Hollywood (1937)

Feature for February Daring the Gods Floods, Fires, Strikes, lynchings, war — all news! And at every turn of the camera's crank a life is risked to bring you that news in pictures. Newsreel men brave untold hazards, day in and day out, in order to put Mr. and Mrs. Public on the scenes of action. Newsreel cameramen have always been colorful, romantic figures and everyone knows that their lives are full of thrills, but not everyone realizes the actual dangers these "Gods of Death" encounter. When we sit back in our comfortable seats in heat-regulated, air-conditioned theatres and thrill to the latest news of the world as it unfolds before our very eyes, little do we realize the terrific dangers that the newsreel men frequently face while obtaining those "shots." What is a little danger in comparison to all the grandeur, the pomp and ceremony, and the real drama that these men see, you say? Why, the very earth has no bounds for them. Marked By Anxiety Still, the cameramen will tell you a different story. They will tell you that their lives contain much anxiety, uncertainty, and no end of tragedy. The men never know where their next assignment is going to be and, having sent one in, wonder if it will make the next issue and if editors will put their seal of approval on it as having screen value. Theirs is a game where one gets assignments, tough or pleasant, with only one thought — to get the picture. Tragedy often enters, and it is a newsreel cameraman's job to risk his life, if necessary, to cover his assignment. Can you recall how a few months ago a colored man in Owensboro. Ky., accused and convicted of attacking and murdering a white woman, was hanged. The public hanging, a social event such as had never been experienced in that vicinity before, brought out a mob of twenty thousand persons who swarmed around and over the gallows and, in spite of the police, stripped the clothing from the prisoner while his body was still suspended through the trap? A score of cameramen had arrived early and had set up their equipment for shooting. Many were grinding away at their cameras when suddenly a violent mob leader screamed out against the newsreelers. Then like an avenging jury the mob turned on them, bellowing blasphemy and grasping at the men's clothing and cameras. Had not a large number of policemen been on the scene to protect the cameramen stark tragedy might have been enacted. As it was the men were lucky to escape with only torn clothing, minor injuries and smashed equipment. Two Lose Lives Ever see pictures of the annual caribou migration way up in the Yukon country? Recently such pictures cost the lives of two young cameramen. Such was the result of a horde of maddened bulls as they came rushing onto the men. It was a miracle that, of the quintet of newsreel men on hand, three escaped with their cameras and enough film to bring the news flash to every theatregoer in the land. A short time ago the picture snatchers got a real thrill at Catalina Island, off the Southern California coast, as a construction crew was blasting a ledge in the mountain side high above the Pacific in order to run the highway along the ocean instead of winding for a distance around a precipice. Their cameras were set to catch the movement and dislodgement of the mountain. About three hundred feet out in the water adjacent to the site of the blast a large rock lifted itself fifteen feet out of the water. It was an ideal set-up to shoot from; so a couple of cameramen selected it while another When racing cars crash everyone seeks cover except the newsreel man. Here are three his camera caught in an Ascot speedway spill 28 Carrying the camera into battle line! Mervyn Freeman, Universal Newsreel cameraman, here shown with forces of the Japanese in China journeyed up the coast to get a side angle. A fourth man was anchored in a skiff in the ocean directly in front of the blast. When the dynamite was touched off after a warning, the cameras began to click. The earth shook, and the mountain side lifted and slid into the ocean. Tons upon tons of rock went down, causing huge waves. The four cameramen were caught in a tidal wave and it looked like they had shot their last picture as they struggled frantically in the heaving waters. By a miracle, however, they all came through and the cameras, too, were salvaged. The exposed film in the perfectly airtight and light-proof magazines, which proved to be water-tight also, was developed, and the audiences that wit Bullet-proof vests and gas masks give newsreel cameramen a modicum of protection during the heat of the longshoremen's strike in San Francisco after national guardsmen take a hand nessed the picture marveled at the shots with no knowledge of the attendant neartragic circumstances. Mervyn Freeman, ace -cameraman for Universal News, tells how he escaped death at the battle of Chapei-Chenju during the Sino-Japanese War of 1932. "In order to obtain the necessary pictures for Universal," he said, "I attached myself to the 36th Infantry, Japanese Imperial Army, at Shanghai Then I employed M. Tomano, a Japanese interpreter, and headed for the firing line at North Kiangwan, China. At Chapei-Chenju we ran into some real war. Lucky for me that I had aligned myself with the Japanese for at this point luck was theirs. I armed myself with a helmet, pistol, canteen, and, with my camera strapped across my back, went to battle with them. The Japanese opened , the attack from the air and after several hours of heavy bombardment put the Chinese to rout. Then they charged on the Chinese lines. Here the fun began for me. What a story and what a scoop! If only I could get it! "But, believe you me, it was plenty ticklish out there running wild with a bulky camera in that No Man's Land, where life meant less than nothing. Nor did I have the protection of our dear old Stars and Stripes! I was fortunate to have the protection of the Japanese flag. And HOLLYWOOD