Paramount Around the World (1927)

the; foreign! leg ion! pledge PARAMOUNT vv^ldI NEWS JUST WHAT THE PARAMOUNT NEWS MEANS TO THE PARAMOUNT ORGANIZATION Paramount News has just completed the first six months of its everlasting campaign of service to the picturegoers of the world. In that six months’ period there have been wrought such accomplishments as should make every Paramount proud and glad. They are accomplishments which perfectly mirror Paramount prestige and the eternal aim of Paramount in providing nothing but the best that money, brains and equipment can provide for the entertainment of the world’s screen fans. Commencing operations with but a comparatively scant notice, the organization of Paramount News whipped itself into a highpowered provider of news reel material in a; record time. It adopted the slogan of “The Eyes of the World,” and took for its aim and purpose the catchline of “Wherever it happens, a Paramount News cameraman is there.” The answer you well know. Paramount News is today distributed throughout the world. It is not only “The Eyes of the World” but it is also “The Favorite of the World.” Paramount Legionnaires the world over have taken' a particular pride in giving to Paramount News the finest possible distribution within their powers. They have regarded the Paramount News as still a further token of the world-wide supremacy of our organization, for it gathers the news from' as many faraway parts of the globe as our own Paramount Pictures are screened in. Moreover, every Legionnaire views in Paramount News one of the greatest publicity factors we have. Merely to say “Paramount News” means not only a mention of the word ‘Paramount,’ but also by the very nature of that word, it indicates bur News to be the paramount News of all. There is, furthermore, the publicity given our trade mark on every subtitle in the picture. The angles to .the value of the Paramount News are many, and all are vital. By the very fact of recording an important national event on the celluloid strip of Paramount News and giving it distribution throughout the world, we are adding immeasurably to Paramount’s goodwill in that country, asl well as being of distinct service to exhibitors throughout the world in giving them that news within the briefest possible space of time. When we, as an organization, adopted the slogan of “Paramount — the Whole Show” we placed upon the Paramount News our endorsement of this Short Feature as an integral and very vital part of our distribution activities. Without the Paramount News we could not be “The Whole Show”; with it we are. These are forceful facts that every Legionnaire should be wholly in possession of, and in sympathy with. They are the facts which prove how very vital Paramount News is to the Paramount organization. They should bei the facts which should enthuse every Legionnaire with the aim of placing Paramount News on every possible screen within the limits of his territory, and of having Paramount News screened there regularly week after week, to become a regular institution, with the faith of the patrons in its authenticity, and with their thanks for its entertainment qualities. And remember this: the Paramount News is great now, but it is going to grow greater and finer and more far-reaching in its scope with the passing of the months. Page Fourteen —AND EVERYWHERE EVENTS DID GO, THE NEWS REEL MAN WENT TOO It can never be too high, or too far away, or too remote or too hazardous for the Paramount News cameraman. If it’s in the miasmas of Manchuria, the depths of the Deccan, the sun-swamps of Sumatra or the violent vividness of the veldt, the Paramount News cameraman is there with his Akeley on his shoulder and his toothbrush in his knapsack. He’ll brave cold, heat, mirages, tse-tse flies, mosquitoes, bats, bogeys, animals, customs officers, plagues, perils, vampires, blondes, brigands, storms, rages, bullets, tempest, blowpipes, hunger, thirst — and any other discomforts that you can think of, merely to gain his pictured story. We have a few instances here to picture our claim. The man in the pit with the tank going clear over him is cameraman James B. Buchanan, and the pictures were made at Fort Benning, Georgia (U. S. A.). In the other scene is cameraman J. Doren, who made a special trip into the icy fastnessesr of Lapland for the purpose of filming the Laplanders in their native habitations. A MIRROR OF LIFE ITSELF (By G. W.) Recently a well-known author stated that he had stationed himself on a busy street corner and seen more of romance and comedy and drama in the faces and actions of passersby than ever could be contained between the covers of a novel. He had witnessed reality. The world’s public, comfortably seated in a modern theatre, gazing enraptured at a News Reel scene taken in a distant land is figuratively standing! on that busy corner. A fire scene flashes on the screen. Firemen enter a burning building. Ambulance internes carry their sorry burdens away on stretchers. There will be no director’s shout of “lights” to terminate this scene. The wounded will not smilingly arise and light a cigarette. The flames will not suddenly cease. It is reality. A storm at sea! A great ship rolls under the pounding of mighty seas. A boat puts out and nears the swaying camera. Waves smash over it, oars are broken — still it struggles towards the rescue ship. Here again there will be no shout of “lights! — Stop the wind machine!” A mighty vessel sinks beneath the waves, a handful of battered survivors reach a precarious haven. It is reality. Just a parade this time. Soldiers marching by, bayonets flashing, a general reviewing! But to the comfortable public of a distant land has been carried the reception given a visiting! King by the armed forces of Tripoli. Every issue of Paramount Netvs spells box office! Every issue means quick cash value! Its appeal is universal, — to young, old, everyone! Are you realizing the cash value of our News Reel? Life isn’t all cheers and sprockets for the Paramount News Cameraman, and seldom does he ever get screen credit for risking his life in the securing of a hazardous item. This isn’t always a matter that’s up to the editorial staff, either, for an innate modesty is usually responsible for the cameraman telling not a soul of the hazards he has run. The following story, however, got into the hands of a newspaper man, and his own admiration for the newsreel man caused him tO' send the story over the wires to the Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World. CAMERAMAN, OVERCOME BY GAS, IS RESCUED FROM BLAZING WELL SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 7.— Harry IF. Diehl, Paramount staff cameraman for the Southwest territory, was rescued from the inferno surrounding a burning gasser. Rachal No. 7, at If hite Point, on the Neuces Bay, near Corpus Christi, Thursday, when he attempted to photograph the interior of the blazing maelstrom of gas and oil. Tex Thornton, professional oil well fighter, when he saw Diehl collapse on the edge of the blazing pit, rushed in with an asbestos suit, and dragged Diehl to safety. Diehl had borrowed an asbestos .suit from Thornton with the intention of taking close range pictures of the blazing well for Paramount News, but teas overcome by the intense heat ivhen he had been on the edge of the pit for only a few seconds. He did obtain some unusual shots in the few seconds that he had his machine in action Diehl only recently has been appointed Paramount news man for the Southwest Texas district, and the gasser was his first big assignment. He shoived no ill effects the next day, the asbestos suit preventing serious burns.