Thursday, September 4, 2008

Movie Stars

Sometime in the early sixties, a team from the Combat Camera Group out of Japan arrived in Taipei to make a movie about how young American military people spent their leisure time. I guess they somehow got the idea that leisure time might be spent at one of the local clubs. Hard to believe.

Anyway, Sarj Bloom took these photos while the crew was on location at a bar near the compound. The PH2 in uniform was Sarj's buddy "Zip" Zimmerman, another USTDC photo lab type.

For those of you under the age of 55, that dance move was part of a dance called "The Twist," which was a big hit by Chubby Checker back in the day. You sort of pivoted back and forth on the balls of your feet and...well anyway, we considered it pretty cool as I recall.

Sarj doesn't think that the movie was ever released, so I guess all these folks had to keep their day jobs...or night jobs, as the case may be.








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12 comments:

  1. Anonymous04 September, 2008 18:34

    Nice photos.

    The lady dancing with ZIP in the first four photos is beautiful and Hot (weather in Taiwan of course).

    That's my only comment....

    I dare not say more.

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  2. Sarj Bloom04 September, 2008 19:50

    I knew one of these ladies pretty well, I'm just not going to tell you which one.
    I still think that the Chinese Qipao or Ch'i-p'ao is one of the sexiest dress's ever made. Especially on a young woman.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qipao

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  3. titojohn06 September, 2008 11:13

    Sarj,
    Do you remember the name of the place (bar) that the pictures were taken? I used to run the bars in my early days there. :)

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  4. Sarj Bloom06 September, 2008 13:13

    You know I have tried to remember the name of the bar but just can't.
    I know it was not far from the Navy Club and on a side street off of Chung Shan N. Rd. Maybe a couple of miles from the compound on the right side of the road heading south towards downtown. As I remember it was very popular and close.

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  5. Anonymous06 September, 2008 17:28

    Was it the Hollywood Bar just behind the Green Garden Hotel?

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  6. titojohn06 September, 2008 18:25

    Sounds like Fu Shun Street, the same street that China Post was/is located. I kinda remember the Playmate and another small bar down in that neck of the woods. Isn't is strange how almost 50 years can cloud ones memory? :)

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  7. Sarj Bloom06 September, 2008 19:28

    George, I can't be 100% sure but Hollywood Bar rand a bell. That could be it.

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  8. Don06 September, 2008 20:08

    I was stationed on Okinawa as a young and single airman in 1963-64, so I pretty much had all the bar-hopping out of my system by the time I got to Taipei in 1973.

    But one Saturday, my fellow Air Force friend Larry Sherman and I were walking around town and he wanted to stop at one of the local watering holes for a quick drink.

    I don't remember much about the place, but what I do remember is that one of the hostesses stuck her finger in my glass to stir the ice. That was my first and last visit to a Taipei bar. :0

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  9. titojohn09 September, 2008 10:05

    The more I look at the pictures, I am reminded of the New York Bar.

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  10. Sarj Bloom09 September, 2008 11:06

    New York bar.........even that strikes a cord with me....That maybe it ....it settles better with me than Hollywood.

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  11. Don10 September, 2008 16:02

    Though I didn't know much about the local bar scene, the guys up at Linkou obviously did. You can view photos of several establishments at this link:

    http://members.tripod.com/Shulinkou/dawg10.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. titojohn12 September, 2008 09:14

    Thanks, Don. Those pictures brought back many old memories that I had long forgotten.

    ReplyDelete

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