Description:

Kennedy John



PT-109 Movie Script and Comic Books Owned by JFK's Skipper "Barney" Ross

 

A Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. movie script and three period comic books retelling the story of the PT-109, all personally owned by George H.R. "Barney" Ross, one of its surviving crew members. From the estate of "Barney" Ross.

 

Featuring an original Warner Bros. Pictures shooting script entitled "PT 109," marked "3RD REV. FINAL," and dated June 15, 1962. The 134pp script by screenwriter Richard L. Breen was Ross's personal copy, and he copiously annotated it in pencil and blue pen. Its yellow soft cover wrappers show expected heavy wear. Edges lined with tape and binding with hole punch reinforcements, else very good to near fine. 8.5" x 11.5" x 1".

 

Also including three PT-109 comic books. Two copies of Dell Publishing Co.'s Combat, No. 4 issued in June 1962, one with vividly colored and intact soft cover wrappers, the other with a detached and partly torn front cover, missing back cover, and restapled binding. One copy of Gold Key / Warner Bros. published in September 1964, incorporating the movie's official poster and several black and white press release photos.

 

The loss of the PT-109 had all the narrative elements of a superb adventure story: a catastrophic explosion and shipwreck; an exciting and unpredictable rescue; and acts of heroism, physical endurance, and ingenuity. Its storybook characters included the young and handsome Commander Kennedy, his nefarious enemies the Japanese, and his unexpected indigenous allies. In the 20 years following the event, Kennedy and others used the story of the PT-109 for their own ends. For Hollywood, television, and the comic pulp press, the PT-109 represented unlimited entertainment potential.

 

Warner Bros. released its feature-length film PT-109, an adaptation of Robert L. Donovan's non-fiction account of the PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II, in June 1963. The 140-minute-long movie filmed in Panavision and technicolor had blown through a $4 million budget and did not recoup its costs. Cliff Robertson played John F. Kennedy, Robert Culp played "Barney" Ross; Errol John played Benjamin Kevu; and "Barney" Ross played the uncredited role of Chief Petty Officer Benson. Critics favorably reviewed Robertson's performance, but audiences did not like its long running time.

 

"Barney" Ross, having personally survived the collision, sinking, and rescue, reviewed the movie script closely. His margin notes point out factual inaccuracies, such as when the script has he and Kennedy drinking out of a "can of water" instead of a 55 gallon drum. He also weighed in as a technical advisor, changing references from knots to RPM, for example, or from "signal lamp" to "search light" on page 74. Ross apparently even rewrote his own lines. Take for instance his recommended change on page 76 from "ROSS: (lowers glasses) I don't know Harris. Just once I'd like to find out what's going on in this war without having to write home" to what he felt was the superior: "Lowreys [sic] off that way -- It's so darn dark."

 

Ross took strong objection to the last part of the script, notably the lines which portrayed him as dissuading Kennedy from swimming to other islands. Ross wrote several angry notes in the margins, such as "Didn't argue / not factual / lousey" on page 109. Ross especially hated the script's directive that Kennedy adopt a Texan accent in a scene on page 113. Ross wrote: "Corney / JFK wouldn't ever do that."

 

The film's protagonist is described in the script as: "A lean, junior naval officer in his mid-twenties. Purpose, leadership, and good humor are manifest. His background, a matter of public record." The real-life "Barney" Ross had a brief cameo as Benson, upon whom Kennedy accidently upends a bucket of paint solvent on page 23. Kennedy also has several memorable exchanges with a character named Yeoman Rogers, who represents the archetypical American sailor. Other crew members include an ex-refrigerator repairman cum torpedoman and a cook selected for his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The film excels in portraying Kennedy as the infinitely likable leader of a ragtag crew, truly the Navy's leftovers.

 

Kennedy and his 12-person crew had patrolled the waters off the Solomon Islands in the PT-109, their heavily armed 80' long motor torpedo boat, during the spring and summer of 1943. In the early morning hours of August 2, 1943, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri rammed the PT-109, cutting it in half and killing two crew members, near the Japanese-held island of Kolombangara. PT-109 survivors hid on nearby Plum Pudding Island, Olasana Island, and Naru Island in the Blackett Strait to scavenge for supplies and reconnoiter rescue over the next several days. More than once, and despite reinjuring his back in the collision with the Amagiri, Kennedy towed the badly burned machinist Patrick H. McMahon on his back gripping only the life jacket strap between his teeth. The dangers were numerous: Japanese vessels, crocodiles, and sharks infested the South Sea waters.

 

Kennedy and the 10 survivors were eventually rescued on August 8, 1943 after a remarkable sequence of events that culminated in a S.O.S. message carved into a coconut shell!  Solomon Islanders Benjamin Kevu, Eroni Kumana, and Biuku Gasa were instrumental in achieving their rescue. The trio relayed messages to Australian coast watchers like "Reg" Evans, delivered relief supplies, and transported the survivors in a canoe to safety.

 

Ensign George Henry Robertson "Barney" Ross (1918-1983) was an itinerant skipper and PT-109 survivor. Ross accompanied Kennedy on August 5th reconnaissance mission to Naru Island, and was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. In 1959, Kennedy asked Ross to help him drum up support for his presidential campaign, and during his administration, Ross served as a special committee adviser.

 



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