The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

June 1954 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN 127 A.C.T. Notes and News Ian Crawford, British Acoustic Films, writes: Congratulations to the B.A.F. Football Team on winning the F.I.S.A. Cup this year. The game was played at the Uxbridge Town Ground and their opponents were Ilfords. Our team played very well and were well lead by Captain H. Tubbs and ViceCaptain Les Grant; other players of note for a good solid game were Fred Cope, Len Higgs and, of course, our brilliant centre-half, Len Hillings. It was unfortunate that Sid Roberts, through a broken ankle, was unable to play, but it was noticed he did a very good job with his stick. The winning of this magnificent trophy was not without mishap as our goalie has since been in hospital with a chipped bone in the ankle; so to Tommy Watson we wish a quick recovery. The Sports and Athletic Meeting this year is to be held at the B.A.F. Works in Gloucestershire on July 11th, so all would-be champion runners are asked to contact the Social Committee. I wonder how many of our readers are aware that popular sound trainee, Igbal Hassan Shahzad, has his brother, Wagner Hassan, in England with the Pakistan Cricket Team. We at B.A.F. are hoping to have Hassan back with us very soon before he returns home, so we all hope he is soon able to leave the Hammersmith Hospital. Wage increases at B.A.F. recent have meant, in practically every case, an extra 8/6d. for all male workers and 6/ for female workers. We also note with pleasure that new wage agreements have been signed in the following departments by your shop stewards: The Repair Shop, Electrical, Mechanical and Projector Tests, Assembly Shop, Goods Receiving and the Pre-Packing Sections, and a complete scale of wages have been drawn up for the Magnetic Head Department. We are at the moment undergoing negotiations for a new wage agreement in the stores and dispatch, and the laboratory are discussing a complete new wage structure, these are the only sections not yet with improvements on the 1948 Agreements. • First permanent television studios in the provinces are to be in Manchester. The B.B.C. have contracted to purchase Film Studios (Manchester) Ltd., which has premises in Manchester Road, Rusholme. Immediate steps will be taken to adapt the premises for television studios. These will be the permanent television studios of the Northern Region. Premises include two large studios, dressing rooms, a canteen, offices, and workshops. The larger of the studios covers 5,000 square feet. The Westminster Branch has just completed a very successful season and has now closed down until September, 1954. At the Annual General Meeting, owing to lack of nominations, a Caretaker Committee was elected consisting of Chairman, Pat Holmes; Secretary, Eric Pask; Committee Members, Harry Hastings, Derek Armstrong. This Committee will organise meetings during the summer months if any interesting personalities or films are available. Shop Stewards will be notified of these meetings in the normal way. It is hoped that a fully representative committee will be elected at the September meeting. The Committee wish to thank Mr. Frost for his generosity in loaning us the Crown Theatre for our meetings. Film Producers^ are they Necessary? In final lecture of the current series, organised by A.C.T.'s Technical Committee, R. J. Minney explained the function of the Producer. This abridged report of the lecture was prepared by A. E. Jeakins THE popular conception of the producer was of an illiterate, ignorant being, incapable of even expressing himself grammatically. Most of the jests at the expense of the film business, in plays, novels and the press were centred on the producer. However, it must be evident that a man entrusted with as much responsibility as a producer is, could not be so ignorant and uneducated as he is sometimes made out to be. However, they did have the classic example of Goldwyn — all the malapropisms attributed to him were certainly not invented. Mr. Minney recalled one he had heard himself at a dinner at Chaplin's when Goldwyn was also there. The talk had turned to books. Chaplin asked what writer in England nowadays matched Hall Caine for sales. Minney replied there was none; Hall Caine's least successful book sold over 700,000 copies. Hall Caine's son had once shown him the figures. Goldwyn, who had been only half listening, raised his voice and said, "Who said that?" After listening to a repetition of the facts he declared, " The man's a liar, everything he says must be taken with a dose of salts." Quite a number of sayings attributed to Goldwyn had been invented by others, many of them even funnier than the ones he had said. Goldwyn was born in Poland. He came to England in his youth and worked as a blacksmith's assistant in Manchester. He emigrated to America and worked in a glove factory, then as a glove salesman. He was over thirty when he went into films, forming the Goldwyn Company in partnership with the Selwyn brothers, and acquiring the second half of his name (his real name was Goldfisch). He rowed with the Selwyns and started on his own as Goldwyn. The brothers sued him for their half of the name, but the judge decided for Goldwyn. With Mayer he formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and this time, when he broke away, he left his name behind. During his career as a producer he had discovered many great stars, and made many remarkable films : Dodsworth, Wuthering Heights, Little Foxes, Best Years of Our Lives, to mention only some of them. He also had courage; during Chaplin's dispute with the American Government he declared that Chaplin was the greatest figure of the screen. Prefacing it with one of his characteristic sayings : " So far, I've heard nothing but silence." If one felt that Goldwyn was a lone figure in his misuse of English, there was Zannuck who could never pronounce a word correctly. Zannuck had a remarkable career. He arrived in Hollywood at the age of eighteen and worked as a window dresser and agent for a hair-restorer. In his spare time he wrote film scripts which he couldn't get accepted. He felt that he would never get anywhere until he had a book published. He collected three of his