The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1931)

August, 1931 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Eleven Six-Fifty-Niners Look In on Debrie French Camera Manufacturer Conducts Two Hollywood Men Through Great Factory and Shows New Electric Tripod By JOHN ALTON A MEMBER of 659 sojourning in Paris, I. H. Borradaile, takes me on a sightseeing trip to the home of the Debrie camera. First a taxi is ordered and with the speed for which the French cab is noted, we quickly arrive at 11 Rue St. Maur. On the second floor is the office of the famous m a n u f a cturer. Here we have to wait. John Alton The office is reminiscent o f another belonging to a theater owner. There is a huge desk, some old art pieces, several telephones and dictaphones, and a big comfortable deskchair with a huge panel of milk glass in back of it, causing wonderment on the part of the observer as to what it was all about. The entrance of Mr. Debrie offers an explanation. He switches the lights on which illuminate the milk I panel. Here is a man who realizes ; the importance of backlight. A first I impression is that he looks like a showman and as he starts to talk I about himself and his factory the j impression becomes a conviction that he is one. Not only that, he knows his optics, is a hard worker and a rej markable organizer, a fact he demonstrates as he takes us through his factory. There is a record and a detailed history of every camera that ever came out of the Debrie factory. We are shown letters from all over the world. Mr. Debrie worked his way from the bottom up and to impress j this on every visitor's mind he demonstrates his factory in a similar way. 500 Debrie Employes So down we go to the receiving room, where all the raw material is checked in. Here is a stock room of which any factory could be proud. Everything is arranged in alphabetical order. Soon we hear the noise of machines and smell that peculiar odor that reminds me of the camera shops on the coast. We enter the machine shop and are amazed at the number employed in making cameras, over 500, and all of them experts in their lines. Each I part is accurately made, separately inspected and tested before being sent to the assembly room. Here the finished product is once more tested before it is shipped out into the different parts of the world. So much information in a short space of time and the need for concentration to absorb it is conducive to a headache, but this is just a beginning. For at this point we enter the room where the next electric Debrie tripod is being assembled and tested. It proves to be a truly marvelous piece of work. The cameraman operates it as he stands on the moving platform looking through the camera. Tripod Has Two Motors By switching different connections it can go forward, backward, turn around or up or down. It has two electric motors, one for running and one for elevating. It is also equipped with a clutch. By releasing this clutch the tripod can be nushed in any direction. It is easy to imagine what some of our directors could do with this tripod. The new Debrie camera is for thousand-foot magazines. By operating a lever the blimp cover can be elevated, which is a very practical feature. It has a tripod similar to the electric one, but has to be operated by hand and runs on silent rubber wheels. Through some mysterious channels and tunnels we find ourselves back in the office. "Well, that's all, and I am proud of it," remarks Mr. Debrie. He shook hands not like a man who is sole owner of such a huge plant, but just like a brother. "And do tell them in Hollywood that I shall be glad to show the plant any time to any member of six-fiftynine myself," he added. All I can say is that besides the Louvre, the Follies and the Arc de Triomphe there is another place in Paris very much worth while. That is the Debrie plant. 'Let There Be Light9, Said Gerrard, But He Took Tea WHEN an American cameraman working his first day in an English studio yelled "Hit 'em!" and his order was followed by an abysmal silence and continued darkness he began to employ language. Henry W. Gerrard is known at home as a go-getter when on a set, and being transplanted to a studio in the old country made no difference in his working plans. So he started a quiz to learn why the set lights did not shine when he so stipulated in the manner made and provided. Gerrard had not gone far in his hunt for information when it was borne in on him that it is the custom at British International as well as in other studios to serve tea at that particular time of the day. And it was engaged in the delicate art of sopping up tea that Gerrard discovered the "keeper of the juice." In a letter to his old sidekick Harry Merlend, the American cameraman says he is very happy in his new home. He has had turned over to him among other tools a brand-new Mitchell camera as well as a Para Andre Debrie mount blimp. He is using Eastman superspeed film. Gerrard reports that Harry Perry was a recent visitor. He adds he began work on "House Full' June 29. For his following picture, he says, the company will go to Russia for exteriors. The expatriate calls on his friends to drop him a line at 2 Broadway Gardens, Watfood Way, Hendon N. W., London. Madan Circuit of Calcutta Orders RCA for Its Chain r-rvHE Madan Circuit in Calcutta, India, has ordered twenty-five complete units of RCA sound reproducing equipment to be installed in the company's theatres. Since his return to India from a prolonged trip to the United States Mr. Madan, who operates the largest chain of theatres in his country, has acquired forty additional houses. The new RCA Photophone apparatus will be installed in them. Features and news reels are being produced by the Madan company, which operates a complete RCA Photophone portable recording unit.