The Cine Technician (1943 - 1945)

1 1 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN May— June, 1944 where they'd been told before leaving England a ( aptain somebody-or-other was starting film studios and going into production in a big way. Arrived in Vancouver they put up in a posh hotel to cause a good impression and next day climbed to the select quarter of Shaughnessy Heights where their Captain's residence was. '"We've certainly come to the right place this time," said Cliff, as they pressed the bell and looked round admiringly at the palatial surroundings. " Captain so-and-so?" said the butler enquiringly. Why," as he shut the door firmly, *' he's heen dead a year." So with their dreams rudely shattered our two heroes descended back to town, moved out of the posh hotel and after a few days found themselves a shack on the outskirts which they rented very cheaply and where they lived all winter on their savings. With the coming of Spring and the dwindling of their money it was high time to look for work again. Charlie remembers well how wild he was with Cliff, when with their joint savings reduced to about £6 Cliff saw a special golfer's cap complete with all sorts of flaps, pockets and gadgets priced at 80s. and insisted on buying the thing. Anyway, Charlie kept his eyes open, spotted in the papers an advert for a baker's roundsman at Port Ilaney. went up there and got the job. Port Haney was a little township about 50 miles up the Eiver Eraser, with a tew shops, a railway station, a baker's shop and pool room. Charlie at once got on good terms with his new buss, was fitted out with white overalls with the firm's name, Sinister, embroidered on them back and front, and a wage of £5 a week plus commission on cake sales. His round covered about 500 square miles, villages, isolated farms and homesteads, lumber camps and an Indian reservation, to all of which he rushed at high speed, charging along over rough tracks or no tracks at all in his Model T. Looking back, he wonders that he never broke his neck dozens of times — often he's looked over the side of the van to see one of his tyres bowling merrily along beside him. Anyway, he enjoyed every moment of it. He met and made friends with all sorts of people, got on well with the boss and his wife, with whom he lodged, spent the week-day evenings at the local poolroom, and at week-ends drove down the Pacific Highway to Vancouver to see Cliff Sandall or others of his pals. By now the autumn was coming on and Charlie's thoughts turned towards home. His boss promised to keep his job open for him, he could be home for Christmas and he'd got £100 saved to wave in his old man's face. So off he set, fully determined to come back to Canada in the spring. but as things turned out it was not till 1936 that be was back in Canada again, on the Great Barrier unit. Cliff Sandall wouldn't come, ho was sup posed to be courting seriously — but Charlie managed to collect a couple of fellow-travellers. Determined to arrive home with their savings intact, they worked or rode the rods nearly 3,000 mihs as far as Montreal. Here they set about finding how to work their passage back. Charlie finally fell in with a firm that promised to find him a berth if he would do some dock work and boilerscaling for them meanwhile. By the time November came and the St. Lawrence was three parts frozen (it's impassable all winter) he began to get a bit worried and asked them to fix him up a passage, no matter what sort, as soon as possible. So on November 7th, 1924, Charlie sailed from Montreal, with no passport .or papers, as coaltrimmer in a Norwegian cargo ship loaded with wheat and bound, quite simply, for Europe. Going down the St. Lawrence was all right, but when they got out into the Atlantic and the ship began really to pitch and roll in the November gales. Charlie became very unhappy. Every mile they went meant a bit further to letch the 50 tons of coal a day from the bunkers to the stokehold, and there would be poor Charlie staggering along, sick as a dog, with a barrow of coal, or. as the firemen went sick, taking their place and trying to shoot shovels full of coal into furnaces that just wouldn't keep still. And for grub, some filthy Norwegian lobscouse that Charlie just couldn't stomach. Finally, Charlie caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, dark eyes and sunken cheeks, and that so scared him that from then on he got the food down, nauseating or not, and at once began to feel better. They were supposed to be going to Kotterdam, an easy distance from London, but after running through the Pentland Firth they changed course and made for Gothenburg in Sweden where they discharged their cargo. Then they went up the coast to X. Sweden, took on a cargo of iron ore and ran south to discharge it at Emden. Charlie was getting worried, as Christmas was getting near, and when he heard that Potterdam was out of the reckoning, and the next likely to be America, he with some difficulty got paid off and decided to chance it overland. Armed with a Discharged Seaman's pass kindh provided by the Norwegian Consul at Emden. he began ploughing across Europe with £100 he was determined not to spend and a knowledge of the English language. After a night in the cells (and i 6/fine) on the German-Dutch frontier and som< quite unnecessary coolness and obstruction fi the British Consul at Rott< rdam, he at last board* the ferry, was violently sick, and arrived in Lor on Christmas Eve to flourish bis £100 ti iumphanth in bis old man's face. from then on the film busini ss began slowi.v but surely to get him into its (dutches again I iefore it was time to go ;>a«-k ti Canada his mone