Before I entered the Army I had never been on a plane or a train, had never left the United States, indeed had traveled little within the country. So it was an unforgettable experience for me to travel with friends and see some of the great cities of Europe. Berlin was a wonderful and enjoyable city to live in. An extra benefit was the chance to visit London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Vienna. My visit to London coincided with the official celebration of the queen’s birthday, which was colorful and crowded. Amsterdam and Vienna were fascinating. Paris, then as now, was special. There we did what young visitors have done for centuries: walked the cobbled streets, gaped at Versailles, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower, watched the passersby as we sat in the outdoor cafes, and lingered over conversation in inexpensive restaurants. Late one night, as we walked across one of the bridges over the river Seine toward our low-cost hotel, we saw bright lights and a small knot of people at the far end. Curious, we walked toward them and discovered that a scene was being shot for a movie. The film, later released as Anastasia, featured Ingrid Bergman, the beautiful and then famous Swedish actress. There were only a few members of the crew and spectators there, so we were able to stand right next to a camera on a large dolly and watch Bergman walk from the bridge down concrete steps toward the river. Then, suddenly, there was a pause in the filming, and there was Ingrid Bergman moving toward us. At first I thought it must be my imagination, but she was in fact looking right at me and then walking toward me. Although dressed in a long shabby coat with a kerchief over her head, with little or no makeup, she was as beautiful in person as she had been on the screen. She walked right up to me, pulled out a cigarette, and said, “Do you have a light?” My first thought was “This is what movies are made of. In the middle of the night, on a bridge over the river Seine, a famous forty-year-old actress asking an unknown twenty-two-year-old boy for a light!” I’ve never smoked, so I knew I didn’t have a lighter or any matches. Nevertheless, I went through the motions of going through all my pockets before I was forced to confess that I didn’t. But, hoping to prolong the moment, I pointed to a member of the crew standing a few feet away and said, “I’ll go ask him.”
“That’s okay,” she replied as she walked toward the man, “I’ll ask him.” She did, he had a lighter, and he lit her cigarette. I watched in silent dismay as they then engaged in conversation for several minutes until the filming resumed. When we left to return to our hotel we all laughed as my friends made fun of me, and I spent the night wondering what might have happened if I’d had the chance to talk with her. What a missed opportunity! For several years thereafter I made it a point to carry matches whenever I went out just in case I ran into Ingrid Bergman again. But, of course, I never did.