotland that Mel Gibson vividly recreated in Braveheart. Pictures can’t do justice to this vast open space, with a stately memorial commemorating its historical importance, but the statue of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce (right) is pretty imposing.
Later that day we visited the Glasgow School of Art designed by the brilliant Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Inside the lobby I found an unexpected plaque on the wall honoring one of the school's most illustrious students (and one of my heroes), animator Norman McLaren. Then, heading back to our ship, our cab driver pointed out that the port city of Greenock was the location for one of my favorite films of recent years, Dear Frankie, with Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler. There are movie links everywhere you turn nowadays.
At the end of a day-long tour in Belfast, Ireland we were shown another astonishing sight: the enormous trench (for want of a better word) where the HMS Titanic sat for eleven months as workmen completed painting and finishing the ship for its maiden voyage in 1912. The company that built the ship is still in business, though greatly reduced in size, and its abandoned headquarters nearby recently served as one location for the forthcoming Tom Hanks movie, City of Ember.
In a part of the world where history is all around you, and buildings can be centuries old, visiting landmarks from the 1960s might seem trivial. Nevertheless, one of the highlights of our trip was the Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool, England, which enabled us to trace the young lives of all four Beatles. For someone who grew up with the Fab Four this was an especially evocative experience. We actually visited Penny Lane, and even saw the barber shop and the roundabout referred to in the song.
Yes, this is where the Titanic was fitted for its maiden voyage in 1911-1912 in Belfast. Amazing!
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At the end of our cruise, we lingered for several days in London, not long enough to do a fraction of the things we wanted to. We did see a new stage musical based on Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter, with a buoyant cast, a clever script, and inventive staging including the use of film projection. I wonder if it will eventually travel to New York, as the not-dissimilar production of The 39 Steps did last year. We also stopped at Sotheran’s, a marvelous antiquarian bookstore that’s been in business since the 18th century!
A last impression of London: I’m amazed by the fact that even in the 21st century, people who sell newspapers on the streets of the U.K. still put out headline billposters to grab customers’ attention with the latest news. It’s not very high-tech, but it works!
 I’ve spared you further details of our tourist activities, but couldn’t resist sharing some fresh memories of a great trip. Thank you for your indulgence.
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