The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1932)

July, 1932 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Fifteen anyhow . . . Well they is a brass band playin though the only guys in the joint so far is the tripod jugglers and ushers and guys what sells stale pop and wilted hamburgers. So I goes to work settin up the tripod and trying to level up my camera box, a stunt I aint jest exactly mastered yet . . . And I chews up a coupla heaters as the ole time flies . . . and a coupla hours later a coupla guys gits up before the mikes on a platform, but I dont pay no attention as I Aggers it's only hombres testin out the mikes . . . but I sees the other 666ers grind, but I gathers they is jest testin the equipment waitin for the crowd since I don't see no stampede for the seats. Crowd That Didn't Come Well, this testin business keeps up for hours, the way it seems, but I is still waitin for the people to file in so's things will start, but they jest don't come . . . and by and by the guys up at the mikes go home and the 666ers pack up for the day and I finally axes Tony Caputo "What you goin home for?" And Tony comes back "Why, you lug! The first day's session is all over!" "What you mean?" says I? . . . "Well, in case you don't know it, you has taken in the openin of the Republican Convention," cracks Charlie Geis. Well, blow me down. Here wuz I out to make the Republican shindig and I always thought they had a big crowd at them affairs and raised a lot of hell, and all I sees the first day is guys go up before a mike, do a lot of talkin and say nothin, jest like these here engineers from the radio company when they is testin. And since all the seats wuz empty I jest naturally figgered things hadnt started . . . Well, the next session looked more like things, however . . . They talked about maybe the country wuz gonna go wet agin ... I wuz right on my toes then . . . Also all the other six-six-six historians got a workout the rest of the week. Sam Sabath and his noise collector Graham took up a position in the corner of the stand . . . Tony Caputo and Ralph Saunders fogged can after can. . . . Charlie Geis kept swingin lenses in between cheese sandwiches . . . And in the upper tier I sees another delegation of 666 guys, Charlie David, Urban Santone, Eddie Morrison, Beeland and Buchanan. So you know 666 had quite a few red hot delegates there . . . Well, them Republicans sure wore down our delegation the night they has their wet session . . . Paradin around with beer pales and the likes. Dyin for Coupla Cool Ones Then a big mess of halfhour speeches by some birds which wuz wet and more speeches by guys what claimed to be dry and about 1 a. m. they finally gits together and their drys won the match . . . Well, I got up and cheered right quick like, not because I is dry, but I had been standin up on that hot platform for hours, and I wuz dyin to git down to my favorite spot for a coupla cool ones, and even if the country is goin dry agin I guess we ain't gonna have much trouble findin the cool ones anyways. Well, the convention lasted three days, but when the Republicans got tired of talkin they finally gives up and goes, but my 666 pals wuz still there and we still had plenty cans raw stock left, so we won over the Republicans. Most of the boys now agree on our platform which is "Longer platforms for the newsreels at political conventions so's we kin put cots on em beside our equipment so we kin rest on the long winded speeches." I attach herewith a pix of the Republican platform we had. SIX-SIXTY-SIX Uncovering Hollywood And talkin about conventions I unnerstand they wuz a national convention down at Columbus what wuz a convention. The IA one, I means . . . Had a big bunch of celluloid artists there . . . Charlie David, Billie Strafford and Gene Cour went down from Chi. And I met a bunch of guys from the West Coast that went thataways, too . . . One of my secret snoopers digged up the followin highlites for me. The film foggers ran nightly caucuses and they had for sergeant at arms a good lookin guy what dint use herpicide in time. His name wuz Roy Klaffki and he sure wuz busy openin and closin doors. Then they had a chairman at these caucuses called Alvin Wyckoff. He was busy collectin a lot of literature, but ft hadda have a Union label on it. Then there wuz a guy called Mickey Whalen, but he dashed around madly askin fellows whether he should give medals away ... I don't* know what kind of medal and for what, but there wuz a bird by name of Drawback Auerbach he wuz lookin for and when he saw him Mickey yelled right quick like to the others: "Should I give him the medal?" I saw two quiet guys called Paul Perry and Roily Nichols . . . Then there wuz a Leica expert by name Jack Rose. He shot snaps standin up, lyin down, inside, outside . . . Jest a mailman takin a walk on his day off. Now then Chicago delegates, David, Strafford, Cour . . . Well, I lives too close to 'em, so maybe you better ax them West Coast boys how they behaved. Publicity Films to Produce Advertising Sound Pictures PUBLICITY Films, Ltd., subsidiary of the London Press Exchange, largest advertising agency in Great Britain, has been granted a sound recording license by RCA Photophone and will produce sponsored advertising pictures for leading manufacturers of English products. Publicity has operated studios at Wimbledon, near London, for the production of silent pictures for ten years, and at present has contracts with more than 2,000 theatres. In addition to producing advertising subjects, Publicity Films will record industrial pictures for exhibition to sales organizations and in non-theatrical institutions, for the reproduction of which RCA Victor 35mm. and 16mm. portable apparatus will be employed. Six-Sixty-Six tripod jugglers on their camera platform at the Republican national convention in the Chicago Stadium. Photo courtesy Chicago Daily Neivs Universal Newsreel