American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1945)

Aces of the Camera (Continued from Page 7) When the ship that carried the unit from Brisbane to Moresby arrived at its destination he was left on board, with two enlisted men, to look after the equip¬ ment and supplies. It turned out to be a brilliant tropic night, complete with full moon. Jack thought it was wonderful. And then he heard some of the Aus¬ tralian stevedores saying what a won¬ derful night it was for the Tojo Limited. The Tojo Limited? That, inquiry elicit¬ ed, was their name for a squadron of Jap bombers that visited the harbor at every opportunity. And such an oppor¬ tunity as the weather offered that even¬ ing the Aussies were sure would not be neglected. What had seemed like such an ideal night to Jack a few minutes previous¬ ly, now had all the earmarks of being one of the worst possible nights. The moon, which previously had only artistic and romantic appeal, now seemed to be a diabolical searchlight training its bril¬ liant light on his ship for the nefarious purpose of Tojo’s bombers. What an ex¬ cellent target that ship would be under such a moon, stuck out in the middle of the placid waters of Moresby Harbor. Jack could feel his stomach contracting as he weighed the possibilities open to him in case of attack. To stay on the ship, which was loaded with ammuni¬ tion and high-octane gas, or to take to the water which was full of man-eating sharks? Suddenly his stomach relaxed and the problem seemed too much; he went to sleep in the camera truck that was still lashed to the deck. And the Tojo Limited failed to come over that night. The magnificent work of the combat camera units throughout the various war theatres is too well known to need re¬ peating here, and the story of Jack Greenhalgh’s unit with the 5th A.A.F. cannot yet be told. But besides their ground and aerial combat duties it can be revealed that they covered their area for general news events that concerned the Allied armed forces, much as a newsreel man covers his beat at home, made films on ordnance tests, and on-thespot movies of improvements or new de¬ velopments in battle or battlefield tech¬ nique. By way of illustration, two films that Jack made while he was in New Guinea: one was on the right as well as the wrong way to drop supplies to isolated groups of men in the jungle. Made right in the fighting area, under actual, not simulated, conditions, it was sent to Washington where it was studied, and the lessons it taught passed on to those who needed the information. Another was on how to convert a jeep into an ambu¬ lance — quickly, under field conditions. It had been something the brasshats had been wanting to know for a long time, and then one day, under the stern prod¬ ding of necessity, a G.I. in New Guinea discovered how to do it. So, Jack and his boys made a film showing just how it was done, and sent the film to Wash¬ ington. And that information was also passed on. Jack says the army was a great ex¬ perience. And although there were many incidents that he wouldn’t care to live over he wouldn’t have passed it up for the world. He’s only sorry his carcass wouldn’t stand up better under the rigors of the life out there. Jack came to Hollywood from San Antonio, Texas, in 1923 and got his start in pictures as Ross Fisher’s assistant. He had gone with his father to visit the company on location at Lake Sher¬ wood, then called Las Turas Lake, and fell heir to the job when the regular as¬ sistant failed to show up. It was a fill-in job that turned into a fulltime position on the series which Harry Joe Brown was producing, and A1 Rogell directing. And while Jack was the regular assist¬ ant now he was still expected to fill in for the stunt men when they failed to make the grade. There was the time a spectacular shot had been planned from the top of the Flatiron Building, the tallest structure in Los Angeles at the time. It called for the stunt man to descend from the roof by a rope, pick up a girl from one of the windows on the way, and carry her down to the ground. Everything worked out splendidly until the stuntman got up on the roof and looked down the ten stories to the sidewalk below. Some¬ thing happened to his insides and he re¬ fused to do the stunt. A1 Rogell raised an eyebrow and looked meaningly at Jack. So Jack carried the heroine down the rope. Then there was the time that the script called for the hero to speed up to a moving train on a motorcycle and climb aboard. But the stuntman hired for that occasion, though he raced along by the side of the train, couldn’t make up his mind to change vehicles. So once more the Rogell eyebrow was raised and the meaningful looked cast in the direc¬ tion of the assistant cameraman. “But I’ve never even been on a motorcycle,” Jack remarked, as casually as he could. “Well, don’t worry,” Rogell told him, “the second section of the train won’t be along for five minutes and anyone can learn to ride one of the things in that time. All you do is twist this and shove in that . . . .” He made it. As second cameraman Jack went with the Fred Thompson Company. And when Fred Thompson died he went to Pathe for his first experience with sound; on a picture starring Constance Bennett and Regis Toomey which Norbert Brodine photographed. He was with First National in 1930, and with Fox in ’32. In ’35 he went to Panama as second man to Edgar Lyons to shoot “Go Get ’em Haynes,” starring Bill Boyd. It was one of the pictures that put Republic in business. When P.R.C. started, Sig Neufeld called Jack to shoot their first picture, “The Beast of Berlin”; and he was shoot¬ ing on that lot until Uncle Sam called. And two days after his medical dis¬ charge Sig Neufeld called him back to work. He hopes all the other boys will receive such considerate treatment when they come home. Eugene Lauste (Continued from Page II) movements or motions of persons or objects and the sounds produced by them.” Other excerpts from the patent papers, “It is obvious therefore that no true record or reproduction of the sound waves could be made by any mechanical process or means in which a hard sub¬ stance, necessary to make the impres¬ sion comes in contact with another hard substance, such for instance as the re¬ cording or reproducing pin of the phono¬ graph or gramophone, because the fric¬ tion caused between the two hard sub¬ stances itself creates sound waves which accompany, vary or modify, the sound waves which it is desired to record and reproduce and are recorded and repro¬ duced with the latter, proving detri¬ mental to their true reproduction. The record therefore must be taken or pro¬ duced without any contact between the medium caused to vibrate by the sound waves and the record or recording sub¬ stance.” In 1908 a paper was drawn, accrediting Eugene Augustin Lauste with the Photocinematophone, A Revolution in Living Pictures, A Revolution in Talking Ma¬ chines, A Cinematograph and Photophonophone Combined. “The Most Marvel¬ ous and Interesting Scientific Invention of the Age,” and inside the paper, the following, “Plays in their entirety, both as to sound and action will be handed down to posterity, and operas, complete in every detail, can be reproduced thous¬ ands of miles away, in the heart of Africa or in the wilds of Australia, with¬ out the presence of a single actor or the assistance of a super; it will be possible for the strains of an orchestra of one hundred performers, or the voices of a chorus of one thousand strong, with all the actions inseperable from the performance of large members to be carried to the earth in the space of about twelve inches square and released and given to the world time after time with hardly any further trouble than is necessary for showing an ordinary Magic Lantern.” In 1909 Eugene Lauste, his meager savings going fast and still working in London, advertised for capital and here is one of the advertisements as it appeared, “Ten gentlemen, with 200 pounds each, REQUIRED to form syn¬ dicate, to demonstrate and license val¬ uable patent for which there is world (Continued on Page 28) 18 January, 1945 • American Cinematographer