The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1936)

Fourteen T 1 1 INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER January, /V.?6 With President Roosevelt At Boulder Dam By Frank M. Blackwell (Pa the News) Fresident and Mrs. Roosevelt at Boulder Dam Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 27th, 1935. Frank M. Blackwell, Pathe News, 1926 South Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. FOLLOWING INFO VIA OMAHA BUREAU QUOTE PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL ARRIVING SALT LAKE CITY TWELVE FORTY FIVE PM SEPT TWENTY NINTH DEPARTING TWELVE FIFTY FIVE PM STOP ARRIVING LAS VEGAS ONE THIRTY AM SEPT THIRTY DEPARTING ONE FORTY AM STOP ARRIVING BOULDER CITY THREE NAUGHT FOUR AM STOP PRESIDENT PROCEEDING THENCE VIA AUTO TO DAMSITE WHERE DEDICATION ADDRESS SCHEDULED NOON SAME DATE UNQUOTE STOP ADVISE YOU ARRANGE BE LAS VEGAS LEAST DAY IN ADVANCE ORDER COMPLETE FINAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR COVERAGE. Union Pac, News Bureau Denton. And then the fun began for all the "news hounds" in Southern California. This wire, received by each news reel office, was the signal for all the newsreel trucks to be loaded with extra film — shipping boxes — cans — all the dozens of spare parts and pieces of equipment not carried in our trucks on the average story and which are invariably needed when on an assignment away from our bases. President Roosevelt, headed cross-continent for a rest from his duties in Washington, D. C, was about to "swing into our territory!" Greenwald and Jones, of Hearst Metrotone; Brick and Tice, Lehman and McGrath, of Fox Movietone; Johnson and Sawyer, Koverman and McCarroll (who had to "break away" from the colony of Mormons on Salt Creek in the wilds of Arizona in order to be present), for Paramount; and the writer, with his newly-wedded recordist, Michael James Duffy, for Pathe — all pointed the noses of their "sound wagons" out along the three hundred mile stretch of highway toward Las Vegas and, ultimately, Boulder Dam, for the President's dedication of that great engineering triumph. Noon, Monday, Sept. 30th! Thermometer registering 102 ! ! ! The President arrives at the damsite. Ten thousand men, women and children — from desert ranches — from verdant valleys — from city and hamlet — from mountain cabins — on hand to hear him dedicate this twentieth century marvel to the well-being of humanity. Cameras everywhere! ! ! News crews, travelling with the President, stationed on specially built platforms in front of, and just below, the speaker's stand, ready to photograph his every move and record his every word on this historic occasion. Others high on the towering peaks of both Arizona and Nevada — getting "long shots" — showing the entire awe-inspiring panorama — the mighty pile of cement blocking the turbulent waters which, for centuries, had cut their way, unhindered, down through strata after strata of the desert lands, to form the mile deep Black and Boulder Canyons. Still others up in "skips" — platforms travelling on cables, suspended across and above the canyon, with ends embedded and anchored in the mountain tops on either side of the river — to "shoot" down upon the speakers — the dam itself — the thousands of people, looking like pigmies on its parapeted top. The President first stops on top of the dam, seven hundred and twenty-seven feet above the bared floor of the mighty Colorado river, and gazes raptly over the stone parapet of the highest dam ever built by man. Then he looks out over a greenish blue lake more than 380 feet below him — a lake stretching away for some eighty-three miles up a narrow canyon and spreading out over the arid, flat lands of Nevada and Arizona. Finally he goes to the flag-draped speaker's stand to make the dedication address for which he has travelled almost the breadth of our continent. And the men, women and children stand and See all these men? Well, most of 'em are news-reelers. Yes, that's the President delivering his address at Boulder Dam. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.