Pic of the Day: “The Boy and the Pirates” revisited

Today we revisit Bert I. Gordon‘s The Boy and the Pirates (1960). The boy, Jimmy (Charles Herbert), meets the pirates, including Morgan, Blackbeard (Murvyn Vye) and Snipe (Paul Guilfoyle). They appear to be skeptical of Jimmy’s claim that there is a genie (Joe Turkel) in that bottle.

The Boy and the Pirates

Vye appeared often in Broadway musicals, originating the role of Jigger Craigin in the 1945 production of Carousel. He also sang often in the movies (introducing the Gypsy tune “Golden Earrings” in the film of the same name), but usually ended up playing tough guys.

Pic of the Day: “The Boy and the Pirates” revisited

ACK! I knew there was one I forgot!! One last death scene, folks. This is from Bert I. Gordon‘s The Boy and the Pirates (1960). Morgan the pirate has just been shot by Captain Blackbeard (Murvyn Vye) as Hunter (Than Wyenn) wonders if he’s next.

The Boy and the Pirates

In his autobiography, The Amazing Colossal Worlds of Mr. B.I.G. (2009), Gordon wrote about the challenge of writing an unnamed “pirate actor” (which he later confirmed to me was indeed Timothy) out of the film, due to what he described as borderline violent behavior with the film’s young star, Charles Herbert. “When I gave him the new pages the next day,” Gordon relates, “he asked me how he could get killed in the beginning of the movie when, according to the screenplay, he appears in the rest of the film, until the end. Of course I lied. I told him the new scene was to be a new ending with his death at the very end. He bought it, and we quickly set up the scene on the ship’s deck… filmed it in record time… and our production manager quickly handed him his notice of completion.” Strange thing is, Morgan’s death does come very close to the end of the film. Herbert talked about his experience working with Tim here. He doesn’t mention Tim being too rough with him on the set, but he did find him rather scary!