I was in the navy from 1968-72. In April of 1971 my ship the USS Dennis Buckley was in Hong Kong for a two week stay. One day a casting director came aboard and talked to the crew about being extras in a episode of a new TV series which would air the next fall starring Shirley McLaine. Many of us volunteered and spent several days being extras in front of the cameras. I spent almost everyday hanging with the camera crew, because of a keen interest in film making. I enjoyed meeting Shirley, Sheldon Leonard the producer, Ralph Levy the director. Most of all I enjoyed visiting British Director of Photography Allan Hume. I remember seeing British actor Joe Baker and Jacque Chan. They filmed three episodes in Hong Kong: "Figuratively Speaking" and "Follow that Rickshaw" (I forgot the name of the other one.) I know they had filmed already in London, and they were scheduled to go to Japan when they left Hong Kong. That fall the show was cancelled after 5 or 6 shows.

--Harold

That fall when Shirley's World aired, I was glued to the set. I do remember the first two episodes were London episodes. I'm not for sure but I think the third and forth might have been Hong Kong episodes. In those days there were no VCR's, but I do have audio recordings of the Hong Kong (where I was stationed) episodes. I have a lot of production stills of the camera crew. They were very nice to me and let me become an honorary crewmember. Because of union rules I wasn't allowed to carry the equipment. I was asked to be an extra a few times, and the money was great for what I had to do. I remember one day we were at Tiger Balm Gardens, and they wanted me to act like a photographer photographing a Chinese girl on the walkway at the entrance of the "Gardens" while Shirley and another actor passed by us. I should have got an Emmy for my performance! I shot a whole roll of film of the girl. One night down on the waterfront, they dressed a crane operator, who was a big Chinese man, in a wig and white dress so "Shirley Logan" could solve the mystery of the week by lifting the bad guy up in the air. I don't remember if they were dumped in the water or just suspended high over the pier. During the whole time on the set, I had never approached Ms McLaine. One day at lunch, I was sitting at the tables where the crew were catered. Most had already returned to work, and I was by myself looking at some slides I had just got back that day of shots I'd taken a few days earlier. I was aware of someone sitting down at the table, and looked to see it was Shirley McLaine! She looked at me and said, "Who are you anyway." I explained about being a sailor who worked in the background last week, and how I was interested in filmmaking, etc. She wanted to look at my slides and we visited for about 10 minutes. When she left I gave her a couple of slides she liked.

--Harold