PAGE 4 THE CAYMANIAN WEEKLY NOVEMBER 9, 1966 Close-Up - ROBIN MOORE
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I gave Mr. Johnson a copy of my previous book, "The Devil to Pay" which is about the Castro Revolution in Cuba, and he read it during the evenings or sometime before he left Ja. He was receptive to my idea of becoming an ex officio member with the U.S. Army Special Forces who, due to my book, are now called "The Green Berets" because they wear a green beret. It was Vice-Pres. Johnson, now Pres. who took the time to talk to me in Ja. and gave me the opportunity to write the book.
I had to be allowed to go to Jump School at Fort Benning and to the Guerilla Training Sch. at Fort Bragg, N. Carolina. They took me with them for 6 months to Vietnam where I fought with special forces troops with guns, knives, bamboo spears - you name the weapon - I used them, and this is how I got my information to write my book. When I came back to Ja. to write the book I never completely lost my interest in the development of underdeveloped areas and that is one of the reasons why I am in Grand Cayman right now. It is a beautiful country, a beautiful colony, the people are industrious and one of my big reasons for being here is that I would like to come to write my next book. I would also like to see if I couldn't perhaps negotiate another hotel operation as I did in Ja. Sheraton which was founded by my father.
My brother is now the chief legal adviser to the Company and is interested in development in the Caribbean. We are in Ja. and San Juan, Puerto Rico and we are going in to one or two other situations in the Caribbean. I think that this beautiful island of Grand Cayman should be the next target for the Sheraton Task Force and I would sort of consider myself one of the advance group of it. When questioned about the movie now being filmed on this book, Mr. Moore explained, "John Wayne, we call him 'the Duke', Duke Wayne bought the movie rights to "The Green Berets" and is starting the film next month. He is finishing up a movie right now in Mexico and I am meeting him in Hollywood to-morrow (31st Oct.). We spent 8 months writing the script - I was on the long distance telephone between Ja. and Hollywood daily - and I am now going to help the Duke with the script and also assist the technical director. I expect to be commuting between Ja Gr. Cayman, New York and Hollywood, keeping all my operations going. The movie looks like its going to be a winner.
Besides John Wayne himself as the star, he's got Lee Marvin in it Steve MacQueen to play one of the Sergeants who I made quite a character in the book; Jimmy Stewart who is playing a cameo part as a General; and Hugh O'Brien. Bob Mitchum is trying to get in it and I hope he does. I don't know where they'd put him but I think he'd be a good addition to the cast. However, this is none of my doing. I have no say about the cast, my job is to make sure that when they shoot somebody they use the right weapon at least and if somebody steps in a booby trap that it is the type of booby trap that I have seen and almost stepped in myself!! It will be a great movie. It is going to be filmed in Hollywood and in either Panama or the Phillipines. I'm wishing for Panama. I tried to get it in Ja. Anyway it will be in this part of the world a lot of the time and I would like to bring a whole mob over to Cayman sometime for a little party here and let them see what a great island, great beach, good people, how pleasant they would enjoy it over here. Duke Wayne has a lovely boat, a re-converted minesweeper, which is always looking for a place to go, and I think he could find a nice harbour here in Cayman and wish to bring his boat. Another interested listener asked how the song, "The Ballad of The Green Berets" came to be written and to be such a top selling record. Mr. Moore said, "One day I heard Sgt. Barry Sadler strumming this on a very poor grade guitar git-fiddle as he called it. He said he called it, "The Ballad of the Green Berets'.
I listened to it and thought it was pretty good but the lyrics could be improved so I rewrote all the lyrics and I then took his music and my words, got a pretty good. Combo to record it and then took it to RCA Victor Recording Co. They listened to it, thought it was good and said they would take a chance. One of the reasons why they took a chance was because they figured that if my book could sell a million copies with Sgt. Sadler's picture on the front they would take and use the same cover that was on the paper-back as the cover for their record album, and figured that they could at least sell enough copies to get off the nut of an album and of a single record. At the present moment the ballad in RCA recordings has already sold over 5 million copies - 3 million singles and 2 million albums and there have been 75 other recordings by different artistes and different record companies, all of which have been bestselling records. This was probably the bestselling, most unusual record and piece of music that has come out in the last decade.
It was a phenomena. It was considered by the industry as one of those things that comes along about every 10 years. It is not done by a professional, sort of one of those things which we all got together and worked on and hit with the war in Vietnam and everywhere else and that is how "The Ballad of the Green Berets" came about. I think that it is a good omen that I arrived in Gr. Cayman for the first time with my good friend from Ja. Arnold Foote Jnr. He has now opened a branch of his Advertising Agency in Cayman which I think bodes well for the industry and the merchants of Cayman as Junior probably knows more about marketing than any other advertising and sales executive in the Caribbean area. As a matter of fact I am a member of the Board of Directors of Juniors company and am proud to be.
We are hoping not only to get a Hotel going here in Cayman but we have many other ideas where we can expand our interests. We have proved ourselves able to produce in Ja. and we hope to do the same here in Grand Cayman and that is why I am here on a Sunday afternoon on my way to Hollywood."
