OCEANS APART

The 27^th September is somewhat of a milestone for myself. It was around this time in 1965 that I came to London and ended up staying for the next 47 years. I also note that on the 27^th September 1938, the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth was launched in Glasgow. I first sailed on the Queen Elizabeth in 1949 with my family from New York to Cherbourg. I did three other journeys on that vessel between the United States and Europe over the next 7 years, returning to New York from Cherbourg in July of 1956.

Twelve years later I was in London when on the 27^th September 1968 the stage musical Hair opened at the Shaftsbury Theatre. The opening night had been delayed until the abolition of theatre censorship under the Theatres Act 1968. As for myself, I had avoided an all expense paid trip to southeast Asia.

The original London tribe included Sonja Kristina, Paul Nicholas, Melba Moore, Elaine Page, Paul Korda, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin, Alex Harvey, Oliver Tobias, Richard O’Brien and Tim Curry. This was Curry's first full-time theatrical acting role, where he met future Rocky Horror Show collaborator O'Brien. Hair's engagement in London surpassed the Broadway production, running for 1,997 performances until its closure was forced by the roof of the theatre collapsing in July 1973.

Here is a bit of footage from the film of the musical: