Cunard Yanks

An interview with former Cunard Yanks, recorded at the Liverpool History Show, St Georges Hall in 2006.

Liverpool in the late 40's through the 50's to the early 60's had almost 25,000 seamen sailing from what was then one of the largest seaports in the world.

This interview is part of the personal history of some of those young men, focusing mainly on members of the catering staff, waiters, cooks, stewards, who sailed from Liverpool to America. ...........and because they copied the Americans' style, their dress, their music, and often their manner, they were called Cunard Yanks.

The clip, inspired by the Cunard Yanks film/DVD, is about them, told through stories, recollections and memories of a group of their former shipmates, Cunard Yanks walked the same streets together in New York, Montreal, and Liverpool. They chased the best looking girls in local dance halls such as the Grafton, Locarno, Reeces and many others. Most of them sailing from Liverpool in the late 40's and early 50's were 15 and 16 year olds. They were leaving the City still scarred and battered from the war, so it wasn't surprising that when they docked in America , particularly in New York, they were like kids in a giant candy store. Everything seemed bigger, brighter, better.

In this interview former Cunard Yanks talk about how they worked, how they played, dressed and danced, what they thought, and some of the things they did and brought home.

With special thanks to Ritchie Barton for permission to use material from http://www.cunardyanks.org/index.htm

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