American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

WHAT ABOUT THE COST? (Continued from Page 85) practical instructors and sometimes we have had the brains to listen. And diplomacy — this is important. Its use must he known and practiced. Arthur Hornblow, Jr. for some twenty years has been going through the pro¬ cess of putting films on paper and then onto the screen. So he is an experienced man in all phases of our work, in¬ cluding diplomacy. But his skill was sorely tested some years ago by a young Berkshire shoat. A shoat — and I explain this only because some of you may not know — is a young pig. This was a Berk¬ shire shoat and his name was Wafford. Mr. Hornblow at that time was mak¬ ing a musical picture for Paramount and it involved the services of Mr. Robin Burns, the Arkansas folklorist and bazooka virtuoso. Mr. Burns, por¬ traying his familiar character, had scenes with young Wafford and they got along famously. Scene after funny scene was run off before the cameras and those concerned were in high glee as they looked at the rushes day after day. Wafford’s trainer was a dour fellow (which is a trait common to those who train shoats) but he was momentarily uplifted by these glowing reports of his young charge until that horrible mo¬ ment when he heard that a donkey in the picture was receiving more money per week than Wafford. This man’s un¬ happiness was, by that rapport which exists between animals and their train¬ ers, communicated to Wafford. Next day Wafford did not appear for work. He was sick. “Sick?” said Mr. Hornblow, “then we will secure the best veterinarian in this area and minister to his ailments.” The trainer protested but Mr. Hornblow insisted, for it was the studio’s right to examine its actors if they became ill. The veterinarian reported that Wafford was not oidy in the bloom of youthful health, but that for a shoat, he was amazingly intelligent. “Yes, I know that and that’s the trouble,” said his trainer. “Wafford has heard some things in the studio that have made him unhappy. It’s that kind of sickness.” There was, of course, no time to ar¬ range for a psychoanalytic treatment to root out the deep-seated cause of Waf¬ ford’s unhappiness so Mr. Hornblow, thinking fast, asked the trainer if he knew the cause. The trainer did. Hp said that jealousy of the more highly-paid mule was responsible, and what could be done about. Mr. Hornblow was not stumped. As producers sometimes must, he had a ready answer. The mule, he explained, was five years old and had spent much of that time in learning to do many of the stunts required by his role. Wafford is but eight months in this world ; he has a great comedian to help him in his scenes — he is being well paid for one so young and certainly by the time he is 5 years old, he, too, will be commanding a larger salary. The trainer looked into Mr. Hornblow’s eyes and saw no sympathy. “Tell Wafford this and tell him to keep trying,” Mr. Hornblow said. This message was carried back to Wafford, who digested it. Being an in¬ telligent young pig he took the advice, finished out his role and achieved such memorable success that when he had reached his growth the Fox Studios summoned him — at a salary befitting a five year old Berkshire — for a part in their musical version of “State Fair.” That was a digression, wasn't it? Well, a conclusion to such random re¬ marks would be that we are now at that stage when a picture is ready to start shooting — when the details of prepara¬ tion have been concluded and the direc¬ tor is ready to take over on the stages and the producer’s task will be to ob¬ serve and see that each carefully laid plan comes out on film as it was in spirit communicated to the paper. I have written only of generalities, for there is not time to cover both gen¬ eralities and detail. As to the attention to detail: by being eternally unsatisfied with the cliche and the hackneyed in both the script and in the shooting will give the completed product its quality — if you start with a subject and theme worth doing at all. A NEW MOTION PICTURE that demon¬ strates possibilities of high-speed motion picture photography is now available from Eastman Kodak Company, Roches¬ ter, New York. The fifteen minute film Magnifying Time With The Kodak High-Speed Camera , which is in 16mm sound, begins with the statement that time is no longer bound by the clock; that time control is now possible with a high-speed motion picture camera. To prove the point, and to show var¬ ious applications of the camera, the film proceeds to illustrate how every move¬ ment from dropping an egg in a frying pan to the implosion of a TV tube can be slowed down to a snail’s pace for leisurely study and analysis. The film is available on free loan to business, industry and schools. 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