Business screen magazine (1946)

ida Indonesia Airways, took up a caclini: that woiikl hriny lis to the |iblccl islanii of Bali. I Near Dcnpasar — principle eily of iali — the niajestie Bali Beach Hotel ises at the water's edge, supplying ven the most discriminating traveller ith luxurious services and accomlodations. This would be "base imp" for our stay in Bali as we fol>wed Syhic into Hindu temples, lopping the hotel arcades and dining ivestern style" in the Bali Beach's ajah Room — a restaurant of magnifent proportions. There we were able to capture on Im both ends of the cultural ethic in ali. At one end was the staging and Iming of the traditional Balinese ance of welcome — the "Pendet" ance — while later that night, working ) lip-sync playback, a trio of singers I the hard "rock" tradition belted out 3ngs of the times to enthusiastic auiences. Bali, the magic island had again orked its spell on us but we were rought back to reality by having to ;pack all the equipment and board a iaruda DC-8 at one-thirty in the lorning for the long haul to Sydney, ustralia — next location on the itin■ary. Sydney at that time of year — July -was enjoying its winter. Tlie average [juiperature of 40 degrees fahrenheit I'as a far cry from the furnace-like .•mperatures of Bali and Sylvie. never aving experienced the cold, simply livered and got on with the job. Then, two days later we were deositcd in Singapore which turned out 1 be hotter even than was Bali. By lis time the director and cameraman crc fading just a bit but Sylvie smiled cr incomparable smile and — got on ^ith the job. I The famous "Tiger Balm Gardens" l-a sort of Oriental Knott's Berr\ farm — was the locale for a number if scenes as were numerous other lolations in the city during our two day *:ay. A telephone ringing insistently in the hour before dawn in Singapore signals another early morning departure. Again. Halliburton ca.ses. cast and crew board a Garuda lX'-9 — this time for a three hour flight back into Indonesia to an island lying to the north of Java. Sumatra, the "Young Giant" nearly four times the size of Java, is the fifth laru'csl island in the world. Sylvie SuradjI in typical Balinese dress. We would touch down at Medan, a seventy year old city on the Delhi River. Because our next destination was some hundred miles overland our usual complement of equipment, baggage and crew — now augmented with the addition of another half-dozen P.R. types, government officials and local Garuda representatives — were loaded into a caravan consisting of four ancient taxis and a wheezing land rover for the trip inland to one of the most beautiful places on this earth. Lake Toba, formed by the cataclysmic explosion of a volcano some 375 thousand years ago, lies like a PENNSYLVANIA'S MAJOR PRODUCTION COMPANY Motion picture and videotape productions for INDUSTRY— EDUCATION— TELEVISION H. G. PETERS & CO., INC./525 Mildred Ave./Primo$, Pa. 19018 (215) 626-6500 (18 min. from downtown Phila.) jewel embedded in the mountains of Northern Sumatra. Its quiet beauty, devt)id of all but the most meager commercial trappings, is a film maker's paradise. Scouting locations in an open boat we explored cliffs and coves where white faces are seldom seen. In point of fact, as our boat neared one promising location, the "Toba People" we had seen watching us earlier disappeared into the tangle of foliage at thLwater's edge. When we questioned our boat's helmsman he explained that these shy people — only fifty years removed from cannibalism — were wary of the "Magic " of alien visitors. Nonetheless, we were able the next day to capture on film some of the most interesting footage exposed thus far on our odyssey using Sylvie in Sumatranese costume and in modern dress to delineate the duality of cultures now present in the Lake Toba area. Climbing out of the valley of the lake the next morning, we looked back on its crystal depths with a real sense of regret at having to leave it behind. With the smell of jet fuel (always an exotic one for this writer) hanging in the moist evening air at Medan Airport, jet engines once again came up to take-off power and we were airborne on a southerly track inlxiund to Djakarta. Four more days of intensi\e shooting in and around the new Garuda facilities and the city itself added more red lines through those portions of the script marked "O.K. — Completed." For some strange, sadistic reason it ' seems that all the world's airlines have made it mandatory for international travellers to arrive at airports in the wee small hours of the morning. And so it was that we few, we happy band of brothers and Sylvie, arrived in the pre-dawn darkness at continued on page 108 JACOBY/ STORM PRODUCTIONS Westport, Conn. We'll show you the way, the why and the how INDUSTRIAL, DOCUMENTARY, EDUCATIONAL FILMS Live Sounds Without Live Costs write or call for free catalog Milton B. Kaye yht**iQ* CORPORATION 117 W.jt 46lh StrMt N.W York, NY. 10036 (21J) 76S-1742 sole U.S. Distributor of the Chappell Recorded Background Music Library lovember December, 1971 107