Does anyone remember the World War 2 movie "Mister Roberts"?

For those who haven't seen it, here's a run down. Mister Roberts was a novel, then a Tony Award–winning play and later, a 1955 Academy Award–nominated film, all of which are set during World War II. The title character, a naval junior-grade lieutenant stands up for his crew against the petty tyranny of the ship's commanding officer.

Well, in the movie, Roberts' shipmate, Ensign Pulver, has grand plans on how he is going to get back at the captain, played by James Cagney. One of his ideas is to put marbles in the captain's overhead compartment. And for those who have sailed, you can imagine how much of a racket that would make.

Well, this is based on a true story. I'm sure there must be countless tales of this happening aboard ship, but on documented account in in the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailor".

It seems that the new captain of the USS Heerman was a bit of a tyrant and a stickler for the navy regs. While many a crew member, including junior officers, fantisized of the captain that accidentally "falling" overboard, they chose to wage a silent war. On one occasion, a daing crew member placed, you guessed it, marbles in the old man's overhead. In the rolling seas of the Pacific on a Fletcher class DD, this indeed drive the captain crazy. Proving once again that the truth can be not only stranger, but just as funny as fiction.

Gator

A good way to win a war!!
Did you loose your marbles, Sir?
:D

Skipper

Hey Kenny,

Thanks for the story....you are a never ending source of entertainment....
In the movie....didn't they end up sewing some marbles into the captain while he was opened up for surgery? Or is that a different movie? I remember Burl Ives as the captain.... So I am sure that it is a different movie. I have also seen the one with Cagney but it has been so long ago that I am getting the two blurred together.
They say the memory is the first thing to go....
:-)

Burl Ives was the Captain in the sequel, Ensign Pulver. It had a totally different cast, and wasn't nearly the movie the Mister Roberts was. The deal with the marbles being sewn into the Captain came from the Pulver movie.

Mister Roberts is on my all time favorites list. When I was a kid a local TV station played the same movie each night of the week. I watched it from beginning to end every night. I acted in a couple of scenes from the movie in high school drama class, and even directed one scene. It's a great movie.

Here's a tale from the days of sail.

The "Dundee Star", a scottish bark, abandoned by its crew in a gale off Midway Island, drifted completely around the world in 4 years and finally piled up in 1891 on Midway Island the very spot from which she started her phantom voyage.

later...Gator