International photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

SNAppJNQ ThE STARS By Gene Lester The fan magazine photographer who hobnobs with the stars as they dine and play must produce pictures that have real story value Arthur ("Dagwood'") Lake and Gene Lester "What a snap you guys've got. I'd like to be in your shoes!" was the comment an onlooker made to me at Grauman's Chinese Theatre the night of the premiere of "Yank in the R. A. F." Apparently this remark was brought about by the intimate manner in which we fan magazine photographers were associating withthe stars who stood in the forecourt posing for us. There were, among others, Tyrone Power with his beautiful wife, Annabella, the Henry Fondas, the Pat O'Briens, Ann Rutherford and Bob Stack. While thousands of autograph seekers were jamming the ropes to get at least a fast glimpse of their favorite players the photographers were shooting them and chatting with them on very friendly terms. Granted, the job of a Hollywood photographer is a fascinating one. He does know most of the players personally; he hobnobs with them whenever possible; he visits their homes, takes trips with them, goes to their parties and follows them to ni^ht (liihs. I o almost every amateur photographer, his job is most enviable; but to the photographer himself it is reallv a job. A few years ago, because of very little competition in the fan magazine field, the photographer would shoot any picture of a star, regardless of its story value. Today, with the average reader educated to the value ol candid photography, since the inception of Life, Click, Look, etc., and with the increasing number of fan magazines available, the photographer must be on his toes. A picture of Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck sitting at a night club table looking at each other, means nothing. They must be doing something candid, obviously unaware that their picture is being taken. The picture must have story value and not just be "the Robert Taylors at Ciro's." The studios try to help the fan magazine photographer as much as possible. They invite us on to the set — prepare special location trips — fly us to such far away points as the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Death Valley and New Mexico. This establishes a new locale and provides the fan magazines with material they ordinarily could never get in and around Hollywood. Warner Bros., especially should be congratulated on their trip ideas. For the world premiere of many of their 'A' pictures they send special trains bulging with movie players half-way across the Lnited States to wherever the story of that particular picture might be centered. These trips constitute a field day for the Hollvwood photographer. On what might be very easily classed as a four or five day vacation, he shoots from 200 to 500 negatives. Most of the Hollywood photographers carry two or three cameras on these trips. The Speed Graphic is used for most of the key pictures but these are supplemented with negatives made on either the Rolleiflex or Contax, or both. I always carry three cameras and find that many of my best negatives come from the miniature size film It is upon our return to Hollywood that our work really starts, for these negatives must all be developed, printed, edited and captioned then air-expressed to New York, all on the same day. Immediately after the pleasant but tiring trip and its ensuing darkroom work, we start on our nightly rounds of the clubs which keep us up four or five nights a week until 2 or 3 a.m. You will gather from the preceding paragraphs that the Hollywood photographer must be a master of all types of cameras. This is imperative and it must be to the point where handling the equipment has become second nature so that you do not convey the idea to the stars that you have to set up cameras and lights, or go to a lot of trouble in getting the picture. The stars will gladly cooperate but posing as often as they do, they want the pictures taken quickly and with a minimum of bother to them. Here again I have found it advis able to use the miniature camera wherever possible. Shooting rapid fire on the Contax I might make 36 exposures of, let's say, Barbara Stanwyck doing her hot dance sequences in "Ball of Fire." Naturally they cannot all be used but I do select the eight or ten best frames and enlarge them. My editor in New York selects the best one and that is the final picture which appears in Silver Screen. Another example of "second nature" photography occurred during the shooting of "Boom Town." Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable had to fall face first into thick, gooey mud. For an hour before the shooting, workmen were digging up the dirt with plows on the back lot at Metro, men with hoses were undermining it with water as others with huge rakes were concocting the mixture that would grace the physiognomies of Metro's top-ranking stars. There would be only one 'take.' No rehearsals, no retakes, just flop. Although it was a sunny day, scrims were used to kill the bright sunlight and give the set the appearance of a dull wintry day. The surrounding areas were bathed in beautiful California sunshine, yet this one area had the bleak appearance of a dismal, rainy day. It was even difficult to judge exposures. And then it happened. The resulting picture was a full page blow-up. And so, on through hundreds of assignments to meet the requirements of one of the top-flight fan magazines like Silver Screen, whether it be Bette Davis's highly publicized pratt fall into the cactus of Death Valley, Jane Russell's movie debut in the heart of the Arizona Indian reservation, the sea voyage aboard the S. S. America for the premiere of Warner Brothers "Sea Wolf,*' or even the average assignments in Hollywood we must always be certain to 'GET THAT PICTURE!' There is not one of us who will not claim that he has the most fascinating photographic job imaginable. Where else could a cameraman hobnob with such people as Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Bettv Grable, etc. It can safely be said that the dream of every photographer is to photograph and know the movie stars. But — on the other side of the scales — counteracting the fascination and glamour, are the late working hours, irregular eating habits and almost complete lack of social life. These tend to stress the fact that fan magazine photography IS a job. Once again referring to the remark made in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater . . . the "shoes" are enviable, but the "snap" is only in the camera.