The Cine Technician (1943 - 1945)

60 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN July — August, 1944 \ ELEVENTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HAVE you ever seen a dream walking? Well, I have. And talking, too. Eleven years ago, a few technicians dreamt of a strong wellorganised Association of Cine-Technicians. And here, eleven years later, it is. Four thousand members. A healthy balance-sheet. A record of serice to its members that any union would be proud of. And this year the members at the Annual Meeting were talking better than ever before. In particular, the General Council motion on Monopoly produced one of the best A.C.T. debates I've ever heard. Not only because of the quality of the speaking, but also because of the number of members intervening. Too often, members have been too shy or cautious to get to their feet. It's a good sign that they're becoming bolder and losing their modesty. In the chair, appropriately enough, was Ken Gordon, veteran Vice-President. He hoped the reason he was in the chair was not that the General Council despaired of finding any other way of keeping him quiet, though he confessed that he had been known to bang the table at General Council meetings. But he insisted that respectable methods didn't always get results — had A.C.T. always followed them, it wouldn't be in such a strong position today. This point was also raised by one of the fraternal delegates, who declared that we were a much more orderly crowd than he was used to. Perhaps we were a little too orderly for our own good. In his experience, a little disorder on the part of members made the executive get down to constructive work. This was Sergeant Jimmy King, in this country on operational duties with the 4th American Army Air Force Combat Camera Unit. He was previously Eecording Secretary of I.A.T.S.E. Local 659 (Cameramen) in Hollywood. On behalf of his unit, he paid a special tribute to the work of British laboratory technicians. Material shot under the worst possible conditions had been processed to look like real photography. It was proper in the year of the Second Front that our other fraternal delegate should also be representative of an Ally. This was Lieut. E. Hauge. of the Royal Norwegian Government Film Unit, who said how happy his Norwegians had been in their co-operation with British film technicians. He hoped this co-operation would continue after the war. Norway had used British technicians before the war, but he didn't think we had seen any Norwegians in our film industry until now — a friendly dig at our policy about foreign technicians. On this subject, of course. A.C.T. 's policy has never been chauvinistic. During the past year, it has moved a stage further. with efforts on the part of the General Council to conclude with the American Union an agreement governing the exchange of technicians. Pending such agreement, the Council were opposing all permits. In many other ways, A.C.T., as Ken Gordon pointed out, had been busy seeing that the Servia members will have a reasonable industry to return to. There are 700 of them in the Forces — mostly in one or other of the Service Film Units. They have done magnificent work on such films as Desert Victory and Tunisian Victory. They have also shot a gi-eat deal of the informative and ofter. sensational material in British and American newsreels. Four of them have been decorated and twenty-two of them have been killed. The Conference stood for a moment in silence in their honour. A new agreement is being negotiated with the laboratory employers — conditions in the laboratories certainly need improvement. Jack Chambers, of Botha Films, speaking to a resolution on the subject, said that documentary workers wen shocked at the conditions thev found in the