Spartacus remains a film I return to if only for that scene at the end where a dozen or so men stand up and proclaim, “I am Spartacus”.
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Roman soldier, circa 1975 |
In my case the first time will have been 1960 at the Metropole Cinema on Victoria Street which was followed by a journey in the cab of a train from London Bridge home to Peckham.
And it is one of those things that I have no memory of the film, the cinema or even the journey up to town.
The premiere had been on December 7th and regular showings followed which means it was less a birthday present and more a treat after the event as I was 10 in the October.
I don’t think mum told me what was happening and even now I can’t be sure it was London Bridge Railway Station. Waterloo would have been closer but we may have got the Underground or perhaps even the bus.
But what has stayed with me was the trip home.
Mother with that impetuous side to her character, asked the train driver if I could sit in the cab for the trip back to Queens Road Railway Station.
It must have broken every rule in the book, and I can’t even be sure she stayed with me, which today would be unheard of.
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Lightening the dark, 1981 |
Now the journey from London Bridge to Queens Road is a short one … just about eight minutes with one intervening stop. All of which is a blur other than the speed, the lights and the oncoming trains.
A full 66 years later that is what I remember about the evening.
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The baker Terentius Neo with his wife circa 79 AD |
Kirk Douglas who played Spartacus and produced the film hired Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted as one of the "Hollywood 10". And because of his non status, Mr. Trumbo was paid using his pseudonym "Sam Jackson".
Douglas insisted that Trumbo be given screen credit for his work, which helped to break the blacklist.Trumbo had been jailed for contempt of Congress in 1950, after which he had survived by writing screenplays under assumed names. Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus.[25] Further, President John F. Kennedy publicly ignored a demonstration organized by the American Legion and went to see the film.*
Romans against Spartacus, 1975 |
So best that most of those memories are lost and instead I can be happy with that short train journey through the night on a birthday treat.
Leaving me just to reflect that like so many recollections the images that instantly spring to mind can not be preproduced.
Stuff from Spartacus remains copyright, and there is no time to ask cinema TREASURES for permission to use their picture of the Metropole.
Added to which one agent is advertising Spartacis posters at a cool £200 a piece which prompt that thought .... what price my nostagia? To which there is the cost of that journey, which in 1960 would have cost one shilling, or 5p and now would set me back £4.68.
Best stay with the memory.
Location; London 1960
Pictures; Airfix models of a Roman solddier, circa 1975,the baker Terentius Neo with his wife. Italian National Archaeological Museum of Naples (cat. no. 9058 ) and Lightening the dark, 1981
*Spartacus (film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus_(film)
** Metropole Cinema, 160 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 5LB, cinema TREASURES https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3770