The agony of an Alcoholic …TERRY knows what he has become a bum…blaming his fate on others….his brother Charley a crooked lawyer.. Charley will be whacked by the mob…TERRY will survive in part thanks to Charley

SUGAR RAY ROBINSON…..How old are you now TERRY? TERRY replies 28 Skills are probably there but rusty... You’ll need to work at your age on your speed and footwork, bring your weight down to 175.

Rhythm is everything in Boxing TERRY... Every move you make starts with your heart... and that’s in rhythm. (NOTE this is a true and direct quote from RAY…It reflects his style in boxing adopted by TERRY in his comeback)

Much of the boxing action in STEAMING TO CASABLANCA was inspired by “The Greatest Boxer of all time”…. SUGAR RAY ROBINSON …Muhammad Ali among others will agree with that statement… RAY’s career spanned from 1940 to 1965…200 fights Middleweight and Welterweight world champion….. As an interesting aside…I knew him as a little kid while playing in the streets of N.Y. He would stop in his Pink Cadillac and give us candy or money to buy ice cream. We would yell when we saw his distinctive car. “Here comes Sugar Ray” .

What made RAY so great and a long career, he was hard to hit, his movement…his rhythm… he was hard to hit like TERRY…TERRY is an experienced fighter he takes RAY’s advice to heart. TERRY works particularly on his rope work for speed, quickness and agility. He’s a complete boxer. He can be deadly both outside and inside to the body and can. counterpunch, not a brawler but can go toe to toe…He wears his opponent down. Sensing a weary opponent, who’s dropping his guard he will come in with a flurry to the head and go for the KO

What does STEAMING to CASABLANCA mean?

TERRY has to go lower…He gets thrown out of the union…A work related accident… He was caught drinking at the wrong time… He loses his girl EDIE

EDIE goes back to Marymount College in Tarrytown….He winds up in DeTox…and a book ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS from EDIE

The story picks up from “ON THE WATERFRONT” 1954. Before joining the ILA Longshoreman’s Union, TERRY shipped out Merchant Marine with the NMU National Maritime Union out of the N.Y. Hall. He’s living in the Seamen’s House around the corner from the Hall showing up for job calls as an Able Seaman. Between job calls he works out at Goldberg’s gym Harlem and stays sober. He gets some day work cleaning tanks on the MARINE CHEMICAL waiting for a ship (NOTE It’s tough work, gets you in shape I’ve done it)

He finally gets a ship… The AFRICAN TRADER…the run is from Houston Texas to CASABLANCA, a tramp steamer, a regular run since 1939 carrying corn and flower… The ship discharges its cargo in Casablanca, about 2 weeks, before returning to Houston.

That’s what STEAMING TO CASABLANCA MEANS (NOTE: The run is real I was on it…like TERRY sailing AB…I was a full book member of the NMU. All the conventions of the union hall mechanics and the operational procedures and experiences of working on a ship are real)

When JACK MASTERSON CHIEF MATE of the AFRICAN TRADER found out there were a couple of boxers in the hall, TERRY and TYLER VAN HORN, TYLER having boxed in college, they were tipped off to hang around late, just before the hall closes on a Friday afternoon. The Patrolman puts 2 AB DAYMEN jobs up on the board as “pier head jumps”, They get the jobs (NOTE: This is not an unusual occurrence…It happens.)

JACK boxed at the MM academy, now in his late thirties a wife and 2 kids…doesn’t box too much any more… but the ring is on the stack deck and there is plenty of boxing and betting action in Casablanca.

(NOTE: In reality… CASABLANCA was the home of MARCEL CERDAN. He was known as the CASABLANCA CLOUTER. He beat Tony Zale for the middleweight Title around 1948-49…If you saw the production Raging Bull… Cerdan lost his title in Madison Square Garden to Jake La Motta… Cerdan died in a plane crash in the Azores on his way to see his lover who was in N.Y. at the time, the great French Chanteuse, Edith Piaf, before a rematch could be arranged with La Motta (This is NOT part of the story but a factual aside)

There is some great boxing action in Casablanca intertwined with some fascinating characters you might remember if you EVER… and WHO DIDN”T see or remember CASABLANCA.

The story, extending ON THE WATERFRONT the year 1954. What one remembers from CASABLANCA, it is the year 1942….so its 12 years later. RICK’s AMERICAN CAFE is not there anymore… One might remember just before he left, he sold out to MR. FERRARI who owned the BLUE PARROT across the street. The BLUE PARROT is still there…and SAM is still playing (Large as life)… CAPTAIN RENAULT who left with RICK is now` COLONEL RENAULT back at the Prefecture. SASHA, RICK’s Russian bartender is there; and of course, “THE USUAL SUSPECTS are still slithering around.

The intrigue of the Nazi’s of 1942 is gone but it’s the beginning of the end for the 4th Republic of France brought on by their defeat at Diem Bien Phu and internal strife caused by the bloody Algerian Independence movement… Just where do loyalties lie?

An agent has to come in from the cold, deeply implanted, or he will turn up dead. According to Intel he wants out…. A valuable asset… it’s RICK … RICK BLAINE

Since RICK walked out of Casablanca with LOUIS RENAULT at the conclusion of Casablanca 1942, he has added to his colorful resume, later in the story revealed by MITCH “commenting to TYLER”

TYLER This guy has been out of the States since 1932... He was wanted in France by the Germans, He then fought in the Spanish Civil War, joined the French resistance, the Free French Army, Foreign Legion connections in North Africa and field agent now caught in no mans land... He trusts nobody... That’s what keeps him alive. He thinks we may arrest him... Nothing can be as far from the truth; but, if he wants papers... He gets papers. The repatriation process on his terms... His Intel is priceless both to us and our friends in FRANCE.

So RICK has to come out…What do we know of him?

Strasser the Gestapo Character in Casablanca pulled out his black book. RICK BLAINE 37 years old born N.Y.C; so, in 1954 RICK would be 49 years old. It’s revealed that in 1936 he fought for the loyalists in the Spanish Civil War against the Germans. We also knew that he had an affair with ILSA LUND in Paris…When the Germans marched into Paris in 1940, she was to run away with him, meet him on the last train out of Paris to Marseilles. He left with SAM, she never showed up.

What is not revealed becomes part of the story in STEAMING TO CASABLANCA. He came to France in 1932 married a French gal from the Alsace region. Alsace is on the German border, a French/German mixture. His father in law was very anti Hitler. In an auto while going to an anti Hitler meeting, driven by his daughter, RICK’s wife…a bomb was planted, everyone in the car killed. RICK found out who did it…shot them…The French would have given him a medal but pressure forced him to leave for Paris. He left young daughter SIMONE with extended family.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS:

There are two main characters TERRY MALLOY whom you met above TYLER VAN HORN, TERRY’s shipmate, the other dayman who was a college boxer. TYLER comes from wealth, privilege, and education…We pick TYLER up in Zurich Switzerland being treated by the eminent Psychiatrist and Psychologist Dr. Carl Jung…His brother MITCHELL and his SISTER EVIE put him there. TYLER is 28 yrs old same as TERRY. TYLER was found outside the PRINCETON CLUB rolled…they even took his clothes.. He’s been in Bellevue DeTox 3 times….We find out older brother MITCHELL was one of the most decorated war heroes of WW2, ten years older than TYLER. EVIE his older sister down to earth, rich and privileged. She was a ROSIE the riveter girl assembling airplanes during the war.

TYLER turned 18 at the end of the war… He quit school. His father got him into the 90 day wonder Navy program…2 days after he was commissioned an ensign the war ended TYLER was told, more or less, to go home; no longer needed. TYLER’S great uncle Winthrop rode with Teddy Roosevelt’s ROUGH RIDERS. TEDDY demanded of his Officers to perfect the Manly Art of Self Defense.. TYLER and MITCH learned to box since age two. TYLER boxed 4 years at PRINCETON Their father instilled in them all Sailing skills as kids.. TYLER diagnosed by DR. JUNG over the course of a month. “I have had very little luck working with Alcoholics. There is an organization in New York called AA, they have had remarkable success. TYLER has money, privilege, education, looks, social standing, and position as an attorney, doesn’t do much, he tends to the family business and a fine athlete. He just hasn’t experienced, like most though the joys and sufferings of life. He needs to participate....EVIE says “You mean a real job” (LOL)

They are going back on a private plane to N.Y. MITCHELL says, TYLER, DR. JUNG proscribed a treatment plan…You’re a fine sailor…I went to the Coast Guard…They will give you a “Z card” as an unlimited AB…if you do 90 days sea time they will let you sit for your officer’s license.. We catch up with TYLER joining the NMU in N.Y. where he will meet up with TERRY and other wonderful characters. As a boxer he’s not in TERRY’s class, but he’s a good amateur. Late in the story MITCH to TERRY “I know TYLER is a good sailor, better than me, but how is he as a boxer? TERRY laughs, he’s undefeated MITCH

In N.Y. while going to meetings and job calls DAISY a young lady with an incredible story becomes more or less their spiritual mother .a wonderful character in Act One.

IN DAISY’s words:

I’ve been sober now four years... at first I didn’t want to speak... I felt ashamed... guilt I guess then I was told how my example might help others; particularly, young ladies like myself.

They call me LAZY DAISY (laughing) because my days are very full with wonderful things and wonderful people. I have a job nine to five... I go to college at night, Fordham University, I have another year to earn my degree and hope to go on with my education... maybe an attorney or teacher. I do volunteer work two nights at N.Y. Foundling Hospital, and most important find time at least four times a week meetings. Without my meetings without my sobriety, I have nothing.

My father met my mother in Haiti. She was quite young, nineteen He was a glamorous sea captain of this seven hundred foot ship. They settled in N.Y. where she had me. My father’s family would have nothing to do with her because she was colored... My father would spend long times at sea. One day I came from school... I found my mother dead... She committed suicide. Relatives would have nothing to do with me. I was put in a home until my father returned. I was sent away to a private school taught by nuns. It was very strict, I got good grades and although as a minority, I seemed though to fit in. My father during the summer would take me aboard and we would sail to great places. Then the war and during summers no more sailing with my father I was sent away to summer camp and then to a girls high school. I was the only girl of color and I was not accepted in any social gathering, I was just ignored. In my senior year, I ran away... I wound up with some guy who picked me up. I began to drink. He made me do things that I didn’t want to do... and I drank even more... I wound up as a whore down on Simpson Street in the Bronx. He would beat me and abuse me. I wound up in the gutter beat up and drunk. Then I met this wonderful lady Sharron through a woman’s shelter and AA, my life began to change. I was no longer alone.

When my father became aware of what had happened... Perhaps out of guilt.. He went into the bottle and never came out... He is now Well… they call it wet brain, he lives at the Seaman’s Hotel, He comes to the NMU union shipping hall where I work. I see him everyday... most days he doesn’t recognize me... Life has been difficult both for him and I but I do believe in spite of all he is proud of me. If it wasn’t for AA I would be dead, but today alive and well with an optimistic future. One day at a time. Thank You.

IRON JOHN GIL MARTIN legendry Captain who had three ships torpedoed under him during WW2. They call him Iron John, he was always the last man off the ship. DAISY’s father.

BRUNO He’s a lady killer…a sweet talking sugar coated candy man…All the women in the BLUE PARROT adore BRUNO…He’s an oiler on ship; off ship he’s more or less a gigolo.. (NOTE: Actually I’ve known several BRUNO’s as shipmates through the years)

HORRACE O’SHAUNESSEY…Both TYLER and TERRY are living at the Seaman’s house on 15th St around the corner from the hall.. HORRACE a black man from Harlem, has a permanent job on the AFRICAN TRADER as second cook. He’s waiting for the ship to come out of the yard in Brooklyn for his job recall. HORRACE is a fine musician…for several years now when the AFRICAN TRADER pulls into CASABLANCA.. HE sneaks up on SAM at the BLUE PARROT and takes over the IVORY KEYS, spelling SAM, while they are in port…He’s very popular with the regulars…

CAPTAIN HANSON. He’s been on this run since 1939 knows everyone, used to hang out in RICK’s place until the war.

SAM. RICK’s piano stylist and personal friend for many years. When RICK’s AMERICAN CAFÉ closed…SAM with RICK’s blessing went over to the BLUE PARROT

COLONEL LOUIS RENAULT He has the same personality. When you are just about to hate LOUIS he does something astonishing and you change your opinion

SASHA the bartender... a nominal figure from CASABLANCA… Originally RICK’s bartender.
The USUAL SUSPECTS still slithering around CASABLANCA… they make a mistake getting on the wrong side of TERRY and TYLER who make hamburger out of three of them in the alley outside the BLUE PARROT for ganging up on BRUNO with a billy club then rolling him of his money.

SIMONE.BLAINE. 22 years old now… RICK’s daughter…she doesn’t know where her father is but suspects COLONEL LOUIS RENAULT does. She recently graduated from the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences in Paris. .living at the Maison Province of France dormitories ( NOTE I studied in the same faculty and lived there also ) SIMONE is working in the PREFECTURE for LOUIS as a prosecutor intern. LOUIS is like an uncle to her since she was a young girl…She’s also close to SAM)

MARC He grew up with SIMONE her cousin. His father was in the car that blew up which killed her mother and grandfather…MARC graduated with SIMONE, he was family…Upon graduation, did his required Military Service in the French Foreign Legion as a Lieutenant. Barely surviving Diem Bien PHU, he’s in the military hospital in Casablanca…SIMONE his only family…He’s severely wounded and not expected to live…MARC relates as a one time athlete…Tennis player, French Open, to TERRY and TYLER. “We find out a lot about SIMONE and what it was like growing up during the occupation (NOTE: my first day at the university dorms, I met MARC…He was a fine Tennis player who was going into the Foreign Legion in his service militaire after graduation. .I slept on the floor in his room till I got squared away….I also learned a lot about the French occupation from my fellow students when they were small kids. The incidents MARC AND SIMONE relate are true in the story)

What would the story be like without ILSA LUND LASZLO and Victor Laszlo
What ever happened to them when RICK handed over the letters of TRANSIT and saved their lives?

VICTOR as you may remember was in poor health after escaping from the concentration camp. ILSA quite a bit younger… In 1954 she would be somewhere between about 38 to 40…They made it to N.Y. Victor was debriefed, a preeminent journalist, He became a professor, teaching Journalism at Columbia University…ILSA got her Masters degree there in languages. Victor died in 1948. They had a little boy RICKEY who is 8 or 9 in 1954… After Victor died ILSA moved to Westchester, Tarrytown where she is teaching languages at Marymount; coincidentally, the same school EDIE DOYLE, TERRY’s girlfriend is studying… (NOTE In ON THE WATERFRONT Budd Schulberg calls it St. Anne’s but I installed the real name of the school… as a college student, I went to many student functions at Marymount). (NOTE: for those who connect the dots, we see a potential reunion with RICK in the story “If they can EVER get him out of Casablanca alive…That will be up eventually to TERRY and TYLER”.

INTERESTING SCENES :

TERRY TYLER and HORACE cleaning tanks on the Marine Chemical. TERRY to get in shape. TYLER to get on his feet financially HORACE to get his guitar out of hock…It’s tough dangerous work.

TERRY and TYLER are up in Goldberg’s gym in Harlem. TERRY back to his boxing fraternity SUGAR RAY is stressing rhythm, footwork and speed… his 13 year old niece JASMINE…demonstrates with HORACE playing some BOOGIE WOOGIE some incredible rope work…In fact Mohamed Ali used RAY’S matador movement to beat Sonny Liston.

At the end of Act One after an AA meeting down on Mott Street in Little Italy the group would normally go out for Pizza at this restaurant, owned by the family of one of their members. (NOTE I knew a restaurant similar in N.Y) The singing operatic waiters were a delight…At times Italian operatic performers would come down after their performance for good Italian food and spontaneously, as if unwinding perform…

About six or seven people come in and are directed to a reserved table. In this scene DAISY is sitting between TYLER and TERRY. The waiter if on pre arranged cue shouts out……”You have No MONEY? (Laughter) then you must sing for your supper”. A violinist comes over DAISY says…OH…MY…GOD…do you know who that big man is whispering in TERRY’s ear, TYLER nods…and we are treated to an incredible rendition of “NESSUN DORMA” from Puccini’s Turandot” (Music below)

CAPTAIN HANSON is a fight fan…The CHIEF MATE’s ring on the stack deck. Both TERRY and TYLER are the Daymen, their hours 0800 to 1500. He pays them 2 to 3 hrs overtime for working out and sparing. Sometimes the CHIEF comes down for a workout.

When the ship arrives in CASABLANCA HENRY the Bosun asks TERRY and TYLER if they would stand the gangway watches the first night for the 4 to 8 and the 8 to 12..so they could go into town first night and get drunk at the Seaman’s Club, knowing both don’t drink.. It’s easy OT… so they agree.

HORACE second cook …his work day finished, he comes out in black tie for his gig in BLUE PARROT..

BRUNO in this gaudy suit. TERRY says to BRUNO “You look like you are leading the Easter parade…BRUNO. TERRY I bought it at BARNEY’s, wait till my girlfriends in the BLUE PARROT see the new threads. In 1954 AMERICAN ROCK n ROLL was just emerging…HORACE does all the big band standards as SAM does; but, his audience pleads for some of this sound…BRUNO the lady killer looks a bit like Elvis. When both HORRACE and BRUNO walk in Mr. FERRARI lights up escorting BRUNO to the bar. BRUNO gets one of his girlfriends and they show the audience how it’s done with HORRACE playing Billy Haley’s ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK. “Probably the biggest innovative rock sound of that year 1954”….BRUNO a marvelous voice, a la ELVIS grabs the mike to wild applause and Does Conway Twitty’s “ IT”S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE”…The audience eats it up.. BRUNO can’t drink all the Champaign he is offered. (LOL “HE’s really good)….. (Music below)

One of the USUAL SUSPECTS, sets him up deliberately spilling a drink on his suit, BRUNO grabs him to escort him outside through the side door proximate to the bar. There are two other guys who jump BRUNO work him over with BILLY club.

When the crew comes back…TERRY and TYLER are listlessly hanging around the gangway. CLETUS says. BRUNO is in the hospital. He got jumped and worked over pretty well…TERRY inquires who found him…BILLY DONOVAN says I came over to borrow a couple of fins off him I found him in the alley. They rolled him and his suit all to shreds

TERRY and TYLER get descriptions, they go the next night to the BLUE PARROT. TERRY goes to the end of bar near the door, both dressed in nice suits “Typical of dress of that era”

TYLER is dancing with a young lady trying out his French. HORACE is playing. "I’LL BE SEEING YOU"… TYLER then escorts the young lady to bar…one of the “USUAL SUSPECTS” does same thing to TYLER… TERRY nods… TYLER escorts him out by his tie. TERRY explodes out the door and both make dogmeat out of the three….Graphic scene

The preceding scene sets up Introductory with LOUIS RENAULT who says “They are scum anyway”…the usual suspects…it’s quite humorous… LOUIS always scheming…what LOUIS has in mind is putting them on boxing card and making money laying off bets. It’s also the scene where TYLER first lays eyes on SIMONE BLAINE

On their second trip LOUIS RENAULT has arranged TERRY and TYLER to box during French Navy Fleet week in Casablanca…TYPICAL LOUIS. He gets five to one odds on TERRY against the Fleet Champion. When TERRY walks in the ring to jeers, as a seasoned pro, he doesn’t pay the slightest attention; but, the ADMIRAL recognizing a polished boxer commenting to LOUIS who has a smug look on his face, The ADMIRAL beginning to realize he’s been had. TERRY takes this big lumbering amateur in 25 seconds of the first round…The ADMIRAL is slightly exercised to say the least with LOUIS while waiting for TYLER’S fight.

A favorite scene of mine…. both TERRY and TYLER, after the completed matches, showered up etc, are both walking together off the flight deck with their athletic bags as if they were just coming from the local gym walking toward the elevator to take them to gangway and exit. The crowd of sailors are blocking the entrance appearing to be exhibiting a hostile attitude. Both TERRY and TYLER Stop; maybe, a 100 yards from them with hurtful disappointed looks on their face… like “LOOK guys this is only a sport” The sailors then smile, open up and applaud these guys off this non-descript American tramp steamer.

It’s pivotal in this sense…The plan initially hatched by MITCH stemmed from President Eisenhower, who boxed at West Point, who reportedly grinned from ear to ear when he heard about the boxing matches with the French Fleet..

Shortly after begins the serious relationship between TYLER and SIMONE

SIMONE will be going to Paris…She’s on a dangerous mission to get her father’s transit papers that he requested. Should she receive the papers and a leak, she might very well be killed as a sign that her father is coming out…She uses an excuse but TYLER knows she is not leveling , not revealing her danger…The ship is scheduled to leave Casablanca to Europe to pick up military cargo but is diverted immediately back to NY.

CAPTAIN HANSON Is getting off, his 120 days are up…CAPTAIN MASTERSON will be moving up from CHIEF to CAPTAIN. During payoff in N.Y, orders are to get TERRY and TYLER off the ship. A cab is waiting to take them to the DAC Downtown Athletic Club with their gear. TERRY meets TYLER’S brother MITCH. who wields enormous power; answerable, directly to President Eisenhower…TYLER is outside doesn’t know what this is about or that his brother is even there. TERRY escorted to an office by a black suit. MITCH with a towel around him just came off the squash courts at the club…He throws a card across the table….TERRY’s boxing license which had been suspended for throwing the fight. For TERRY this is a miracle. MITCH says I wanted to see you first. MITCH explains he is point man of the Congressional crime commission investigation.. He’s about to lower the boom on the mob in N.Y. and wants to nail Mr. G who killed TERRY’s brother Charley. MITCH tells him with his testimony and all the other evidence, Joseph the Gentleman, Mr. G., will fry in SING SING. Realizing he’s talking about TERRY’s diseased brother, he respectfully tells TERRY he probably won’t fry; but cut a deal to sing on all his crooked contacts, police and politicians. He then changes the mood smiling… TERRY “How’s my brother TYLER as a boxer…I know he’s a good sailor better than Me”. TERRY replies…I taught him a few things. He’s undefeated.

Mitchell is the type who is quite comfortable in giving orders and getting things done few if any obstacles ever in his way, particularly when it comes to his younger brother. When MITCHELL is rattling off about the plan, MITCH is taken back when TYLER interjects…The first part of your plan is good. “The fight between TERRY and DUCHAMPS to draw Mr. BLAINE out but, the rest STINKS”…MITCH a bit exercised with his younger brother. Look TYLER. I can’t take him off the fishing boat with a squad of shooters locked and loaded and whisk him off in a Navy plane…I can’t do that..: Yes MITCH I know; but, I know who is going to try to take out Mr. BLAINE, and I have a better plan, AND my girl is NOT going to get involved with this.

The plan is great… MITCH is satisfied…You guys have been on the scene…Whatever you need you get.

TYLER will be taking his test for a second Mates license, he has the sea time the C.G. wanted and he had been studying. (Note Like TYLER…I didn’t go to school to study. I studied on my own…walked in took the test over two days and got my third Mates License).That’s what TYLER did. Part of the plan was to relieve the second mate in Casablanca. TERRY has got three and a half weeks to prepare for the fight…He’ll live and train at the DAC and Goldberg’s gym. This is not going to be an easy fight it’s a WBA sanctioned fight. TERRY’s got his license back…DUCHAMPS, in line a definite contender for a Title Challenge.

(NOTE it’s no secret, the fight game has always been in partial control by the mob; but, MITCH promises if he wins, he WILL get his shot for the title in the N.Y. Polo Grounds on a hot June night.) (NOTE back then, the home of the N.Y. Baseball Giants, popular for championship boxing matches) Scenes of TERRY training, TYLER in Paris getting his girl out of harm’s way He has her flying to N.Y. EVIE will take care of her…They are going to get married.

TERRY wins the match, a great performance by TERRY taking it by KO DUCHAMPS in five rounds. TYLER makes good his plan and MR. BLAINE escapes “rather tense and exciting sequence of scenes”

The next morning the AFRICAN TRADER is now safely at sea, steaming to N.Y. RICK is sitting in the officer’s mess drinking coffee. TYLER comes in dressed in his kakis just coming off watch. TYLER asks… did you sleep well Mr. BLAINE call me RICK…I would have slept better if I had a few drinks in me…Tyler going to the coffee pot. RICK sit down kid… looking at him, you saved my life…You saved Louis life too.. Tyler…with a grin…Yeah I know. RICK says I wouldn’t want to play cards against you…I owe you.. TYLER: Yes you do owe me; so, I might as well make it official…I asked SIMONE to marry me and she accepted. I might as well ask her father for her hand. RICK: She’s a strong headed girl, I wasn’t much of a father…She wouldn’t listen to me anyway…laughing and toasting with coffee cups.

Wonderful scene... The vessel pulling into NY and reunion on the dock…SIMONE, RICK, TYLER, MITCH, EVIE, TERRY AND his girl EDIE

The next scene a few weeks later…SIMONE driving up to MRS LASZLO’s home in Tarrytown….The connection of course through EDIE who was one of her students….(a very touching sequence)… In short, Mrs. LASZLO, ILSA LUND LASZLO along with her young son RICKEY have been personally invited to the Wedding.

“THIS IS WHERE THE MAGIC OF CASABLANCA COMES IN”

Big buffet set up on one of the Van Horn estates along the Long Island shore. Wedding rehearsal. EVERYBODY meaningful to the story is there…including SAM and LOUIS who both flew in from Casablanca. RICK knows nothing about the arrangements, he’s been in Washington…He walks in with MITCH… He’s confused, ILSA has asked SAM “just like in Casablanca to play some of the old songs….Then she asks SAM to play, and he begins to play, TIME GOES BY

(A bit of a digression…in Casablanca when RICK first laid eyes on ILSA in his café, having not seen her since the day The Germans marched into Paris.. RICK remembers ILSA was wearing a white evening gown (1942), she’s wearing a tailored white suit (1954)

So Rick comes walking in with MITCH to all of this activity…RICK hears "TIME GOES BY" from SAM that he hasn’t seen from whence in Casablanca. RICK acting a bit confused and disturbed. ILSA’s facing SAM… when RICK walks up she turns… with tears in her eyes…HELLO RICK… The scene and its sequence is EXPLOSIVE…TO ALL FANS i.e. OF CASABLANCA.

At the wedding…RICK is marching down the aisle with his daughter's hand to be married.

(NOTE: Digression. When RICK realizing in 1942, he has lost ILSA, while drinking heavily with SAM… He said “She was dressed in Blue and the Germans in Gray.)

(Well when RICK is marching down the aisle. seen from POV of Rick…ILSA is dressed in blue)

So the question is … Will ILSA and RICK get back together?

Next Scene… RICK is driving up to ILSA’s home. RICKEY comes running out, ILSA is standing in the doorway. MR RICK on the JOHNNY CASTLE sports show he said the Giants and Dodgers are pulling out of N.Y. and moving to California…RICK looking at ILSA, patting RICKEYS head…Well you can move to California or root for the Yankees...RICKEY… I’ll root for the Yankees…hurry up TERRY MALLOY is going to be on…He taught me how to punch at the wedding. RICK. Don’t forget your glove. I have tickets in the first row by third base, good for catching foul balls…

This sets up the final scenes. The three watching the JOHNNY CASTLE sports show.

JOHNNY CASTLE
Here he is... the challenger... TERRY MALLOY... to BOBBY SHOWTIME
SHAW’s title for Light Heavy Weight Championship of the World in the Polo
Grounds, June Twenty Fifth... Good to have you on TERRY
TERRY
Good to be here JOHNNY
JOHNNY CASTLE
TERRY... there’s been some talk around fight circles that maybe you
should not have been given the match with SHAW?
TERRY
I beat DUCHAMPS... KO in the fifth round. There was quite a buzz about
DUCHAMPS getting the match.
JOHNNY CASTLE
Good point. TERRY Can you tell us about your suspension the past two
years by the N.Y. State Boxing Commission.
TERRY
They said I threw the Wilson fight... I pleaded no contest... They suspended
me indefinitely. I got my license back shortly before the DUCHAMPS fight.
JOHNNY CASTLE
Did you throw the fight TERRY?
TERRY
Don’t ask me JOHNNY, ask the Commission.
JOHNNY CASTLE
BOBBY SHOWTIME SHAW said he’ll knock you out in three rounds?
TERRY
JOHNNY... Everyone including SHAW is entitled to their fantasies... You’re
talking to the Next Light Heavy Weight Champ.

It’s a great fight…TERRY the better fighter and boxer wins; but, the ending is TERRY’s REDEMPTION and his AMENDS in this victory..

Leaving his seat stooped over as a defeated man who was at one time feared by all, On the Waterfront... slithering out of his row, JOSEPH the GENTLEMAN looks at TERRY with a look of fear in his eyes. He knows he has lost, powerless, his passport surrendered, the FEDS will be knocking at his door anytime.

TERRY realizing, that soon MITCH will be rolling up the crooked politicians, and corrupt Police in his organization, TERRY bowing his head, raising his arms in humble TRIUMPH softly…As if time stopped

FADE OUT

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION:

What makes a person change? The agony expressed by TERRY MALLOY in the very beginning of the read to the ecstasy of victory in the conclusion. What effected the change in TYLER that saved his life from the misery of immanently being institutionalized by a sister and brother who feared for his life? Dr. Carl Jung was dead on. Draw your own conclusions:

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

Notwithstanding the story based upon two of Hollywood’s greatest Productions, performed by icons of the Hollywood screen. What made THIS screenplay possible is that everything in the story is in the realm of possibility…The AFRICAN TRADER was a reality, I sailed on her, by another name, the grain run, Houston to CASABLANCA…long stays in port both loading and unloading.

Sadly the few old steamships passed away just before the turn of the millennium replaced by modern container ships diesel powered…Loading now generally done quite a distance from the romance of the old port facilities. “What once took 2 weeks, takes 10 hours unloading the cargo containers.

EVERY character in this screenplay I’ve ran into somewhere along the line…some from my acquaintance through those marvelous productions, some in the NMU union halls, some aboard ship, some in other fraternal halls.

Original picture of Marlon Brando from ON THE WATERFRONT 1954

The above picture taken at sea on the hook, five miles off CASABLANCA waiting on the Pilot before coming in to off-load

When I sailed out of TAHITI, single handing my sailboat, a place where the legendary actor MARLON BRANDO made his home, TERRY MALLOY the seaman became an imaginary shipmate… Not FLETCHER CHRISTIAN He would sometimes complain telling me “he could have been a contender”. My boat was in bad shape having sailed almost 6000 miles non-stop to Tahiti… I told him if we made it, I’d give him a shot at the Title and make him champ...It took 34 days nonstop at sea to make that 1250 mile sail…I remember after a particularly bad storm that ripped the clew right out of the mainsail.. I was exhausted, close to going overboard, several times; now falling asleep in my bunk, I suddenly woke up to a calm sea… day 25,wondering who was on the wheel, I remember saying “TERRY’S on the wheel” and going back to sleep. The headsail was long gone, the main sail jury rigged, and one gallon of uncontaminated diesel fuel that I salvaged by filtering…I remember listening to Taj Mahal on my MP3 …TERRY I’m saving the fuel until a final jibe into the harbor…I’d laugh at the lyrics… TERRY Someday I’m going to CAKEWALK INTO TOWN…and I would laugh again… and I did…The humorous lyrics, The TUBA rhythm oom pa pa…oom pa pa

STANDARD FORMATTED PDF FILE SCRIPT 125 PAGES…Password protected on next link basically reserved for the trade…Individual request to read upon E-mail request…Address on bottom of homepage.

The big guy "spontaneously" performing "NESSUN DORMA" in the Italian Restaurant Vincerò! Vincerò!... I will win... I will win

Conway Twitty's "IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE"....Performed by BRUNO in the BLUE PARROT