International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Eighteen The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER May, 1934 Newsreelinc on the Golden Gate Bridge By WARREN M. McGraTH, Sound Technician The Newsreel men make an attack on the New Golden Gate Bridge. Frank Vail getting a wide angle shot more than 500 feet up. [Because of lack of space it was impossible to print all the fine shots supplied by Mr. McCrath. They will appear later with another article by this author. — Editor's Note] FRIENDLY sun has begun to bore big rifts in the early San Francisco fog as the broad white bulk that ferries across the Golden Gate gives its warning blast and slips silently into the enveloping mist. Aboard, a group of newsreel cameramen peer anxiously into the west where the rapidly disappearing fog is reluctantly giving up the ghostly outline of the mighty north tower for the world's largest span — the Golden Gate Bridge. From here, it's 580 feet, made diminutive by fog and distance, appears ridiculously inadequate for the burdens it is to bear. This illusion is quickly lost, however, when driving around a bend in the road the enormity of its mass and height bursts upon you. Involuntarily your eyes are drawn upward where they come to rest on the tiny specks of humanity becoming increasingly visible through the thinning fog. Right there is where your author becomes aware of a frigid sensation in the region of his feet. Getting by the gates of the construction camp is worse than crashing the well-known wrestling matches. All sorts of credentials must be shown before we are finally admitted to the main office. But once inside the comforting influence of solid walls the old backbone straightens up again — that is, it does until we are issued a funny kind of hat resembling a French trench helmet but made out of a composition material designed to be a little lighter in weight. Inside the hat is the legend, "HARD BOILED HAT," and I suspicion that they are designed to shield us from falling rivets, etc. I decide not to ask, however, lest my suspicions be confirmed. Looking upward from the gigantic base of the structure reminds you of a modern Tower of Babel with its hundreds of workers building their structure clear up to the sky and vanishing in a whirl of fog. I rightly surmise that I will witness an object lesson in the wellknown daring exhibited by these news cameramen on stories such as these. As for myself, well, I've decided that good Old Mother Earth has been a pretty good friend this far and I ought to kinder' stick by her. But maybe I spoke too soon for it becomes evident that my services are required "upstairs." In a little basket-like cage in which we are solidly squeezed, we are swiftly Please mention The International Photogra raised to the highest level that it can take us, from there we make our precarious way up a spidery ladder to a sort of skeleton framework known as a "creeper truss." The creeper truss is located about forty or fifty feet from the top and is raised by a system of cables as the height of the structure is increased, thus affording workers a maximum of safety. Safety, did I say? Maybe so, but it sure seems a long way down. Local angles completed on the creeper truss, alpine climbing becomes the style and here we see daring matched with the best that the steel workers offer as our cameramen climb over the uppermost parts of the raw framework to catch those angles that pass so fleetingly before you on the screen. Look at the accompanying still shot of Cameraman Jim Seebach fogging some of Movietonews' film clear out on the end of a section member and remember that the first stop dowm is 580 feet away. Do I thank my stars they don't want sound up there — you're telling me ! Those two hours atop the great tower saw enough exhibitions of pure guts that cannot be adequately described in many articles like this — but our picture has just started and as it is noontime we knock off for lunch. For the sake of posterity I submit this shot of Cameraman Irby Koverman guzzling a bottle of 98 proof cowjuice to "fortify himself for the afternoon's rigors." And now for the shots that are to "make" the picture. Arrangements have been made to have us hoisted clear up the front of the structure to a point over the top and then to swing us around the tower, then back around and down the front again. For this, the equipment is loaded into a light skip (or platform) attached to the derrick on the top of the tower by a series of cables. A guide rope between the skip and a lead cable running the height of the tower is attached to keep us from spinning. All in readiness and the cameras securely fastened to the floor of the skip, the "hoist away" signal is given and we start our trip heavenward. It's an inspiring sight to see level after level with their components of riveters, bucker-ups, etc., pass like a modernistic kaleidoscope before you. The magnetism of the scene even enthuses our hard boiled "button pushers" as from all angles the cry echoes "great shot." And so our modern pher when corresponding with advertisers.