The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1931)

September, 1931 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Thirteen "Over the Grapevine" LATEST murmur had Movietone News in line to take over Pathe News production of negative — an economy move. Plan has been killed . . . Captain Baynes announces new Allied newsreel pops out first of September, a chance for the silenters to dust off the old dumb boxes . . . Red Felbinger covered the launching of the new navy blimp Akron not s'long ago — Reports he found a bottle of giggle mist that Mrs. Hoover would not use . . . Billy Andlauer is putting dear ol' Kansas City on a sound basis . . . Charlie Ford, houseboating on the Chicago river, is periscoping about for Colonel Knox . . . Jack "Kid" Barnett, after covering the Ypsilanti torch killing yarn, claimed there ain't no justice up around Mich. . . . Hotel Sherman innovating with gigolos at the Collidge Inn — Charlie David already squawking about unfair competition . . . Harry Birch forgot to send the bottles with the labels from Canada; Bob Duggan thinks wine bricks might not make those frequent border trips quite so necessary . . . Let's all take up bricklaying . . . Ray Bell crew doing sound pix for Soviet government around Chicago . . . Ralph Saunders left Pathe for bigger and better dials on the Fox amps . . . Phil Gleason and Eddie Morrison broke Cannonball Baker's New YorkChicago road record by 37 minutes in Phil's Studebaker special — they made the 913 miles in just 16 hours and 12 minutes, finishing their skip from vacation land promptly at Claude's . . . Rumors afloat regarding new camera-sound men organization in New York — what's the matter with IATSE? . . . Tony Caputa working Mid-West alone for Pathe News, does his own assigning, contacting, shooting and shipping with time out for sleeping occasionally — in the truck . . . Exec's at sic sic sic went and bought a voluptuous safe for the office. It wasn't the first cost — it was the upheaval! ... Off to the lake. Cheerio! SIX-SIXTY-SIX In Focus — In Spots! By the Sassiety Reporter YOU know, I'm forced to read the daily papers just to know what I ought to burn up the old raw stock on next, and a few days ago I lamps the prize rasberry story that ever rolled over them time yarn By NORMAN W. ALLEY presses. I nominates it right now and right here for the Pulitzer prize of the best "sour grapes story" of the year, if this bird Pulitzer would have wanted to waste his dough on sumpin like that. What's makin my collar wilt right now is a article written by Tom Pettey, a journalist who pays his weekly board bill, thanks to the Chi. Tribune. Me and Pettey is in the same game, both journalists. I think thats what we modestly and jokingly calls ourselves. I guess the only difference between me and Pettey is he's gotta be a journalist to eat and I'm one for the fun I get out of kiddin youse guys. Also, I found out I eat better by pushin a button on a newsreel camera and kiddin a sound engineer into doin it my way instead of tryin to stick to Pettey's racket. This bird Pettey turned the blow torch on my usual meek and mild nature by writing a story for his sheet all about we newsreel men being a little too high handed in our tactics of gettin what's what, and from what I know of the newsreel boys the guy is all wet. Now if this bozo is out to make a livin glorifyin the world's goins on for the Press that's all right, too, but when he gets so's he run out of ideas and has to pick on us screen historians and write a lot of sour grapes about my gang okeh by me too. I'm all set on the challenge. Where's That Express Printed? Pettey says we got the insolence of a Bronx commuter on the "Lennox Ave. Express." Well, I don't know much about the Lennox Ave. Exnress, as every time I go's to N. Y. my newsreel buddies motor me out to their beautiful homes in the country to see the wife and kiddies. Pettey maybe got the inspiration to write the dang story on his way to work on the Lennox Ave. Express when some dame grabbed the seat he was tryin to land for hisself. Now this news snooper is all wet and I doubt a lightweight like him could qualify in the pitcher news profession as it takes a real he-man and a broad shouldered one to lug them 150 pound groan boxes and a intelligent one to contact and shoot the assignments we get. Journalists only gotta lug a pencil so's to mispell the facks, but that even don't make a difference because the city desk rewrites the stuff anyhow. Nobody can rewrite the scenes the newsreel boys get, though. It's either there or it ain't. That's why the lens reporters "dash around town in screaming sound wagons." Mr. Pettey, you see us bozos can't sit in some speakeasy, like a newspaper reDorter, and listen to some hombre tell us what happened, then takeout a pencil and write a eye witness story and then phone a rewrite man and sob out the facts. The newsreel boys gotta get on the scene — no second-hand information for them. Thousand to One Shot You know, they say the old Chinese boys were full of wisdom, and we all heard how one of these laundry managers once pulled the one about "one picture being worth a thousand words." Well, Mr. Pettey, accordin to that, one newsreel hombre has got more vocabulary on one of his fingertips than all youse high-powered journalists in a body. I see you mention in that article also about the only thing that we shoots is baby shows, parades, air formations, etc. Oh yeah? Ever see the movie "With Byrd at the South Pole"? It won out as the best movie of 1930. Well, it was photographed by two newsreel boys — Joe Rucker and Willard Vanderveer. You ever covered the South Pole, Mr. Pettey? Then there's Ray Fernstrom, the first news gatherer that reached Greenley Island the time the Bremen fliers sat down there. Ray also was a newsreeler, and after he got his shots he flies back and what happens — a bunch of youse scribe heroes joe down what he saw and signs your name to it. Charlie David, another lens shooter, recorded one of the greatest thrills of all time years ago when he got a racing car turning over in front of his box and throwing the driver through space. It's still one of the real thrillers and the newspapers borrowed his shot. Ketch on? When the endurance fliers were up at St. Louis they dropped down interviews to the scribes daily, and when a newsreel wanted a interview, what happens? Norman Alley, a cameraman, goes up in the refueler and drops down a rope ladder with a mike and gets his interview. More