Oxford University

by Ed Nelson

  We had lost a day crossing the International Date Line and the flight had taken another so by the time we arrived in Japan it was Wednesday. Welcomed at Narita airport by the State Department counterparts we were mercifully taken directly to a hotel where we all sleep for twelve hours. Of course, this had us all awake in the middle of the night.

  The hotel was geared for this and had their restaurant staffed to feed people in the middle of the night. I noticed airline crews from all over the world so this seemed to be a specialty of the house.

  We had no plans on Thursday as our bodies adjusted to the dramatically different time zone. Dad and I took a taxi tour of the city. On the advice of the concierge, we took several matchbooks from the hotel.

  The matchbooks had the hotel address on them in English and Japanese so worse came to worse we could show someone the matchbook and where we needed to go. Downtown Tokyo was amazing. I had never seen so many people on any street.

  We avoided street food vendors as we didn’t want to have upset stomachs. That was another piece of advice from our concierge. We did play the pachinko machines which were endemic to the area. I lost interest quickly as I wasn’t into this type of game. Dad went a little longer but lost his balls. Well, that’s how I put it.

  Friday we went to the Kantei building which is the office of the Prime Minister. It is close to the Diet, where the Japanese congress meets. Of course, we had a tour of both buildings and pictures taken. Somethings are the same the world over. Politicians and photos are one of them.

  Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi met us and we did the bowing thing then shook hands western style. We chatted for a while about such important things as how was our trip and what did we think of Japan so far. The trip was tiring and we loved Japan. What else could I say? This was all through an interpreter. I suspect his English was better than mine.

  We did this to allow time for the cameramen and film crews to get set up. Once they were ready we did the official exchanges. I presented my gift of an arrow from my movie mounted on a plaque with the occasion, participants and dates listed with the slogan, Moving Forward Together.

  The lead gentleman from the State Department made a speech on how this project would benefit trade between both nations. He was absolutely correct but why did he have to use so many words to say it?

  The Japanese surprised me with a gift of my own. The Prime Minister told me they had discussed it in great length as to what to get a young man of my age. He told me that a Geisha Girl came in second to what they decided upon. I wish…

  What they decided as appropriate was the highest Boy Scout award in Japan. It was the same as the American Eagle Scout Badge. So I was now a Kiku or Chrysanthemum Scout. It was a cool looking badge. The Chief Scout Executive of Japan pinned it to my suit lapel.

  After that, we were loaded into a series of limousines and given a tour of the dock area where our equipment was being installed. Again we chit chatted while waiting for the various camera crews to set up. I was asked about my future plans. When I told the Prime Minister I planned to attend Oxford he didn’t seem to happy. He thought I would do better at a Russian University.

  On the trip over I had been told about his pro-Nazi, pro-Russian stances and the fact he was a convicted war criminal who had seen the light as far as the United States was Japan’s best bet for recovery. The fact, Big Mo had sat in Tokyo Bay may have had something to do with that. Anyway, I knew not to touch politics with this guy.

  We walked around the harbor area with a lot of pointing at the new construction. Here Popeye was in his element pointing out all the different features of the new container systems. Once the footage was together I would be doing a voice-over and some quotes from the Prime Minister would be put in.

  We returned to the hotel which was set up for a press conference. I thought the questions would be put to Richard Jackson of Jackson Enterprises. Instead, they were all about Ricky Jackson the actor. A bunch of teenage girls had been let into one side of the room so there was a lot of commotion.

  I had experience at this so I got out with a whole skin and without saying anything bad about the Japanese. I did let it drop that my next movie, ‘Across the Ohio’ would have a surprise. This was at the request of Warner Brother’s publicity. They wanted to start to build some excitement even though the release wouldn’t be until the fall.

  At least the flight to Seoul South Korea didn’t take forever, it only seemed like it. There we met with President Syngman Rhee. The State Department representatives gave me an extensive briefing on this Harvard educated man. He had seen the history of this century made starting with US President Theodore Roosevelt and every one since.

  Rhee also led a corrupt government with dim prospects in the elections to be held next month. I was warned that the Rhee government would try to pry, steal, or extort everything they could.

  We weren’t given a day to acclimate. They took us directly from the plane to the Presidential Palace which was known for obvious reasons as the Blue House. Short speeches were given on how they looked forward to doing business with us.

  I was set aside as a child with no power. They wanted to talk to Dad. I was able to listen as they explained what would be needed to do business in South Korea. Dad stalled as the cameramen set up. Once that was done I was allowed to present my plaque. In turn, they must have paid attention to the Japanese as I was presented with the Tiger Scout award, the Eagle equivalent.

  Dad took the opportunity to ask me what I thought.

  “Get us out of this den of thieves. Maybe we can work with the new government.”

  Dad told them we were all very tired and needed to go to the hotel which had been reserved. They reluctantly let us go without making any commitments or writing any checks.

  The hotel was decent but I was glad I had listened to the State Department people who had told me to pack my own toilet paper. They had some, but it was more pulp than paper.

  At dinner, we were approached carefully by two gentlemen. They presented their cards. They were from the steel mill we wanted to buy. They appeared very nervous. A note was dropped on the table and they left.

  Dad collected the note and we read it after we returned to our rooms. The note said that the Rhee government was in no position to carry out any promises made and to please wait until after their elections before making a purchase offer.

  That was enough for us. Everyone was warned by a knock on the door that we would be flying out at six in the morning. There would be a bus at the front of the hotel.

  At six the next morning we slunk out of South Korea. No other way to put it, we cut and run. We would wait until after their elections to make contact again. There was consternation at the airport when we went to board our jet. We were told that we hadn’t been released. Dad and I argued with the customs agent while everyone boarded with their luggage and equipment. When we saw it was on board we walked away from him.

  He was still talking as we climbed the stairs to the aircraft. Dad had the foresight to bribe one of the gate crew to wheel the stairs away.

  Thus we left scenic South Korea. My list of almost visited countries was growing.

  Our next stop Hong Kong went as I had thought all our stops would. There was the official welcome after a decent rest. This time it was the Chief Scouts Award. The Hong Kong shipyards had made more progress than the Japanese. They actually were loading containers while we were there so there were some fantastic camera shots.

  The Royal Governor Robert Brown Black was a pleasure to talk to. It helps when you have folks in common like the Queen. We stayed at the Peninsula Hotel and were driven around in their fleet of Rolls Royce’s. That is one cool car. It was too staid for me but really cool. Maybe I should get one for Mum and Dad to keep in England. This being rich really makes you think differently.

  Again we were approached at the hotel. This time I even recognized the person. It was my dry cleaning lady! She said nothing as she passed by our table, dropping a note as she went.
Back in the room the note had told of mainland Chinese interest in updating Shanghai to a container port and would we be interested in a meeting. If so take a suit to the dry cleaner when I got back to the US.

  Dad and I immediately met with the State Department people. They were thrilled, to say the least. They had to pass it upstairs but they were confident that I would be taking a suit to the dry cleaners.

  Not that Dad and I were cynical but we also decided to call President Eisenhower when we were in Australia where there was a low chance of the phone being tapped.

  After Hong Kong, it was Taiwan where we met with Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek. He was very formal with us. I had been told that the US was providing foreign aid to modernize Taiwan as a bulwark against Communist China. This time I was given the National Flower or Plum Blossom Award, the same as our Eagle. I wouldn’t have room on my uniform for all of these. Even wearing the square knot ribbons would have rows down to my knees, well okay my belt line.

  They also had made progress on the use of containers. Like Hong Kong that didn’t have the huge overhead cranes installed yet so were using mobile ones. The ships couldn’t all take them in their holds but they were stacking them so high on the deck I thought they would tip over.

  Again you could tell Popeye was on top of all of this. I made a mental note to find out what we were paying him. I know that he was getting a percentage of the profits but he was going above and beyond.

  I would be so glad to get to Australia where we had three days scheduled off before we met with the government.

  Chapter 12

  The fight to Australia met my definition of a long flight. I slept on the floor a good part of the way. I was gradually adapting to the time change. When I first got to Japan it felt like I had the flu for the first two days. I was almost back to normal now.

  We stayed at a hotel right on Bondi Beach a suburb of Sydney. Canberra is the Capitol but the container facility is in Sydney so that is where our meetings were to be.

  It is really something waking up in February and going out on your hotel balcony to a wonderful summer day. I immediately did my exercises which had been done poorly at best on most of the trip. I then went on a run following the one-kilometer beach from end to end.

  The south end was a bit smelly as a sewer outfall was close to shore and the wind was blowing the wrong way. I decided not to swim in that area. The sweet spot of the beach for swimming and families was the center, no smells, and no rip tides.

  The north end had wicked rip tides that one had to be very careful with. To make up for it was some wonderful surfing. While I watched I saw a series of barrel waves I would love to have been riding.

  Instead, I went to breakfast. The rest of our crew was struggling down to the hotel restaurant. I sat with Dad and the gentleman from the State Department. I had been introduced to him but had promptly forgotten his name. Now I was too embarrassed to ask, so it was sir. I think he preferred this.

  Anyway, the man from State gave us a rundown of Robert Menzies. From a United States view, it was all good. It sounded as though he had a long and illustrious career in government and would continue on for some time. He was a huge fan of Queen Elizabeth so we had that in common.

  After breakfast, I excused myself and after changing went down to the beach and rented a surfboard. It was a wonderful day for surfing. I caught many a wave. I also had lunch with a couple of girls who were real lookers. It was a casual meeting on the beach and was destined to go nowhere but still, it was nice to talk to girls my age, especially pretty ones in bikinis.

  While we were eating a sour-faced man came up to us with a tape measure in hand. He had the girls stand up, and without touching measured the size of their swimsuits. I could hardly believe it but the town of Bondi Beach had swimwear regulations and enforced them. The girls didn’t seem bothered by this. It was a game to them to see how far they could push the rules. One of the girls Sheri told me that she wanted to go topless on the beach one day. I told her to let me know, I would fly back to Australia to view the occasion.

  We went to a steak place for dinner. This time it was Dad, Popeye, and Sharon Wallace. We reviewed what we wanted to accomplish here. Mainly it was the filming for the documentary but also for more government support for our project.

  Australia has very strong unions and they were resisting. Popeye’s strongarm could only reach so many people. We came up with a plan to present to Prime Minister Menzies. It was a combination of support for scholarships for the children of union employees and underwriting some of the cost for the containerization of ports in Malaya and Indonesia.

  Higher education was an interest of the Prime Minister, and the unions would like the scholarships. Australia had strong trade agreements with Malaya and Indonesia that would be helped by being able to handle containers. We hoped this would be enough to move the project along.

  The unions weren’t stonewalling it so it looked like they just were holding out for a little extra for their members. That was their job so we didn’t think of it as adversarial.

  Sharon was more interested in publicity for my upcoming movie. None of us could come up with anything that didn’t look contrived. The media would spurn anything that looked staged from the US. Sharon said she would call around the movie production companies and see what was being made currently.

  I spent the next day surfing some more. I paid a price, two days out in the sun and I had the worse sunburn I had in years. I wish they would come up with waterproof sunscreen. I had applied some before going into the water but it didn’t last.

  I quit after half a day in the water. At lunch, I looked for the two girls from yesterday but they weren’t to be found. It dawned on me later they probably had skipped school to go to the beach. What a life! In Bellefontaine about the only reason to skip school was the first day of hunting season.

  I had the bright idea of renting a plane and touring the area. For some reason, no one wanted to rent to a sixteen-year-old from another country. At least I had asked the concierge to call for me rather than driving all about.

  I was sitting by the pool under a shade when Sharon found me. It turned out that a movie, ‘The Sundowners,” was currently under production. It had Robert Mitchum and Peter Ustinov in it. They were doing some studio work and I was welcome to do a no-name walk on. The no-name part meant I would be in the movie but wouldn’t be acknowledged in the credits.

  This was fine. It would give a reason to bring up movies during a press conference. From there I could segue to, ‘Over the Ohio’, I was learning more, and more about how the movie business worked. Now if there was only a way to get this message out across the world.

  I was to be at the studio first thing in the morning for makeup. I was there early. It turned out they were giving me a line. I had to work hard to remember it, “Yes Sir.” I think I could handle it. However, that line had me receiving credit if the scene didn’t hit the cutting room floor. Even if it did we would have won because it gave us a current talking point. Later that was exactly how it turned out. I never appeared in the movie which was a shame. It was a hit.

  As normal the movie day, was hurry up and wait. It turned out that Mr. Ustinov knew Mum from the war. He had been involved with intelligence. He ran with David Niven and that crowd. I found out that Niven had made a pass at Mum and she shot him down. Literally, that is. If she really shot him he wouldn’t be here. She didn’t miss.

  That explained why Dad didn’t like Mr. Niven. I didn’t know what to make of it. It was hard to think of my parents and youthful romance.

  During the downtime, I saw a couple of the extras playing with a boomerang. I had read about them but had never seen one in action. They were kind enough to show me how to use it. I had to have some to take back to the US. They told me about a shop that sold the real thing.

  Apparently, there were several types. Returning which was mostly used for fun and non-returning which was used for hunting. The returning had more of a curve to the air
foil so it would come back. The hunting boomerang was basically a stick which could be hurled with enough force to bring down small game. Some hunters used a returning boomerang to flush birds out of hiding and then took them down with the hunting ones.

  I had my driver stop at the shop on the way home. I ended up spending a small fortune as they had them in many different sizes, shapes, and colors. They even had a small pink one which would be perfect for Mary. I paid them to wrap and ship them to Jackson House. The shop was run by an old aboriginal. I think I made his week, if not his month by the amount I spent.

  As I was leaving he handed the shop keys to his assistant and said, “Walkabout.”

  Maybe I made his year.

  The next day was a workday. Well, I had to do the official appearances.

  Mr. Menzies was the consummate politician. He was charming, knowledgeable and there was no doubt that he was as hard as iron. During our get to know you period he asked a lot of questions about my education. He had been briefed on the high lights but not the details.

  He knew that I had been on an aggressive course of self-study. He wondered if that could be instilled in students in Australia. When I told him about my run in’s with the Los Angeles school board he had to slow down. He didn’t want to have problems with the various Australian teacher’s unions.

  Even so, he appeared very impressed with what I had accomplished. I also told him how the container system had been developed. That I was working as a deckhand on a freighter when the idea occurred to me.

  He thought that was wonderful but asked how I took it from the idea stage to reality. Many people had good ideas but never made it happen. This led back to my having a team in place which started way back with the hairdryer. That was two years ago!

  I think he and I could have talked all day. We finally segued to business. Dad, Popeye and Mr. Goodson along with the State Department gentleman were there. Since I seemed to be on a roll I explained the problems we were having with the Australian dockworkers and construction crews slowing us down.