Motion Picture Classic (1923, 1924, 1926)

CHARMED LIVES and RECKLESS unusual happening in their locality. They do not receive a regular salary, but instead they are paid space rates — so much per word or per column of space they fill. Newsreels are similarly organized. They have their regulars, their district men, and their "correspondents," the latter paid by the foot only for pictures which are used. Main offices are in New York, but there are branch offices, with regular local staffs in Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and other large cities. In the important centers of Europe, offices are also maintained. In the foreign offices, natives are employed, tho an American is usually in charge to receive directions from the central office. Thus in China, Chinese cameramen are employed ; in Rome, Romans are used, because a native, knowing his own country best, is always awake to any novelty that might appeal to the discriminating tastes of film goers. (Continued from page 21) The precious film, after it was sent by plane from Kona to Honolulu, was placed aboard the steamer Matsonia for San Francisco. The prints were made there from one of the negatives for distribution on the Pacific Coast while the other was placed aboard an airplane and flown to the International studio in New York. Early in his career a newsreel photographer is impressed with two important facts, one, that he must get his picture, and secondly, that he must rush the negative back with all possible speed. I compared the organization of the newsreel with that of the newspaper, but there the Speed and Accuracy Are the Watchwords "The pictures of the eruption of Mauna Loa, the Hawaiian volcano, are a striking example of what this remarkable organiz a t i o n accomplishes. When Mauna Loa first began to rumble, the International Newsreel cabled its co rrespondents, Walter J. Tominaga and John F. v Stone in Honolulu, and Frank K. Cody in Hilo, to proceed to the island, more than three hundred miles away, where the volcano is located. But it was several days before the eruption took place. Meanwhile, the New York office had arranged for a seaplane to go from Honolulu to Hilo on the Island of Hawaii whence it afterward flew overland to Kona, across 'the Island. There Jiave been few sights more impressive in pictures than the view of Mauna Loa in action, a mountain more than thirteen thousand feet high, its top torn away and clouds of dense smoke and flame rising from its peak. As the great flaming river of lava, some three miles wide and one hundred feet high, rolled over the mountain side, inhabitants fled before it, and whole towns were wiped out. But the news cameramen pushed closer up the mountainside down which the lava poured. At Hoopuloa they stopped to photograph the mighty spectacle. At one point the lava stream, more than forty feet high, advanced with such rapidity that the men were forced to flee for their lives and tho they all escaped death, one man was severely burned. A convincing proof of the grimness of the scene was the picture that one of the photographers caught showing his colleagues running from the flames, each weighed down by a sixty-pound camera. The newsreel cameraman was "Johnny-on-the-spot" during flood in 1913. More than seven hundred lives were lost dollars in property destroyed comparison ends. Tho the reporter can get his information from people who have been on the scene of an accident, the photographer must actually be there when it occurs. He cant tell about it ; he must have it on the film. If there is gun firing in military operations, he must be close enough to get a picture of it. And after the picture is taken, he cannot, as the reporter can, telephone or wire the news. He must send the film itself. Spare No Expense "I-1 he cameramen are instructed that no expense must be spared in rushing pictures. When they leave for an important assignment they are given enough money to cover all expenses. When Robert Donahue, a Pathe photographer, was sent to northern Ontario to get pictures of newly discovered gold mines, he engaged an airplane for $400 to shoot scenes from the air. "If there is an obstacle that money can overcome, pay for it," seems to be a slogan. It is obvious, from all this, that newsreels must cost a great deal of money. And they do, tho the scenery is free, and no actors are required. Emanuel Cohen, editor of the Pathe Newsreel, explained why. "A modern feature picture shows its cost, but the cost of production of a news reel is not always apparent from the results," Mr. Cohen said. "We use only about ten per cent, of the material we go after. Ninety per cent, represents stories covered in all parts of the world that seem big when they happen, tho they dwindle immediately and are not worthy of release, or they are less important than other events that may happen in the meantime. When you see the newsreel in your theater, it is not the production of that reel you have to consider, but the material that has not even been included in it. A newsreel that is an accurate record of world events costs big sums of money to produce." Three Types of Pictures Mews pictures are of three types — the accidental, the anticipated and the scheduled, Mr. Cohen pointed out. In the first class belongs sudden news like the Santa Barbara earthquake, or the Shenandoah disaster. In the second are those events which occur as a natural result of preceding events. Mr. Cohen suggested that the Smyrna fire in 1922 was such an event, for tho no one could have predicted the fire, anyone who had kept track of the war between the Turks and the Greeks knew that some tragic occurrence would be the outcome. In the class of scheduled events are the inauguration of a president, the opening of a World's Series, the Yale-Harvard football game, the Scopes trial, the arrival of a steamer^ beauty parades and the like. Since these events occur in all parts of the world, it is imperative that the news film have representatives stationed everywhere. No matter where an event occurs, be sure there is some news photographer within reach of that place. Film editors have in their offices extensive maps, showing in detail the tiniest town in the most remote corner of the earth and the photographer stationed near there. No one knows where the next picture will break. Besides the maps, the editor's offices are equipped with charts showing the transportation resources ; the railroads, the airplanes available, power boats, automobiles, steamers and their sailing dates. That is how it is possible to show within twentyfour or forty-eight hours after they occur events of national and international importance. Sometimes the film travels in laboratory trains or ships where it can be developed while it is being shipped. When Robert E. Peary discovered the North Pole in 1909, it took five months for the news of his achievement to reach this country. But when Byrd hopped off on May 9, 1926, the world knew about it (Continued on page 74) Pathe the great Dayton and millions of 70