The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

March-April, 1952 THE CINETECHNICIAN 29 LOOKING BACK AT NEWSREELS WITH MOVIETONE by Paul Wyand NEWSREEL personnel can be divided into three categories, the pre World War 1, the pre World War II, and those who have joined the ranks since 1945. Movietone is lucky in having Tommy Scales, one of the first category, at the head of the editorial bench. He was one of the original news reel cameramen in this country. He was the original cameraman to go over to sound in 1929. He forsook the camera for the editorial bench in 1930 and is still original ... in his ideas. In the second category come Jack Ramsden, Jimmy Humphries, Paul Wyand and Monty Benson. They are of the pre-sound era and often talk of the good old days when cameramen not only took pictures, but had to cut their negative as well. This usually meant terrific lengths of their favourite shots and moans when the editor told them to cut the shot by half. Jack Ramsden is now Production Manager and Monty Benson is at the news desk. The start of sound news reels was heralded in 1928 by a Movietone van, manned by an American crew with Jim Wright, now editor of Paramount News, as contact. The boys treated it as a novelty and assured themselves it couldn't last. However, one by one they went over to this new fangled invention and a strange new breed, soundmen, were to be seen in the Wardour Street pubs. What great days they were, sound vans of all sizes, camera of all shapes! Jim Humphries will remember a DeBrie camera with an open flexible drive, which had been known to catch his tie at the vital moment on a story, winding it, so that it would pull his head down and cause his chin to hit the camera with a resounding crack. Neither will Paul Wyand forget how in the early days he was doing a swing shot of racing cars from the top of his sound truck at Brooklands. He was so engrossed in his job that he walked right into space and landed on the head of the soundman recording below. Eighteen stone is no light weight for anyone to have on their mind. Sound was so vital in the early days that any shot without it would not be used by the editors. One system, believe it or not, was started by the soundman at a call from the cameraman. Out of the hush at a religious procession, one day, came a voice, " Switch on, Harry! " then, as the dignitaries approached the Cathedral, "No! Switch off! they've all got rubber 'eels! " Later, silent cut-ins were used, but the poor silent cameraman had to keep an accurate check on the footage of each shot and after the story his film was loaded into a sound camera magazine and recorded on the spot. Any spectator remaining after an event was over and witnessing the crew endeavouring to make sound effects such as cheering crowds, racing cars or babies crying, must have thought them mad. Pat Sunderland, one of the first recordists in the country, now Movietone's Chief Soundman, will recall the days when the favourite item on their expense sheet was ..." Tip to street musician to play in next street "... It is well known that microphones are sensitive to wind and a gusty day can be a trial to a soundman. Pat Wyand tells of the time that he and an opposition recordist were setting up their mikes on a dais at an agricultural show. Unbeknown to them the PA mikes had been switched on and the following was heard bellowing all over the show " Do you suffer from wind?" As things progressed, life for sound crews became easier. With the luxurious private cars, such as the Movietone Humbers, crews were able to call in at pubs where signs displaying NO LORRIES had forbidden them before. A great social uplift this! ! ! Although Derek Stiles will remember coming out of a pub and being asked how much he wanted for the hearse. Norman Fisher and Martin Grey came to Movietone before the war. Norman in those days was often seen out with old Akeley and DeBrie hand cranked cameras, which he used to use chiefly for trick work. So he does know quite a lot of how it was done in the old days. Martin Gray has, since the war, proved himself as good a cameraman as he was a soundman before and during the war. Ken Hanshaw has almost grov/n up with Movietone. His experience as a camera assistant before the war when he was always " first back with the negative " helps him now that he is a cameraman. Ask anybody who has driven back with him! Hilton Craig is one of the people who have come to us since the war. He is an experienced cameraman, having been in studios before the war. David Samuelson, George Richardson, Reg Sutton and Terry O'Brien, have all proved themselves newsreel men in the true sense. Life, of course, is more difficult for them. Just when they think they have got an original shot or a new angle, they are told " We did that in the old days," or " That was done before you were born!" It must seem to them that there is very little new under the sun.