behind the camera in pictures
My apologies for the extended downtime. Unfortunately my web host had a wee bit of a problem that ended up sending this site along with all backups to the great server in the sky.
I have managed to recover some content, but the vast majority of comments, “ping backs” and some posts are gone for good.
~ Amanda
Just about everyone with a television station on their resume has probably seen Pat Tomasulo’s revenge on those who mess up his live shots by now.
Then, as now, a news crew out in public can cause the public to act in rather juvenile ways as the last graf in this January 30, 1929 Saint Petersburg Evening Independent article illustrates a problem a Fox Movietone crew had to deal with on the dawn of the arrival of sound in the news.
Fox Movietone Crew Here With 4500 Pounds of Paraphernalia To Record St. Petersburg Scenes
In spite of the multiplicity of technical detail which complicates the new era of taking motion pictures and recording the sound upon the film, members of the Fox Movietone news reel crew in the city today to film, are revealing that the modern three-man crew and 4,500 pounds of equipment necessary to shoot the news “talkies,” are as mobile as the lone cameraman with his light hand outfit.
A bathing beauty review showing the latest thing in beach pajamas and coats as well as bathing suits is being held this afternoon at the Don Ce-Sar hotel beach with the solaria and beach paraphernalia forming a colorful background. Sound recording makes it possible to film the members of the Don Ce-Sar dance orchestra and record their music as well as the pictures that are being filmed.
Accompanying the movietone crew, consisting of Neil Sullivan, cameraman; Kenneth Allison, technician; and Louis Hoffman who serves as the contact director while on location, will be Clifton Adams, staff photographer for National Geographic magazine, who will take autochrome pictures of the review to accompany a Florida article which will appear in an early issue of the famous travel magazine.
The bathing review is being staged for the visitors by the publicity department of the chamber of commerce, which is also arranging other picture views for the visiting cameramen. The modeling talent for the review consists of members of the younger set of the city who volunteer their services as members of the publicity department staff of Sunshine City Beauties and who give their time to this civic service without remuneration.
Beach coats and pajamas for the scenes are being furnished by the S. R. McIntosh company and by Mrs. N. V. Plank of the Don Ce-Sar Novelty shop.
Many amusing instances are encountered by the crew which is shooting the new pictures. The entire equipment, including microphones, recording instruments, generators, cameras and film magazines, is compactly fitted into a truck, the top of which often serves as a platform when quick action pictures are being taken.
The microphone for recording is placed near the person speaking, the orchestra, or other sound that is being recorded, and youngsters often have the original idea of running past the microphone and shouting swear words into it. There is no hope of such breaks getting before the audience as they are carefully edited out of the “Copy.”
In 1948, Norman Alley was asked to obtain footage of a bowling ball rolling down a lane for a story.
Not to be deterred from a chance at a creative angle, Alley tied his DeVry to a broom, wound it up and went chasing the ball down the lane.
In early April of 1936, Dave Oliver, then a cameraman with Universal Newsreel, was shooting footage for a story of the winners of the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes in New York City.
The winning ticket holders proved to be quite the characters, as such, Oliver’s editors though a losing ticket holder was needed to balance the story out.
Unable to find someone in a hurry, Oliver remembered he happened to have a losing ticket in his pocket himself. And so, a “Mister John Q. Dohp” just happened to be found and stepped in front of the lens to waxed poetic about how disappointed he was about losing the sweepstakes again.
Oliver’s going above and beyond for a story was enough to convince Universal to renew his contract at the princely sum for a cameraman in 1936 of $100 a week.
[Sweepstakes winner story|| Dave Oliver as John Q. Dohp, a losing ticket holder]
