Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

way back to town and the pair again went out to Batista's fort. They shot the first interview, in English, with the new dictator. Langenegger flew out with the fihn, and this time Kress didn't call Washington to report. NBC's Capital film crews don't often get locked up, but their problems are many, just the same. Al Simonson and John Hofen, who cover the White House, sometimes get word only a few hours before the President takes off on a sudden trip. But they make the plane, and follow Mr. Eisenhower wherever he goes. These trips take their toll on the crews, as well as on the speech-maker. During the 1952 Presidential campaign, Simonson and Hofen spent most of their time on the Truman train. Sometimes there were a dozen whistle- stops a day, each with its rush to set up equipment, shoot the speech, and then get self and camera back on the train before it started again. When President Eisenhower flew to Minneapolis and Mount Rushmore in June, Simonson and Hofen made the usual last-minute dashes to catch the next plane. But on this trip there was time out for ceremony. Along with the President, the NBC crew was initiated into the Sioux Indian Singing Tribe of the Wahoo. Al Simonson is now "Bad Wound" and John Hofen is "Chief Ghost Bear." Excitement with the President Once, with the President, there was suspense and excitement that came too close to home for Hofen. He and Simonson were at Augusta, Georgia, with Mr. Eisen- hower, making arrangements to return to Washington the next day. John had just received word from his wife, who was visiting in Charleston, that she and their three- year-old daughter were returning to Washington that night on the Atlantic Coast Line Champion. He was awakened at one in the morning by a call from New York. The Champion had jumped track at Dillon, South Carolina and he and Simonson should start moving im- mediately to cover the tragedy on film. The rest of the night, the two drove from Augusta. They arrived at dawn to shoot their story and, for John, to search the wreckage. Finally they found a railroad oSicial. This train, he said, was the coach section of the Champion. John's family, with Pullman tickets, had passed through in the advance section just fifteen minutes ahead of this one. They were safe, by that time, in Washington. "That was a long night," says Hofen. In addition to the trips, another problem is caused by Washington's complex local government. In order to move freely about town for his pickups of film during the 1948 inauguration, Jim Curtis, NBC's courier, had to have seventeen different passes. He pinned one on top of another and then folded them all up with a little tab holding them together, pinned to his blouse. At one intersection a policeman stopped him and said he couldn't cross, didn't have the right pass. Jim unbuttoned the tab, deadpan, and let all seventeen credentials cascade to his knees. "Take your pick," said Curtis. He crossed the street. Some Officials Need Persuasion NBC's Washington TV film men have to know their trades and be able to move fast, but mostly their success depends on their diplomacy. Sometimes government officials, new to their offices, are reluctant to make state- ments when they're in the news. It's up to the crews and Assignment Editor Corrigan to persuade them that what they have to say is important, and that the nation should be able to see them say it. And it takes a good deal of the same commodity to convince the President, when outdoors, that he'd really look a lot better on film if he'd take off his hat and let people see his face. Shadows over the eyes do not help. What would Washington be like if the TV film men could have their say? Art Barriault sums it up for all of them. "The millennium will come when every Senator and Cabinet officer can clarify the most complicated of politi- cal issues in a well-rounded, colorful, one-minute state- ment." The millennium isn't here, but NBC's diplomats with tripods are bringing it closer. New York Graduate Engineer Wins David Sarnoff Scholarship Harold S. Rothman, 21, of 960 Grand Concourse, Bronx, N. Y., has been awarded the David Sarnoff Fel- lowship at the New York University College of Engi- neering for 1953-54. The fellowship was established in 1952 by the Radio Corporation of America in honor of Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA. Providing an annual grant of $2,700 for predoctoral study, the award is part of a program to assist in the education of scientific personnel for leadership in the growing electronics in- dustry. Mr. Rothman was the applicant among a class of 175 graduating engineers who, in the opinion of the Scholar- ships Committtee and the RCA Education Committee, had the necessary high qualifications for the award. With the aid of the Fellowship, Mr. Rothman will pursue studies in the microwave field, a subject of spe- cialization in which he became interested during his undergraduate course in electrical engineering. His career plans center on design and development in the micro- wave field. RADIO AGE 21