Robert Mitchum putting sunscreen on Rita Hayworth on the set of “Fire Down Below” (1957). www.ritahayworthafreebirdinflight.tumblr.com
Tobago -Dream location of Hollywood’s Golden Age
W
ith its aqua blue waters, jungle rainforest, sandy beaches, and waterfalls and rivers, Tobago captured the imagination of Hollywood director John Huston, who chose the island for the location of his 1957 classic Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. The film stared British actress Deborah Kerr and one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Robert Mitchum. Many locals were hired as extras during the 1956 filming of a story that explored the relationship between a Marine and an Irish nun trapped on a small Pacific island in the Second World War. During filming, Mitchum and Huston spent many “boys’ nights out”, enjoying the local nightlife and the inevitable rum cocktails. For Mitchum, it was the start of a love affair with Tobago. He would return less than a year later for the filming of the steamy melodrama Fire Down Below, which also stared Rita Hayworth and Jack Lemmon. When filming began for three months in Tobago, the entire cast and crew lived aboard a chartered freighter. Mitchum and Lemmon play two small-time smugglers sailing around the Caribbean on a small tramp boat. While in Tobago, they agree to transport the beautiful and mysterious (and passport-less) Irena, played by Hayworth, to Trinidad. Both men fall in love with her, ending in betrayal. Filming initially started in Trinidad, where Mitchum, living up to his Hollywood “bad boy” persona, almost caused a diplomatic incident when he sarcastically declared to an official that he was carrying marijuana. The US State Department had to be called in, but
142
• Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
Mitchum just responded “Don’t these people have a sense of humour?” He was a well-known practical joker. Carlos Dillon, who grew up overlooking Buccoo Bay, remembers it well. “My father’s boat was used to transport all the equipment while they were filming at No Man’s Land. As a child I used to sit in the bow of the boat, watching the actors do their scenes. It was magical.” Mr. Dillon got to know Mitchum, continuing to meet up with him whenever the Hollywood legend returned to the island. “The great thing was that Robert Mitchum, Rita Hayworth and the others just melted into the local scene. It was not unusual to see them limin’ with locals. I remember Robert Mitchum coming back from drinking on Pigeon Point. He crashed his car into a coconut palm on Pigeon Point Road.” Other tales of Mitchum’s excesses include a fight with three drunken sailors who challenged him. Mitchum won, adding to his legendary offscreen exploits. Tobago’s music scene also inspired Mitchum. He had already met the Calypso King of the World, The Mighty Sparrow, and Lord Invader, while filming Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. He spent much of his free time at local live music shows, listening to traditional calypso music and buying up local records. Back in the States, Mitchum went to singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer with the idea of doing a calypso album. Mercer told him to try Capitol Records. In March 1957 Mitchum recorded Calypso – Is like so, his own record of island tunes. The album (the cover shows a rum-drinking Mitchum and a dusky, exotic beauty) flopped, with some reviewers criticising Mitchum’s effort to reproduce the Trinbagonian cadence and dialect. Both Mitchum and Hayworth continued to return to Tobago, staying at the Blue Haven Hotel at Bacolet outside Scarborough. They knew the area well. The hotel, as well as Bacolet Beach, were locations during the filming of Fire Down Below. According to local legend, Mitchum would regularly get drunk and take a swing at any unfortunate guest who happened to become too friendly with his female companions. Taxi driver Cecil Lyons regularly drove for Mitchum and Hayworth. He recalled to a journalist that, “Robert Mitchum, he a man who like to move de hands fast, especially when someone talk to his woman.” Mr. Lyons also drove for British actor John Mills, who was on the island filming the 1960 Disney classic Swiss Family Robinson. Initially, the director Ken Annakin struggled to find the perfect location for the shoot, until a local in Trinidad suggested they try Tobago. Annakin and his team arrived on the island and fell in love with the scenery. Some of the shooting took place at Bacolet Beach, as well as other locations. Everything had to be shipped in from Trinidad, along with the dozens of animals which feature in the film. Shooting was often difficult. The actors did many of their own stunts, including being dragged through the sea, wading through swamps, and wrestling animals. They also weathered a typhoid epidemic and bad weather, which turned the set into a mud bath. But despite the challenges, the actors all grew to love the island. In his autobiography, Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen Please, John Mills says of Tobago, “Unlike a sugar island like Barbados, it was lush; the scenery was varied and very beautiful. I was lucky to see it before it became popular, with the inevitable golf course and noisy water sports. It was simple and totally unspoilt: miles of empty golden beaches lapped by the sea, which was full of exotic and highly-coloured fish that, as they were never shot, were so tame they poked their noses against our facemasks as we swam amongst them.” By Chris Morvan