tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64724471870033207132024-03-13T15:14:07.735+01:00 First World War on FilmNews & Research Updates on our Publications about the American Cinematographers and Films of World War I Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-55639185752825100052018-11-11T11:00:00.022+01:002023-11-29T07:45:07.403+01:00The Last Post - Researching World War I on FilmToday, exactly one hundred years ago, World War I ended. The guns along the Western Front fell silent after four years of fighting - Armistice was declared. The appropriate time now has also come to finish this weblog on the American films and cameramen of the Great War. On behalf of fellow authors Cooper Graham and Jim Castellan, thank you all very much for your interest, comments and enthusiastic support of our film historical research!<br />
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For this final weblog here is a reproduction of a post that was published in November 2017 by the <a href="http://iamhist.net/2017/11/researching-world-war-film/">International Association for Media and History</a> (IAMHIST) on their website.<br />
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<b>Albert Dawson, directing war movies on the Eastern Front, 1915. Source: National Archives</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_KSzwfsPSDlOKpGIo1yB1wuzJPzozVo_/view?usp=sharing">Link to high res image </a></b></h3>
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<b>"Researching World War I On Film"</b></h3>
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<b>By Ron van Dopperen</b></h2>
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The centennial of the First World War has brought about a renewed public interest in this major military conflict. When I first visited Belgium as a history student in the 1980s there were still veterans around who had been in the trenches. They were there to hear the Last Post under the Menin Gate, and I remember vividly how impressed I was by the ceremony and the sight of all these names of the soldiers who had found an anonymous grave in the Ypres Salient. </blockquote>
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As the saying goes ‘Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away’. It is the same with the films of the Great War. Stored on highly flammable nitrate stock, the film legacy of World War I presents scholars and film fans all over the world with an amazing historical source. The footage to be sure is slowly fading away. Unless preserved on safety stock or digitized we are losing by decomposition an invaluable part of our cultural heritage. I recall the first time I went into the nitrate vaults of the Library of Congress in Culpeper, Virginia, with my esteemed fellow author Cooper Graham, looking for lost film of this war. I was feeling like a kid in a candy store. In one of the cans we found footage mentioning <i>The German Side of the War</i>, a movie that had been produced by the Chicago Tribune in 1915. When reeling that film on a viewer we found ourselves in underground bunkers on the Eastern Front, and that’s when we discovered the film had been misplaced. We were looking at a completely different film that was shot by Albert K. Dawson, cameraman with the Austro-Hungarian army! </blockquote>
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My fascination with these old war films started when as a history student I first read Kevin Brownlow’s book <i>The War, the West and the Wilderness</i>. Kevin is one of the first historians to research World War I films. He also was fortunate enough to interview some of the cameramen who recorded the Great War, at a time when they were still around. We dedicated our book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918/dp/0861967178/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1538808451&sr=8-2">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a></i> to Kevin Brownlow because as film historians we all stand on his shoulders. These war pictures, as described by Brownlow, were a window on a different world. This was a time when cars and planes were the latest thing, when women could not vote, when it took ten days to cross the Atlantic, when trench warfare devastated a way of life that belonged to the 19th century. Despite the static shots and primitive camera technique these films and newsreels are truly mesmerizing. </blockquote>
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The First World War was a modern war that surprised all combatants as well as the people at the home front just because it was so ‘modern’. It was also the first modern media war. Film propaganda was not invented by Goebbels but by Wellington House, UFA and the Committee on Public Information in America. Admittedly, wars had been filmed before 1914 but this was the first time in history when the huge publicity potential of this young medium was discovered and exploited. </blockquote>
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As I dug deeper into my film research, together with my American colleagues Cooper Graham and Jim Castellan, I also got intrigued by one simple question: how did these guys do it? How did they manage lugging these cumbersome movie cameras with tripod and all to the battlefield? How did they deal with censors, military red tape and the risks of having their movie camera mistaken for the equipment of an artillery spotter? Why did they even run the risk of becoming a prime target? We were on uncharted territory basically, as most of these cameramen – like the soldiers of World War I – had slowly faded away. We interviewed relatives in the U.S. and many of them did not even know that their Granddad had been a cameraman in World War I. But the stories that we found on their photographic work and their life are definitely worth preserving, just like their films. In some rare instances we could even match their personal story with the pictures that they made at the front. It’s a strange experience to watch a movie that was made one hundred years ago, as seen through the eyes of the cameraman you get to know so well. As a writer you feel transported back in time. For a brief moment you become the cameraman. </blockquote>
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Just like these cameramen who had been pioneers in their trade – the first film correspondents – we had to start most of our film research from scratch. I should give proper credits here to Cooper and Jim for their outstanding work on reconstructing Wilbur H. Durborough’s feature film, <i><a href="https://youtu.be/958QR_Cdg5U">On the Firing Line with the Germans</a></i>, a unique film report made during the German drive on the Eastern Front in 1915. By using the paper roll collection at the Library of Congress they managed to identify each separate scene from that movie. The next step was finding scenes missing from known Durborough film in TV documentaries and the World War I Signal Corps collection at the National Archives. The last step was piecing them all together in the right order. This is another aspect of this kind of film research: how to piece all of these segments together? World War I film research is a giant jigsaw puzzle because a lot of contemporary footage has been recycled or cut into stock footage. It takes a lot of patience to get the bigger picture.</blockquote>
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<b>Sniper attack on the Eastern Front in Russian Poland. Scene from <i><a href="https://youtu.be/958QR_Cdg5U">On the Firing Line with the Germans</a></i> (USA, 1915)</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/32846481381/in/album-72157678886605680/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">The last years researching World War I film have been a great ride. We have brought back on the screen Durborough’s war film which has been wonderfully restored by the Library of Congress. The premiere at the film festival of Pordenone together with Kevin Brownlow as a special guest was just great. This kind of film research never really stops, so after publishing our books and articles we started a weblog <i>Shooting the Great War</i> which has the latest updates on World War I cameramen and films that we have found and identified. The blog has over 330.000 views. So, we definitely have an audience out there!<br /></blockquote><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://archive.org/details/weblog-first-world-war-on-film">For a download in PDF of all contents in this weblog click this link (23 Mb, 654 pages) </a></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NqdUiBogrq4/YReX78SiodI/AAAAAAAAnKA/lyWL0pXen4oPk-21TDt9nJ8hCH1uD8LCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/GIF%2Bpromo%2Bbook.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NqdUiBogrq4/YReX78SiodI/AAAAAAAAnKA/lyWL0pXen4oPk-21TDt9nJ8hCH1uD8LCQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/GIF%2Bpromo%2Bbook.gif" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>
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<b>Ron van Dopperen studied history at the University of Utrecht (Holland) where he wrote his Master of Arts Thesis on the American World War I documentary films. Since 2011 he publishes on World War I film, starting with a series of articles for <i>Film History</i> journal. He is also co-author together with Cooper C. Graham of <i>Shooting the Great War: Albert Dawson and the American Correspondent Film Company</i> (2013) and together with Jim Castellan and Cooper Graham of <i>American Cinematographers in the Great War</i> (2014) which was sponsored by the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.</b></blockquote>
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-25764023428764425892018-11-01T07:22:00.006+01:002023-08-20T16:03:59.975+02:00Shooting the Breakthrough - A.E.F. Cameraman Wounded (France, 1918)Having taken the Hindenburg Line two American Divisions as part of the British Fourth Army participated in the final stage of World War I. Against heavy German resistance the American soldiers charged across open country and crossed the river Selle on October 17, 1918. While filming the breakthrough Sergeant Granville Howe, motion picture cameraman attached to the 30th Division (American Expeditionary Force), was wounded.<br />
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<b>View of a German shell exploding in the distance at Molain, near Vaux-Andigny, France, on October 17, 1918. Shrapnel from the shell killed two British Tommies, five horses, and wounded the moving-picture operator of the 30th Division. Signal Corps photograph, taken by Lt. Edward N. Jackson. NARA, record number J 33371, courtesy Harry B. Kidd. </b></h3><h3><br /></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/40236576240/in/album-72157679724769163/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3>
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According to a report by the Chief Signal Officer from 1919, seven American cameramen were wounded during the First World War while taking pictures at the front. Details of what happened to these official military photographers are very hard to find. Also, pictures showing the actual moment they were hit by enemy fire are extremely rare. As a result, we were amazed to find a photograph recently in the collection of the National Archives, showing such a moment. A group of American soldiers can be seen taking cover while a shell explodes nearby. The caption mentions an American movie cameraman who was wounded, as well as some British soldiers. Note the railroad track in the right corner on the foreground. This detail among other things later made it possible to substantiate the report on what happened on October 17, 1918.<br />
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<b>Identification of Photographer</b></h3>
The caption has a fixed date and location, but we initially had no clue about the identity of the photographer who took this picture, as well as the cameraman who got wounded. Until Harry Kidd helped us out, and supplied us with a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/27174220437/in/album-72157679724769163/">copy of the original print</a> that was cleared by the A.E.F. censors shortly after the Armistice. As it turns out, the picture was taken by Lt. Edward N. Jackson, photographic officer with the 27th Division. Jackson featured before in an <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2015/12/signal-corps-scoop-capturing-big-four.html">earlier weblog</a>, and we also mentioned him briefly in our book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918-ebook/dp/B01E9Z1PBO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526141038&sr=8-2&keywords=dopperen&dpID=51I3SyFMRCL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a></i>. He was a press photographer from New York and had a major scoop with his pictures of the Peace Treaty at Versailles in 1919.<br />
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<b>Tanks of the American 301st Tank Battalion going into action at St. Souplet on the morning of October 17, 1918. Note Old Glory flying from the tank. Signal Corps picture, probably taken by Lt. Jackson's photo-unit, from the collection of the Imperial War Museum</b></h3>
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Harry's invaluable input gave us the lead we were hoping for. Jackson wrote a personal account on his experiences during the First World War. As quoted by Joseph J. Caro in his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Assignment-Great-War-Fighting-Division-ebook/dp/B007ZUFJLS/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1526141095&sr=1-2&keywords=caro+on+assignment">On Assignment: The Great War</a></i>, Jackson reported how he and his fellow cameramen were attached to the 30th Division in September 1918. This made perfect sense, as both American units - the 27th and the 30th Divison - were under British command and collaborated closely during the final attack on the German lines.<br />
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<b>Casualty Report by Lt. Jackson</b></h3>
Here are fragments from Jackson's account on this incident during the American drive which would go down into history books as the Battle of the Selle:<br />
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<i>"Now the soldiers were out of the trenches, fighting in the open. The enemy was in slow retreat. It was nuts for us! We were in a picture man's paradise! Something worthwhile photographically, was happening every minute! .... This was all like a photographer's dream - and a soldier's nightmare. Picture on picture of roaring, thundering action flashed all around us. You couldn't shoot it all; you could hardly should any, especially when you are being shot at yourself. We were warned not to show ourselves in the open fields too much because we would draw fire from the enemy."</i></blockquote>
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<i>"... By this time St. Souplet was being pounded to complete ruins. Buildings were on fire, and clouds of smoke and flames shot up over the little town. Many tanks were coming up now. The one with the American flag was far in advance, plowing steadily on. What a sight to see! "Gosh, that was a whopper!", Bennett </i><i>[</i><i>Jackson's camera assistant </i><i>] </i><i>shouted, as shells continued to fall all around us. Artillery horses near our guns started to stampede and men sought refuge near the railroad tracks.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>I turned to see what luck Howe was having with his movie machine and saw him step away from the tripod mounted camera. His mouth was stretched wide, his teeth flashing. For a brief second I thought he was grinning at something. Then I saw his face was distorted in pain! Bennett and I caught him as he fell and we carried him over the railroad tracks to a safe field. A hasty examination revealed that he had shrapnel wounds in both legs. He was bleeding badly. Calling for help, some English soldiers came and carried Howe to a first aid station on the other side of town. I never saw him again but heard he was sent home to Chicago soon after."</i></blockquote>
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<b>British artillery in action at Molain, October 17, 1918. Signal Corps picture which was probably taken by Lt. Jackson's photo unit</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CCDvHTO-VNwj5Hun4Ll_XWBOQgRke_DF/view?usp=sharing">Link to low res image</a></b><b><br /></b></h3>
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<b>The Cameraman: Granville J. Howe</b></h3>
Jackson was right about Howe's return to Chicago, but it wasn't until January 22, 1919, when he departed from France. It evidently took some time before his wounds were healed well enough, so he could be shipped back to the United States. The information on Howe's life and work remains somewhat sketchy. Born in Tiffin, Ohio, in 1876, Howe started working as a photographer in the Chicago area. When America entered World War I he joined the U.S. Signal Corps and he was assigned to the American Expeditionary Force. He sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the military transport ship SS <i>Covington</i> on June 15, 1918. Shortly after his arrival in France Howe must have been assigned to the 27th Division, and his camera covered most of the major campaigns by the 27th and the 30th Division. In the collection of the National Archives we found a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=18m05LkPmuWOMJL5pFASWZezkelpZiaKc">contemporary report</a> mentioning Howe's extraordinary work as a motion picture cameraman. He was cited for bravery in having taken pictures under heavy shell and machine gun fire during all of the operations that he witnessed at the Western Front.<br />
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After the First World War Howe worked as chief cameraman for Otto A. Brinner in Chicago. The Brinner Film Company specialized in topical movies and newsreel productions.<br />
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Granville Howe died in Chicago on July 8, 1945.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11141719/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm">Our report on Granville Howe has been published in this biography by www.imdb.com</a></div><div><br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"><i> </i></b><br />
<b style="text-align: center;"><i> With special thanks to Harry Kidd for his research and input on this weblog</i></b><br />
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<br /></div>Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-12004328637468853922018-10-23T07:04:00.003+02:002023-08-04T10:01:23.651+02:00"Under Four Flags" (USA, 1918) Released nationwide by the World Film Corporation in January 1919, <i>Under Four Flags</i> was the last official World War I feature film produced by the Committee on Public Information (CPI), America's wartime propaganda agency. Segments of this historic film from the collection of the Library of Congress are now available online.<br />
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<b>Film poster <i>Under Four Flags</i> (USA, 1918)</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/38549940894/in/album-72157679763430995/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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<h3><b>"The Victory of Democracy"</b></h3>
With 1,820 bookings in American theaters, grossing almost $ 64,000,- <i>Under Four Flags</i> did not live up to the expectations of the CPI Film Division. The movie premiered in New York City at the prestigious Rialto and Rivoli theaters in November 1918, shortly after the Armistice was signed. The end of World War I was included into the movie with a caption announcing "The Victory of Democracy". President Woodrow Wilson next was shown on screen, as are victory parades in Washington, D.C. The film concluded: “And now the cannon’s roar has ceased and peaceful days and peaceful nights have come again to those across the seas."<br />
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<b>Scene from <i>Under Four Flags</i>, reproduced in an article published in <i>Photoplay Magazine</i>, January 1919</b></h3>
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Public interest in the Great War quickly disappeared in the United States after the signing of the Armistice, which is - apart from the impact of the flu epidemic - the main reason why <i>Under Four Flags</i> did not prove to be a box office hit. As described by Benjamin B. Hampton in his book <i>The History of the American Film Industry</i>: "On November 11th war pictures were saleable merchandise; on the night of November 11th they became unmarketable. During the dull months of 1918, while the studios were marking time, the principal item of production had been war pictures. On Armistice Day, distributors and producers had almost nothing else in their warerooms; they faced the loss of millions of dollars in property now worthless through this sudden twist in the taste of their customers."<br />
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The original film version of <i>Under Four Flags </i>had seven reels, with footage showing the American offensives at Château-Thierry and St. Mihiel. As a contribution to the Allied war effort, the fifth reel had scenes showing the Italian army fighting against the Austrians in the Alps. Most of the original footage in this CPI movie was shot by military cameramen of the U.S. Signal Corps in France. The footage from the Library of Congress runs for about 25 minutes. Although it is not a complete print and despite the uneven pictorial quality the original intertitles which were written by Kenneth C. Beaton are still in place and give a good impression of this remarkable World War I propaganda film.<br />
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Although now considered "silent", this World War I film originally had a musical score which tied in with the Christmas season of 1918 and was composed by Hector Richard.<br />
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<a href="https://loc.gov/item/ihas.200209436">Here is a download link to the film music of <i>Under Four Flags</i>, also available at the Library of Congress. </a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-58406825765156992982018-10-16T08:17:00.001+02:002018-10-16T08:17:50.646+02:00Faking War Footage World War I film scenes sometimes were staged before the camera. The reasons for faking the footage were complex and have been described in more detail in our book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918/dp/0861967178/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1514714325&sr=8-1">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a></i>.<br />
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<b>Picture from the article in <i>Illustrated World</i> on fake war films, March 1916</b></h3>
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Some fake war films, like the movie that was shot by Arthur Dugmore on the <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2016/12/the-battle-of-alost-gbusa-1914.html">Belgian defense of the city of Alost</a> in September 1914, proved to be a huge success in the American movie theaters. This <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2016/01/fake-footage.html">earlier weblog</a> has more information on how war scenes were staged, with as an example the following film scene of a German infantry attack that was shot by American cameraman, Albert K. Dawson, on the Western Front around February 1915.<br />
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<b>German soldiers going over the top at the Western Front, filmed by Albert K. Dawson. Footage located in the BBC <i>Great War</i> series, Episode 5 (1964)</b></h3>
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Although film was a relatively new medium during World War I the movie-going audience in the United States knew that not all of these supposed 'war scenes' were for real. The film trade papers in America frequently ran articles warning exhibitors about the risks of showing fake and unreliable war films. The audience also read stories that explained how these fake war films were produced.<br />
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<b>How to Recognize a Fake War Film</b></h3>
A typical example is an article that was published in March 1916 in the popular magazine <i>Illustrated World</i>. Author Edward C. Crossman describes a number of staged war films that were shown in the American movie theaters at the beginning of World War I, and explains how these scenes were made. He also goes into quite some detail on how the audience could recognize a fake scene from a real war scene, giving attention to the position of the film camera and technical details about the weapons that were used in the film.<br />
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Although the writer of this article does not mention any names of producing companies the lines on a Belgian war film that was shown uinder the auspices of a big American newspaper may refer to the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>'s film <i><a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2017/08/lost-and-found-on-belgian-battlefields.html">On Belgian Battlefields</a></i> (USA, 1914) which was taken by the Tribune's staff photographer Edwin F. Weigle and is now considered 'lost', apart from a short scene that we could identify recently.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PdtpFF43h1lLwnzyuK3ZE1x1FkUBSDGG">Here is a download link to this article from <i>Illustrated World</i>.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-63999056158497320182018-10-09T07:14:00.003+02:002023-08-11T11:37:34.042+02:00Sending Smiles to the Soldiers by the Movies (USA, 1918)Around October 20, 1918 an estimated 14,000 people gathered in Grant Park, Chicago, for a huge movie project. Friends, relatives and sweethearts of soldiers from the Illinois regiments that were serving in France all gathered to appear before the camera, so the soldiers could see their loved ones on Christmas Eve.<br />
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Scene from the "Smile Films": friends and family say hello to Eddie Brand from Chicago</h3><h3><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/33837649713/in/album-72157683799811125/">Link to high res image</a></h3><div><br /></div>
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The project was called "Smiles Films" and judging from contemporary reports it was a terrific morale booster. The idea actually was quite original. Usually films were made in Europe for the American home front, but this time it was the other way around. According to film trade reports, the <i>Chicago Examiner</i> - a Hearst newspaper - came up with this idea and joined forces with the Rothacker Film Company for the making of these special films. As production went underway the scope of the project expanded rapidly. At first the makers of "Smile Films" thought about shooting scenes of friends and relatives of soldiers from the 131rd and 132nd Illinois regiments. Then the Black Hawk Division was added to their list, as well as the 149th Field Artillery, the Marines from Illinois and the Afro-American soldiers. In the end director Rex Weber and his crew produced 34 reels of film, totalling 26,683 feet of film.<br />
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<b>"Turning Chicago Upside Down"</b></h3>
When the "Smiles Films" were recorded war on the Western Front was still being fought by the American soldiers and no one could have guessed that the war would be over by Christmas. Sending a personal message over there by using movies was something the boys in the trenches would certainly appreciate. During post-production the footage was edited into segments according to the specific name of the military unit, so the film could be shown to the appropriate soldiers through the YMCA. Each film had an introduction by Governor Lowden and Judge Landis who was quoted on an intertitle urging the boys to "give the Germans both barrels". Director Rex Weber, who had made a series of films in 1917 for the American Military Relief Association, also appeared in these movies, announcing what would happen to Chicago when the soldiers returned home. A scene was projected next, showing the streets of Chicago that were turned upside down by tilting the movie camera.<br />
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According to film producer Watterson R. Rothacker, director Rex Weber was thoroughly exhausted by this massive film project. In retrospect that turned out to be an ominous statement. On December 9, 1918, shortly before his movies were shown to the American soldiers in France, Weber died - one of the millions of victims of the Spanish flu that was sweeping across Europe and the U.S. at the time.<br />
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Unfortunately, we haven't been able so far to find the footage of these "Smiles Films" in the historical film archives, but in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. we came across a fascinating selection of pictures showing the making of these films in Grant Park, Chicago.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/albums/72157683799811125">You are free to view and download these pictures here on our photo channel.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-23741596970721113902018-10-03T07:22:00.021+02:002023-08-17T20:59:38.620+02:00Official War Photographer William Fox (Western Front, 1918)Although they shot thousands of feet of footage you hardly see them on film: the official cameramen of World War I. By a stroke of luck we recently found a rare movie scene that features one of these war photographers: William Fox, commanding the Photo-Unit attached to the 5th Division of the American Expeditionary Force.<br />
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<b>Official Photographer</b></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G98QzvrFJ9Y/W55Ve6JC_mI/AAAAAAAADx4/oPnjaNWFlNEId1TFy-fTvkTer3nCW5prACLcBGAs/s1600/fox%2B1916.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="505" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G98QzvrFJ9Y/W55Ve6JC_mI/AAAAAAAADx4/oPnjaNWFlNEId1TFy-fTvkTer3nCW5prACLcBGAs/s400/fox%2B1916.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>William Fox in Mexico, 1916</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SjF5w-XWCu6tTPzvIQwSnprOVbCzAww8/view?usp=sharing">Link to low res original photograph</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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William Fox was mentioned in an <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2016/04/chasing-pancho-villa-tracy-mathewson-in.html">earlier weblog</a>. He was a press photographer who worked for Underwood & Underwood in New York City. In 1916 Fox was attached to General Pershing's forces as the only official accredited cameraman to cover the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. The National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. have a collection of pictures taken by Fox in Mexico at that time. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/albums/72157698176431262">Here is a selection of these photographs which were uploaded on our photo channel.</a><br />
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Thanks to Harry Kidd's excellent photographic research on the U.S. Signal Corps World War I cameramen we could trace some additional background information on Lieutenant Fox's work after the American entry into the First World War. First, we found two pictures taken by Fox in June 1918 at Newport News, Virginia, when he was covering troop transports to France. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/14274598524/in/photolist-nKp3PE-kCtCwP-BZ6zAp-BA669C-Cvhp8f-CxAeqk-Co3azu-CqiUdH-CvidsA-BAdkTT-BA67Tj-CqjkJn-BZ737a-Cqjj8r-C6tUEY-Cvi6Eh-BZ6w4K-C6tVfW-BAdjy8-C6tmNm-BZ72wT-BAcBqM-BA63nL-Cvi9PU-BAdqwR-C6ubg7-CxAZG6-CxAYNc-CxAUUR">Here is a link to one of his photographs, from Harry Kidd's photo channel on Flickr. </a><div><br /></div><div>Next, as a postscript to this weblog, in 2023 we discovered two pictures in the World War I Signal Corps collection of the National Archives, showing Fox together with Captain Albert K. Dawson, a well known war photographer who had been among the first photographic officers to join the Signal Corps after the American entry into the war. These shots were taken on November 14, 1917, at Camp Leach in Washington, D.C. and show soldiers of the 24th Engineers Battalion on camouflage training. Fox at the time was commissioned into the Signal Corps with the rank of 1st Lieutenant. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIo0gH16w6dd13rZ29qwqIjbGjGz5uBotr5UgIYd4Ll4nF-a1l8SPEjA5dDn_SoUrWfnZC-us70ROZDSZd3l3RpEw4zmd2VY8ofRRdo4R4k68BFM8t7fRKJtPSWbSvCWgzDpMArx4Ocw9Wjukhx7glNErEP0FKcDI0uqLKGNxzmSE95GaItmkVWk5oy9Vj/s675/Lt.%20William%20Fox%20with%20Graflex%20camera%20Nov%201917.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="609" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIo0gH16w6dd13rZ29qwqIjbGjGz5uBotr5UgIYd4Ll4nF-a1l8SPEjA5dDn_SoUrWfnZC-us70ROZDSZd3l3RpEw4zmd2VY8ofRRdo4R4k68BFM8t7fRKJtPSWbSvCWgzDpMArx4Ocw9Wjukhx7glNErEP0FKcDI0uqLKGNxzmSE95GaItmkVWk5oy9Vj/w361-h400/Lt.%20William%20Fox%20with%20Graflex%20camera%20Nov%201917.jpg" width="361" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><br /></b></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b>Lt. William Fox with Graflex camera at Camp Leach, 14 November 1917<br /></b> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16_IC98qeXmbFdjW0THqQqaAufwlQ1jI9/view?usp=sharing">Link to full photo series</a></h3><div style="text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">"The Red Devils"</b></h3><div>The WW1 Signal Corps collection has a <a href="https://www.alamy.com/lt-william-fox-belonging-to-the-signal-corps-is-photographed-on-august-22-1916-during-the-loading-of-a-beef-ship-at-pier-7-in-hoboken-nj-the-photo-was-taken-on-july-31-1918-at-the-port-of-embarkation-it-was-duly-censored-by-the-mib-censor-before-release-on-august-23-1918-image558575959.html">picture</a> taken by Fox on July 31, 1918, showing the loading of a beef ship in Hoboken, N.J. There is also <a href="https://www.alamy.com/lt-william-fox-a-member-of-the-sigrc-poses-with-a-sunder-a-safe-arrival-card-during-world-war-one-the-card-filled-out-by-soldiers-on-board-a-ship-announces-their-safe-arrival-and-is-then-sent-back-to-their-loved-ones-this-particular-card-is-labeled-not-for-publication-for-official-use-only-image558564225.html">this photograph </a>recorded by Fox on August 2, 1918, showing a safe arrival card of an American soldier, which indicates Fox had sailed for France by then. He was assigned to the 5th Division, A.E.F, as photographic officer. Nicknamed "The Red Devils", the 5th Division was activated on December 11, 1917, just over eight months after the American entry into World War I, at Camp Logan, near Houston, Texas and began training for deployment to the Western Front. The entire division had arrived in France by May 1, 1918, and the units were soon deployed into the front line. Battle honors to the Fifth Division were earned for its participation at the St. Mihiel Drive and Meuse-Argonne Offensive.<br />
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In October 1918, Lieutenant Fox and his photographic unit reached the Meuse river while the 5th Division was driving the German army out of the Argonne area. Their picture was taken on October 19, 1918, near Montfaucon.<br />
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<h3>
<b>Signal Corps photographic
unit attached to the 5th Division, 1st Army. Personnel, left to right: Sgt 1cl
A. J. Mann; Cpl J. G. Jones, S.C. Motion Picture Photographer; 1st Lt. Wm Fox,
S.C. Still Photographer: Cpl. Paul Bogart, Ass't; and Master Signal Electrician
Gare Schwartz. Fayel Farm near Montfaucon, Meuse, France. Photographer:
Lieutenant Wm. Fox, S.C. Location: Montfaucon, Meuse, France. Date October 19, 1918. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/185yYs5ERqG1POTMoz-i_cqRtznyclycU/view?usp=sharing">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Harry Kidd's research at the National Archives has produced additional references to Fox and his camera crew. On October 22, 1918, he was filmed having lunch with members of his photographic team, as well as with officers of the 5th Division at mess. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zVDhYvGMRgElt2fU5FRGZVcXX2xk5NO4">Here is a download link to the 'dope sheet' movie cards, describing these two scenes.</a> Part of this footage we also found in the collection of the National Archives in Washington, D.C.<br />
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<b>Footage Found at the Imperial War Museum</b></h3>
On October 25, 1918, three days later, Fox again was filmed inside the city of Cunel, when he was setting up his movie camera in front of a church that supposedly had been used by the Germans as a cinema. When Fox was filming Cunel had just been evacuated by the retreating Germans, but it seems the place was still dangerous because Fox appears to be running away from shell fire in the film scene that we found in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.<br />
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<b><i>With special thanks to Harry Kidd for his research and input on this weblog</i></b><br />
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<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-10846849106858729452018-09-28T07:34:00.002+02:002023-08-07T07:21:12.978+02:00World War I Through the Lens of the Cameraman (GB, 2018)Crowd funded by World War I and film history fans alike, <i>Beaumont-Hamel</i> was released online on June 30, 2018. The film has a unique approach to the Great War. The Battle of the Somme is seen here through the lens of the official cinematographer, Geoffrey Malins, who on July 1, 1916, covered the bloodiest battle in British military history.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc31D7fI3zY/W6xyvtw-EKI/AAAAAAAADys/_tijWYDrIvwGRUVHb8sy02zUKcezQ6WYQCLcBGAs/s1600/muchogrande.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1517" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fc31D7fI3zY/W6xyvtw-EKI/AAAAAAAADys/_tijWYDrIvwGRUVHb8sy02zUKcezQ6WYQCLcBGAs/s400/muchogrande.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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Co-directed by a film maker (Ross Barnwell) and a World War I historian (Andy Robertshaw, co-author of <i>Ghosts on the Somme</i>), this short film places historical accuracy at the centrepiece of the drama. Highly recommended!<br />
<br /><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://youtu.be/zrqnQ9rXN4Q">You can watch this film here on YouTube</a></b></h3><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
</div>Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-62241004049626264642018-09-26T08:52:00.006+02:002023-08-11T16:34:12.681+02:00Capturing the Great War from Above (France, 1918)In the collection of the Imperial War Museum the authors recently found a remarkable film by photographic officer Captain Edwin H. Cooper, showing his preparations for a staged battle between the American ace Eddie Rickenbacker and a captured German plane. During the making of this movie Cooper's plane crashed but he survived miraculously.<br />
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<b>Lieutenant Edwin H. Cooper, getting ready for a motion picture flight. Aviation School, Issoudon, 12 December 1917. Signal Corps picture, courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/36974386560/in/album-72157689389898395/"><b>Link to high res image</b><b><br /></b></a></h3>
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<h3>
<b><br />Distinguished Service Cross for Extraordinary Bravery </b></h3>
Edwin H. Cooper (1881-1948) featured before in this weblog. He was the photographic officer with the 26th "Yankee" Division and in 1917 Cooper was one of the first official cameramen to land in France with the American Expeditionary Force. In a <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.com/2018/07/filming-american-attack-on-chateau.html">previous weblog</a> we described how Cooper risked his life while filming the American attack on Château-Thierry. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his extraordinary bravery during this offensive. Cooper also appears in a recent documentary that we produced - <i><a href="https://youtu.be/hApUnXpuuhw">Mobilizing Movies!</a></i> - on the U.S. Signal Corps cameramen of the First World War.<br />
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In his <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0Bkdc3VEQlRyNHBqcHc">memoirs </a>Cooper explained how he got interested in aerial photography. When he landed at St. Nazaire in October 1917 one of the first things he noticed was a huge observation balloon above the harbor. He immediately decided he wanted to experience the thrill of covering the war from above: "We passed over a very beautiful little chateau which reminded me of a toy house in a well kept Christmas yard. The coast of Brittany is very rocky, jutting out into the water, which was a most wonderful blue. This was the most beautiful ride I ever had. On reaching St. Nazaire we circled over the town, the pilot maneuvering so we could approach the pile of automobiles by making a long glide and at the proper time for me to crank the motion picture camera. I made a mistake by putting my hand up broadside to grasp the crank. The wind pressure was so great that it snapped my hand back, hitting me in the face, and I had to offer my hand knife-wise against the wind, and even at that the cranking was very difficult."<br />
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<b>Capturing the American Aces</b></h3>
In December 1917 Cooper went to Issoudon, the training camp for American aviators. There he met most of the American aces, such as Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Meissner and President Roosevelt's son, Quentin. Many of these men he would encounter again at the 94th Aero-Squadron near Toul. Cooper pictured the training period for the aviators, starting with the roulier class. This was a plane with the propellers clipped to keep the machine from rising from the ground. From there he followed the training of the aviators from one field to another and finally to the acrobatic field. Each day he was in the air and by then he had decided he wanted to join the Air Service.<br />
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<b>Major Raoul Lufbery at the 94th Aero-Squadron, photographed by Lt. Edwin Cooper on April 18, 1918. Signal Corps photograph courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12884599743/in/album-72157641806157513/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Cooper also photographed Lafayette Escadrille ace, Major Raoul Lufbery, shortly before his death:<br />
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<i>"I shall always remember the luncheon I had with Major Lufbery on the Friday</i></div>
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<i>before he was killed. He never talked aviation or his exploits, but that day he</i></div>
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<i>mentioned the fact, referring to a boy that had gone down in flames, that if he was</i></div>
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<i>ever in flames he would jump. That afternoon I photographed him in front of his</i></div>
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<i>plane. The following Sunday afternoon they received word at the field that there</i></div>
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<i>was a Boche plane coming toward Toul. The flight on duty started up and they</i></div>
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<i>had hardly reached a good height when the Boche plane was seen over Toul.</i></div>
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<i>It fell down out of control and everyone thought it had been hit by the artillery.</i></div>
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<i>It narrowly escaped hitting a building, but righted and started to zoom up. A</i></div>
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<i>lieutenant told me, who was standing on the balcony of the Comedie Hotel in Toul,</i></div>
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<i>that it was so low he could have hit it with an orange. The flight did not see the</i></div>
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<i>Boche, but Lufbery went up after him alone. He was on the German's trail chasing</i></div>
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<i>him hard toward Germany, when presently a puff of smoke was seen in Lufbery's</i></div>
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<i>plane. The plane stalled. He climbed out and jumped, evidently trying to reach</i></div>
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<i>the river running under it, but instead landed on a picket fence near the home of a</i></div>
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<i>French peasant. When Major Huffer went after his body the French people had</i></div>
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<i>moved it to the mairie and completely covered it with wild flowers. They brought</i></div>
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<i>down the German just as he reached the lines and found there had been a gunner</i></div>
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<i>lying down in the fusilage who had fired the bullet. Several days later, I made</i></div>
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<i>the picture of Lufbery' s funeral."</i></div>
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<b>Fearless Aerial Photographer</b></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y_3AXl4Otds/WuboQhK7zlI/AAAAAAAADfc/QUe-fevf5sUmtfnLhzcGo8lSiwoRjv-yACEwYBhgL/s1600/To%2BMay%2BDear%2BFriend%2BCaptain%2BCooper.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="822" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y_3AXl4Otds/WuboQhK7zlI/AAAAAAAADfc/QUe-fevf5sUmtfnLhzcGo8lSiwoRjv-yACEwYBhgL/s320/To%2BMay%2BDear%2BFriend%2BCaptain%2BCooper.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Picture from Eddie Rickenbacker to his friend Captain Cooper</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/37371926715/in/album-72157689389898395/">Link to low res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Lieutenant Cooper was by all accounts a fearless aerial photographer. Because of his audacity he was admitted as a charter member of the Gimper Club at 94th Aero-Squadron. To join this exclusive club one had to do a stunt or be a true ace. There is a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/37182591166/in/album-72157689389898395/">picture </a>of these club members, taken in the summer of 1918, including Lt. Cooper together with his friend Eddie Rickenbacker. Judging from a report in the trade press, Cooper must have qualified for the Gimper Club not because he had shot down German planes but as a result of his remarkable stunts: "To get a proper focus, he would climb out of his seat in an airplane, slid out to the tail of the machine, and there complete his work. His weight had caused the tail to dip, and the pilot had to loop the loop several times to save their lives", the <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kT6lIQxfgLIVwwe_KoILubqTJDHuvLZo">Bulletin of Photography</a></i> reported in October 1918.<br />
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<b>Lost footage found at Critical Past and the Imperial War Museum</b></h3>
The opening movie scenes that we found are from the Imperial War Museum and were taken on October 18, 1918 when Cooper had just been promoted to Captain. You see him fitting his Debrie motion picture camera to a gun position inside the cockpit of a Liberty plane. Cooper went up in a two-seater together with Jimmy Meissner that day. Rickenbacker in his book <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ilpKYga7Id_t6deUKl0IazV9c5bdioKz">Fighting the Flying Circus</a></i> (1919) described how their plane crashed a couple of miles outside of the aerodrome. "We hurried over, expecting to find the occupants badly injured, as the Liberty appeared to be a total wreck. But out stepped Jimmy and Captain Cooper, neither of them the worse for their experience. And to complete our surprise, the camera, although covered with the débris of the machine, was quite unhurt!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD4skRqpHwQ/WvQmdu45LsI/AAAAAAAADhE/7tmDjs0WnLs7-4s5nBJdjBLTO26BRO55QCLcBGAs/s1600/wrecked%2BLibert%2Bplane.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="1600" height="376" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD4skRqpHwQ/WvQmdu45LsI/AAAAAAAADhE/7tmDjs0WnLs7-4s5nBJdjBLTO26BRO55QCLcBGAs/s640/wrecked%2BLibert%2Bplane.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>The wrecked Liberty plane, showing Cooper's movie camera attached to the observer's seat. Photographer: Sgt. Gideon Eikleberry, Signal Corps cameraman, 26th Division, A.E.F. Location: Rembercourt, Meurthe et Moselle, France. Date: October 18, 1918. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12883538053/in/album-72157641758554183/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Undaunted by the crash Cooper three days later again cranked his movie camera while filming a staged battle between Rickenbacker inside a Spad and a captured German plane. This time his flight had a safe landing. Cooper's film of this duel in the sky has been found in the stock collection of Critical Past. The original footage must have looked quite spectacular. In order to make the dogfight look realistic the planes shot special tracer bullets. At the end of the film when the German plane went down landing flares that had been fitted under the wings were set on fire. According to Rickenbacker, the German plane even had a dummy pilot installed that was thrown out of the aircraft as the plane dived down. Rickenbacker mentioned the fighting looked so real a French artillery unit opened fire, mistaking the German plane for a real enemy aircraft. Cooper's historic footage also has a close-up of pilot Jimmy Meissner in the front seat of his plane.<br />
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We have edited these scenes from the Imperial War Museum and Critical Past on our YouTube channel. Enjoy!<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-14722257501518391042018-09-21T08:01:00.002+02:002023-08-03T17:24:27.441+02:00Filming General John J. Pershing (USA, 1919)On September 9, 1919, a group of Signal Corps cameramen was assigned to take pictures of General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. While posing for this film and photo opportunity Pershing showed his typical sense of humor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PStWDgu29ZU/W5lwJgF6_fI/AAAAAAAADxI/Y7pr8xkYAQMC2aptISY7AUCMnRqfYYJogCLcBGAs/s1600/Pershing%2BFilm%2Band%2BPhoto%2BShoot.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1031" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PStWDgu29ZU/W5lwJgF6_fI/AAAAAAAADxI/Y7pr8xkYAQMC2aptISY7AUCMnRqfYYJogCLcBGAs/s400/Pershing%2BFilm%2Band%2BPhoto%2BShoot.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>General Pershing poses for U.S. Signal Corps cameramen. New York City, September 9, 1919. Signal Corps Collection, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Record number 111-SC-62677. </b></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/29515181297/in/album-72157679724769163/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3>
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<h3>
<b>Victory Parade down Fifth Avenue</b></h3>
There was a reason why Pershing had to deal with all these cameramen. The next day he was going to lead a victory parade down New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Vast crowds would cheer as 25,000 U.S. soldiers who had served in the A.E.F.'s 1st Division marched from 107th Street to Washington Square, wearing trench helmets and their full combat gear.<br />
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To prepare for this publicity drive it was decided that the U.S. Army needed to have a new set of still pictures and film close up shots of America's war hero who had recently been promoted to <i>General of the Armies of the United States</i>, the highest rank possible for any member of the U.S. armed forces. For this special film and photo opportunity Pershing agreed to pose on top of the roof of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. For photographers General Pershing may have been a perfect model because of his striking looks and impressive appearance. But people who knew him better were aware of the fact that he never felt quite comfortable in front of a camera. The General evidently wanted to finish the shoot as soon as possible. As Sergeant R.E. Warner took this picture above Pershing said to Lieutenant Sutton, who was grinding his movie camera:<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Do they let you waste all that film on me, Lieutenant?"</i></h3>
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This Signal Corps film from the National Archives has scenes showing Pershing leading the 1st "Big Red One" Division down Fifth Avenue the following day on September 10, 1919.<br />
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Additional scenes showing the Victory Parade in New York City have been found by co-author Cooper C. Graham at the Library of Congress. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xvxoFQzEvC7a8gexdb0GJzcddUA4y-gU">Here are his notes on these scenes, which were used for his presentation <i>World War I in Motion</i> in June 2017. </a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-19055002231724808352018-09-17T07:37:00.002+02:002023-08-11T16:38:08.877+02:00World War I Home Movies (USA, 1928)In the <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12082629">film collection at the National Archives</a> in Washington, D.C. the authors recently found one of the earliest American home movies on World War I. Partly based on original footage shot by military cameramen of the U.S. Signal Corps this film series belonged to the War Department but was released on 16 mm. format in 1928 by the Empire Safety Film Co., Inc., located on Seventh Avenue in New York City, for the series "12 Film Monuments.” <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ys7-ybZWryI/WHqPfP-YilI/AAAAAAAACk0/K1Q7MFYcNCAYkQaCicYdr-x0XwHBmS0qgCLcB/s1600/Empire%2BPrints%2Bad.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ys7-ybZWryI/WHqPfP-YilI/AAAAAAAACk0/K1Q7MFYcNCAYkQaCicYdr-x0XwHBmS0qgCLcB/s320/Empire%2BPrints%2Bad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<h3>
<b>Advertisement for the Empire Safety Film World War I series (1928)</b></h3>
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</tbody></table><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16aEoZzJYaA_JlhrKHGspWavHiFz9ePap/view?usp=sharing">Link to low res image</a></h4>
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<h3>
<b>Series of Shorts</b></h3>
The title of this film series refers to twelve important events during World War I for the United States. Each episode was put on a 100 feet reel and was printed on safety stock. The customer could buy a separate reel for $4,50,- The list of this World War I series of shorts is as follows: “Cantigny", "St. Mihiel", "Leviathan”, “Argonne Forest”, “Château-Thierry”, “Zeppelin's Last Raid Over London”, "Exploits of German Submarines" ( four episodes), "Landing at Brest" and "Russia in the World War."<br />
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The footage that we found at the National Archives contains part of the original series: "Château-Thierry", "Exploits of German Submarines" (some but not all episodes) and ""Zeppelin's Last Raid." The quality of these pictures is extraordinary and the footage is beautifully tinted.<br />
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We uploaded the episodes on Château-Thierry - the A.E.F's first major engagement at the Western Front - and the Zeppelin attack on London on our YouTube channel.<br />
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In this <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2017/10/the-first-home-movies-of-world-war-i.html">previous weblog</a> we also posted on American World War I home movies.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-5063487560957705612018-09-12T07:16:00.007+02:002023-08-12T07:55:11.092+02:00Captured on Film by U.S. Cameramen - The Romanov Murder Scene (1918)In December 1918, a photographic team of the U.S. Signal Corps led by Captain Howard Kingsmore arrived in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where they filmed inside the house where Tsar Nicholas II and his family was brutally murdered. Against all odds, we recently found Kingsmore's personal story on this photographic assignment, as well as part of these historic films.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VZtTlPTNfP0/WfLWvfNI8vI/AAAAAAAADQE/rHw7Dy8kCeUlLpg4cV62-pmLSHt6kYpNACLcBGAs/s1600/Signal%2BCorps%2Bcameramen%2BAEF%2BSiberia%2B1918.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="1307" height="227" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VZtTlPTNfP0/WfLWvfNI8vI/AAAAAAAADQE/rHw7Dy8kCeUlLpg4cV62-pmLSHt6kYpNACLcBGAs/s640/Signal%2BCorps%2Bcameramen%2BAEF%2BSiberia%2B1918.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<h3>
<b>Captain Kingsmore (second from right) and his photographic team, Vladivostok, January 1919. Behind the movie camera is Pvt. Philip Tannura. Right: Badge of the Signal Corps Photo Unit American Expeditionary Force Siberia, from the <a href="http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/211284-aef-siberian-expedition-official-photographers-photo-collection/">personal collection</a> of still photographer Sgt. John G. Hemmer</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kyOpeVBj2H3T58SLaWXz2WEgiWJZSazL/view?usp=sharing">Link to original trade paper article </a></b></h3>
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The execution of the last Russian Tsar and his family hardly needs an introduction. After the Bolsheviks had taken over power the Romanov family was moved to a so-called 'House of Special Purpose' in Yekaterinburg. The Imperial family was kept in strict isolation within the walls of a sinister heavily guarded building that was surrounded by a palisade. The Bolsheviks initially wanted to put the Tsar on trial, but in the summer of 1918 anti-Communist forces were at the gates of Yekaterinburg, and the Reds feared their captives would fall into enemy hands. As a result, death to the Romanovs was declared. Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei were shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death on the night of 16-17 July 1918. Their bodies were disposed of in a most gruesome manner.<br />
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<b>The Cameramen</b></h3>
Howard P. Kingsmore was the photographic officer of a U.S. Signal Corps camera team that recorded the operations of the American Expeditionary Army in Siberia. Born in 1886, Kingsmore started his photographic work for the <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, covering the burial of President McKinley, the coal strikes of 1901-1902 and the 50th anniversary of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg. Around 1907 Kingsmore became chief photographer for the <i>Philadelphia Evening Ledger. </i>For this newspaper he covered the civil war in Mexico, as well as the Punitive Expedition by General Pershing into that country in 1916. When the United States entered World War I he applied for a commission in the U.S. Signal Corps as a photographic officer. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in September 1917, appears to have made mostly training pictures while he was in America and in Augustus 1918 was promoted to Captain, when a photographic section was set up for the Siberian Expedition. After the First World War Kingsmore became a cameraman for <i>Fox News</i>.<br />
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<b>Cpt. Howard P. Kingsmore (second from left) among some well-known American World War I cameramen. To his right is Major Bert Underwood, formerly of the photographic company of Underwood & Underwood. Second from the right is 1st Lt. Edward N. Jackson, photographic officer of the 27th Division, who filmed at the Peace Treaty Conference in Versailles. On the right of this picture we have Wilbur H. Durborough, who made movies with the German army in 1915. Signal Corps photograph from the collection of the National Archives. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><h3><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1im1VyQt7iuM_2DDaya2VeuG9dWnffszj/view?usp=sharing"><b>Link to high res image</b><b><br /></b></a></h3>
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<b>Howard P. Kingsmore, 1917</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d_eNoyvkk6FWxpKY8bZD0D0h2zHkDZoG/view?usp=sharing">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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I<b>nterview with Kevin Brownlow</b></h3>
Judging from the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0BkdYlg0S25LWVpzSE0">production file </a>of the films that were made by Kingsmore and his camera team, they filmed across Siberia between November 1918 and February 1919, covering various operations by the Expeditionary Force that was trying to push the Red Army out of Russia. We have described this Signal Corps footage from Russia in more detail in a <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2017/10/filming-americas-first-war-with-russia.html">previous weblog</a>. Five men were selected for this photographic team, including two movie camera operators. One of Kingsmore's men, Philip Tannura, was interviewed by Kevin Brownlow for his book <i>The War, the West and the Wilderness. </i>Tannura was among Kingsmore's cinematographers and in the interview with Brownlow Tannura mentioned how he accompanied Kingsmore while they visited the place where the Tsar and his family were executed. "We couldn't find out whether they had actually been killed or not", Tannura said. "We photographed all the rooms." Judging from a photograph that we found recently on the website of <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/life-100-years-ago-1919-in-photographs/30296986.html">Radio Free Europe</a>, Donald C. Thompson was also part of this photographic team in Yekaterinburg at that time. <br />
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Kingsmore said he boarded a Red Cross freight train in Vladivostok in November 1918. The trip across Siberia took about nine weeks. The accommodation on the train was of a most primitive nature. The American cameramen traveled in box cars that were originally built for cattle. Arriving in Yekaterinburg, the cameramen found the city controlled by Czech forces. These had taken Yekaterinburg shortly after the Tsar and his family were murdered. Kingsmore was told the Romanovs were subjected to many indignities by the Communist soldiers who guarded them. It should be noted here that at the moment when Kingsmore and Tannura arrived in Yekaterinburg an official investigation was still being carried out on the mysterious disappearance of the Imperial family. As far as the Kremlin was concerned, they had simply vanished into thin air and the Communists denied any allegation they had killed the Romanovs.<br />
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S<b>ignal Corps cameraman John G. Hemmer in a sidecar with local driver, Siberia, 1919. After the war Hemmer became a staff photographer for the <i>New York News</i></b></h3>
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<b>Photographic Evidence of the Romanov Execution</b></h3>
Kingsmore's and Tannura's pictures indicate this was a fabricated lie. One of their still photographs shows the cellar where the Romanovs were executed. Bullets were dug out of the wall by the Bolsheviks to destroy evidence of the crime, but the holes still remained and were clearly visible. Their pictures also demonstrate how the Tsar's children had to sleep on the floor, as well as the search by the investigating commitee for further proofs of the execution. Kingsmore also appears to have talked with eye witnesses. One told him the Romanovs were on their knees begging for mercy while they were executed in the basement of the house.<br />
<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wCAK02s7YAc/X-xR4sEc5LI/AAAAAAAAePk/bgiUUwW6vnA8RiHAXTF6TSCWT6LzGXscgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Thompson%2Band%2BTannura%2Bin%2BYekaterinburg%2B1919.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1572" data-original-width="2048" height="492" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wCAK02s7YAc/X-xR4sEc5LI/AAAAAAAAePk/bgiUUwW6vnA8RiHAXTF6TSCWT6LzGXscgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h492/Thompson%2Band%2BTannura%2Bin%2BYekaterinburg%2B1919.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><h3>Donald C. Thompson (left) and Philip Tannura, taking moving pictures in Yekaterinburg, 1919. Source: <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/life-100-years-ago-1919-in-photographs/30296986.html">website Radio Free Europe</a></h3></td></tr></tbody></table><br />
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<b>Czech headquarters at Yekaterinburg, December 1918. Signal Corps picture probably taken by Kingsmore or Tannura</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div>
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Part of the footage that was shot at Yekaterinburg has been retrieved and identified by the authors in the film collection of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (record number 111-H-1161). These scenes were probably taken by Tannura and show an exterior of the Czech military headquarters, the house the Romanovs lived in, as well as shots of the Czarina's room and the room that was occupied by the Tsar's daughters. We edited these historic scenes into a short clip that has been posted on our YouTube channel.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0BkdZjdQODd5QWdrajQ">Here is also a download link to a contemporary newspaper story from the Grand Forks Herald (June 1919) on Kingsmore's experiences in Siberia.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-22463205151399436002018-09-06T06:56:00.003+02:002023-08-06T08:47:05.724+02:00The World War I Past of Academy Award Winner Alexander EdouartA winner of ten Academy Awards and for many years a recognized innovator in special movie effects, Alexander F. Edouart worked on approximately 350 films, including Alfred Hitchcock's <i>Vertigo</i>, the last one being <i>Rosemary's Baby</i>. His photographic work with the U.S. Signal Corps during the First World War merits our special attention.<br />
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<b>2nd Lt. Maurice F. Graham, 50th Aero Squadron, and Pvt. Alexander F. Edouart (left), Photo Unit, 78th Division. Photographer: Pvt. A.A. Furst, U.S. Signal Corps. Location: Menans farm near Chatel-Chéhéry, Ardennes, France. Date: October 14, 1918. NARA Ref. #: 111-SC-27131. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12883909684/in/album-72157641758554183/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Top Hollywood Special Effects Technician</b></h3>
Edouart was for many decades one of Hollywood's top special effects technicians. Though of French descent, he was born in Northern California in 1894, the son of a portrait photographer. He joined the film industry early on, working for a subsidiary of Paramount, Realart, as an assistant cameraman from about 1915. At Paramount in the 1920s, Edouart developed a rear-projection technique which became the crowning achievement of his career. To improve this technique, Edouart developed a triple-head process projector, which improved and sharpened the background image. Remaining as head of Paramount's special effects department until his retirement in the late '60s, Edouart won Academy Awards for <i>I Wanted Wings</i> (1941) and <i>Reap the Wild Wind </i>(1942), the latter film lensed in Technicolor.<br />
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<b>General view of Grand Pre from a distance showing some of the most hotly contested battlefields. Pvt. Alex. F. Edouart in foreground, moving picture cameraman. Location: Between </b>Chevrières<b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> and Grand Pré, Ardennes, France. October 19, 1918. NARA Ref#: 111-SC-27138. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd</b></h3><h3><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12883469945/in/album-72157641758554183/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></b></div>
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Edouart's early experiences in the film business during the First World War are shrouded in ambiguity because of conflicting reports. According to some references, when the United States entered World War I, Edouart enlisted in the Signal Corps which was assigned to arrange for the pictorial coverage of the Great War. Due to a bureaucratic tangle, he was at first not sent to France but attended the Signal Corps' cinematographers course at Columbia University. It was said he was so gifted with his craft that the university administrators invited him to stay on board as an instructor after he graduated.<br />
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<b>Capturing the Great War in France</b></h3>
Edouart may indeed have attented the military school of cinematography at Columbia University in 1918, but he is definitely not listed as an instructor in the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0Bkdc0RWbzk3bTdUUU0">official document</a> on this photographic school. There is no reference to Edouart in the list that mentions all staff members of this school. He did go the France later on in 1918 to capture the Great War with his camera, but the reports on his photographic activities with the Signal Corps are muddled. According to a number of sources, Edouart played a major role in the U.S. Signal Corps photographic work during World War I, to such an extent that he even rose to become chief of the photo section of the 78th Division of the American Expeditionary Force.<br />
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<b>Edouart filming in the Sahara desert, circa 1920</b></h3>
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Again, there is some truth in these stories because Edouart was with the 78th Division of the American Expeditionary Force while serving in France. But the U.S. Signal Corps records at the National Archives do not mention a commission for him as a photographic officer with this American division. As a matter of fact, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12883580693/in/album-72157641758554183/">research by Harry B. Kidd</a> clearly identifies Edouart as a private soldier attached to the 78th Division. We have his picture taken on the Western Front only a couple of weeks before the Armistice, on October 14 and 19, 1918, at Chatel-Chéhéry in the French Ardennes. His rank then was a private, definitely not a lieutenant in charge of a U.S. photographic team for an American Division. In this picture Edouart apparently is working with a still camera, but we do know that he also shot film at the close of World War I. His personal papers which are now at the Hoover Institution Archives refer to motion pictures taken by him at the end of the First World War for the American Red Cross in Normandy and Brittany. This <a href="http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt938nf5mn/entire_text/">interesting collection</a> shows that he was promoted to Sergeant 1st Class at the close of the Great War and the documents definitely merit further research.<br />
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<b>Filming with the American Red Cross</b></h3>
Shortly after World War I Edouart left the Signal Corps and became a cinematographer for the American Red Cross, filming relief work in Greece, Albania, the Balkans and the African Sahara. Details about his work with the Red Cross are sketchy but it appears that he was in Montenegro in the summer of 1919, filming refugees in the Balkans at a time when he had been commissioned into the American Red Cross as a Major. He also worked for the Red Cross together with Merl LaVoy, the famous American war photographer who had been with the French army in 1916 and had shot his film <i><a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2015/11/found-merl-lavoy-france-usa-1917.html">Heroic France</a></i> on the battlefields of the Somme and Verdun. In 1920, LaVoy and Edouart were working together in Algeria, taking pictures for the American Red Cross; here is a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FXk2gm1j7IIW-Qy9J_GfDwoN8Y4mrvOY">link</a> to a collection of photographs that were shot by LaVoy at this time.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=14YZsH15meiq60zGbUQzp_XEevVfD6RlH">Also, here is a download link to a contemporary newspaper story on the Red Cross film work shortly after World War I, which also mentions Major Edouart and Merl LaVoy.</a><br />
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Alexander Edouart retired from the movie industry in 1967. Despite numerous surgeries to save his sight, he became totally blind during the last years of his life and died on March 17, 1980. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.<br />
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<b><i>With special thanks to Harry Kidd for his research and input on this weblog</i></b></div>
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Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-47866390742610712432018-09-04T06:48:00.004+02:002023-08-03T17:25:38.499+02:00Sailing for France - Cameraman Victor FlemingThe collection of the National Archives recently revealed two World War I pictures of a cameraman who would become one of the most famous movie directors in Hollywood history: Victor Fleming. Academy Award-winning director Victor Fleming helmed many successful films, most notably 1939's <i>Gone with the Wind</i> and <i>The Wizard of Oz.</i><br />
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<b>Lt. Victor Fleming (right) with movie camera on board SS <i>George Washington</i>, December 1918. Picture from the Signal Corps collection in the National Archives.</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2aJbpsz">Link to high res image</a></b></h3>
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When America entered World War I Fleming, like most men of his age, was drafted. Though he would have preferred to stay in the film industry, making movies for Douglas Fairbanks, Fleming joined the U.S. Signal Corps Photographic Division and was commissioned as a Lieutenant. He made training films, but most of his pictures seem to have been taken for a comprehensive pictorial history of the U.S. in the Great War. Fleming was President Wilson's chief cameraman on his first visit to France.<br />
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<b>Signal Corps Pictures</b></h3>
The Signal Corps photographs that we found were taken in December 1918 when Fleming was on board the SS <i>George Washington</i> to capture President Wilson's visit to Europe. We see him rolling film behind his Bell & Howell movie camera, together with two other American officers. Another shot has a wonderful close up of Fleming in his uniform.<br />
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<b>Lieutenant Victor Fleming, U.S. Signal Corps, December 1918. </b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2aDPZdY">Link to high res image</a></b></h3>
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We mentioned Fleming briefly in a <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.com/2016/06/arthur-sintzenich-and-us-school-of.html">previous weblog </a>on his work as an instructor at the American School of Military Cinematography that was set up at Columbia University in 1918.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XB-qphNqEHS_1FhKutCxI1WhJDn2v3Kp">This issue of the <i>Columbia News Record </i>(March 2016) has more on Fleming's work at the School of Military Cinematography. </a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-57094448752428908922018-08-29T08:08:00.001+02:002018-08-29T08:08:14.432+02:00Movie Stars on Liberty Loan Drive (USA, 1918)During World War I the American government sold Liberty Bonds to support the Allied cause. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWFfwo71das/WHZOb3RWjmI/AAAAAAAACkM/TazLxGG4iSgWFduSu0Z2GdKJB0ULX0__wCLcB/s1600/ladybillions.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RWFfwo71das/WHZOb3RWjmI/AAAAAAAACkM/TazLxGG4iSgWFduSu0Z2GdKJB0ULX0__wCLcB/s1600/ladybillions.png" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>4th Liberty Loan poster (1918)</b></h3>
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The response to the first Liberty Bond was unenthusiastic and Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo reacted to the sales problems by creating an aggressive campaign to popularize the bonds. The government used the Committee on Public Information, America's wartime propaganda agency, to help sell Liberty Bonds. Famous movie stars such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin were among the celebrities that made public appearances promoting the idea that purchasing a liberty bond was the patriotic thing to do.<br />
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<b>Hollywood Film Stars</b></h3>
The National Archives in Washington, D.C., has an interesting <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24637">5-reel film</a> on various Liberty Loan campaigns that were organized throughout the country. Reel 2 is of special interest because it shows film stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Marie Dressler selling bonds during a Washington parade. Reel 3 has scenes showing Japanese movie star Sessue Hayakawa and Blanche Sweet speaking and selling bonds in Hollywood.<br />
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We uploaded these scenes showing the American film stars promoting Liberty Loans on our YouTube channel.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-325481691942492092018-08-24T12:24:00.004+02:002018-08-24T12:26:11.813+02:00"Celebrations in Paris" (France, 14 July 1918)Here is a short clip that was found recently in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, showing an official American cinematographer at work during the celebrations of the 14th of July 1918 in Paris.<br />
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Unfortunately, we could not establish the identity of the cameraman.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-24252859306084852562018-07-25T07:31:00.003+02:002023-08-09T23:35:40.345+02:00German War Films at the National ArchivesWhile researching Wilbur H. Durborough's World War I feature film <a href="https://youtu.be/958QR_Cdg5U"><i>On the Firing Line with the Germans</i> </a>(1915) we came across an interesting collection of contemporary German war films at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Among the scenes not only was lost footage from Durborough's movie but a lot more historical film on the First World War.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vjXROf7EmiY/WI8vpPP-t0I/AAAAAAAACpI/CX7h5MTqfYYQEUFAky6k5NOdQfOU3gMcACLcB/s1600/cinema%2Bteam%2Bwestern%2Bfront%2Bjune%2B1917%2Biwm.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vjXROf7EmiY/WI8vpPP-t0I/AAAAAAAACpI/CX7h5MTqfYYQEUFAky6k5NOdQfOU3gMcACLcB/s400/cinema%2Bteam%2Bwestern%2Bfront%2Bjune%2B1917%2Biwm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>German film squad at the Western Front, June 1917. Photo from the Imperial War Museum</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/32201138731/in/album-72157679173261675/">Link to low res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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The Durborough film scenes were found in a <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24610">five-reel Signal Corps collection</a> which seems to have been assembled during the Great War. The U.S. Signal Corps apparently considered these films valuable enough to add to its archives, if only for military intelligence purposes. As a result, we were able to retrieve quite a number of pictures from Durborough's World War I film, notably scenes showing the Imperial German family, the American reporters at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, prisoners of war at a POW camp in Doeberitz, Germany, and a substantial number of scenes that were shot by Durborough and his camera assistant Ries on the invasion of East Prussia by the Russian army.<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b></h3>
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Here is a synopsis of this Signal Corps film:<br />
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<i>Reel 1, Crown Prince William reviews Army units. Gen. von Hindenburg poses. Cavalry, artillery, and wagon trains move through Berlin; troops entrain. Heavy artillery pounds Antwerp. Infantrymen don packs. Reel 2, supply trains enter an East Prussian town. Soldiers load refugees into wagons. Shows a German railroad gun. German trenches at Somme, France, are shelled. Fort Conde, near Soissons, is entered; cavalry units pursue the fleeing French. Reel 3 shows machine guns firing. Belgians surrender cows to German troops. An airplane is loaded with bombs, flies over trenches and Verdun, bombs a British G.H.Q., battles Allied planes, and lands at its base. Reel 4, German troops pass and the Kaiser inspects captured British tanks near Cambrai. Italian prisoners are captured in the Tyrol sector. Reel 5, French prisoners are taken to the rear. Prisoners march, bale hay, and dig rocks in a prison camp. Turkish troops place their wounded on camels. Camels and horses are watered in Turkey.</i></blockquote>
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We have uploaded these German war films on our YouTube channel.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-57487127539765259912018-07-17T06:25:00.009+02:002023-08-09T11:45:53.662+02:00The War Diary of Albert K. Dawson (1915)In 2011, authors Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham published an <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/filmhistory.23.1.20?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">article for </a><i><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/filmhistory.23.1.20?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Film History</a> </i>journal on cameraman Albert K. Dawson. The paper examines Dawson's experiences during World War I based on excerpts from his published diary and other documentary sources, as well as portions of his films recently discovered in the Library of Congress's John E. Allen collection.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rzdvdyq6QUY/WI7T7a8_vqI/AAAAAAAACo4/faNqWCSznJYMuGIyOg1m4bz-_YmvsH2CACLcB/s1600/165-WW-275A-004.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rzdvdyq6QUY/WI7T7a8_vqI/AAAAAAAACo4/faNqWCSznJYMuGIyOg1m4bz-_YmvsH2CACLcB/s400/165-WW-275A-004.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Albert K. Dawson in camp before Przemyśl, May 1915. Photo reproduced from the collection of the <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/45500358">National Archives</a> in Washington, D.C. </b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12aDzPvoJ0gV6PsT5wee5woPOWEc6RBcm/view?usp=sharing">Link to original high res image</a></b></h3>
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<b>Extraordinary Research Opportunity</b></h3>
Our discovery of Dawson's war diary was an extraordinary opportunity. We knew he kept a notebook on his film adventures during World War I. And just when we thought we would never find it, parts of his diary were located in the magazine <i>Deutsch-Amerika</i>. In a series of five weekly articles the magazine ran a feature story on Dawson's experiences as a cameraman, following the trail of the German and Austro-Hungarian army in the summer of 1915. The decision by the editor to publish parts of his war diary is something to be grateful for because it provides us with a unique source for World War I film history. It also gives us the opportunity to witness a major military campaign on the Eastern Front, as seen through the lens of an American camera correspondent.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9HSjO5cwco/WeRDvo_SQFI/AAAAAAAADNw/up1Vi6t8MyI1QsP1La4gbQ8fl-dFz9SOQCLcBGAs/s1600/Dawson%2Bin%2BSC%2Blab%2B1917.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9HSjO5cwco/WeRDvo_SQFI/AAAAAAAADNw/up1Vi6t8MyI1QsP1La4gbQ8fl-dFz9SOQCLcBGAs/s400/Dawson%2Bin%2BSC%2Blab%2B1917.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Dawson when he was a Captain in the U.S. Signal Corps laboratory in Washington, D.C. (November 1917)</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mGzf9VyLreUssaTwn1ImGtBOb4RSPdar/view?usp=sharing">Link to high res image</a></b></h3>
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The historical significance of Dawson's war diary is confirmed by Oswald Denkmayr in his study <i>Kurbelmann in Kriegsdienst</i> (2012) on the Austrian World War I cinematographers of the KuK Kriegspressequartier. According to Denkmayr, Dawson's notebook is the only first-hand account that he could find and that has survived of a World War I film cameraman who accompanied the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. Denkmayr's study was written while we were researching Dawson and has a number of references to our article for <i>Film History</i> journal.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0BkdSlVrTzlfTlRxcFk">Here is a download link to Denkmayr's excellent thesis for the University of Vienna in 2012. </a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D9gQNWXmHHk/WBepEh9nZjI/AAAAAAAACW0/yHdzd00hQJMeaoOxbCqNOuZLdxN0YUxGQCLcB/s1600/freegifmaker.me_29GsZ.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D9gQNWXmHHk/WBepEh9nZjI/AAAAAAAACW0/yHdzd00hQJMeaoOxbCqNOuZLdxN0YUxGQCLcB/s400/freegifmaker.me_29GsZ.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<h3>
Albert Dawson inspecting the battlefields around <span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Przemyśl, June 1915</span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3YGgvHWpqE/XSBZ29VCllI/AAAAAAAAM5c/KJOK6sMlq402V-GKpLLEAA_kBG37_2kRgCLcBGAs/s1600/Dawson%2Bwith%2BAustrrian%2Bbattery%2B1915.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="1600" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3YGgvHWpqE/XSBZ29VCllI/AAAAAAAAM5c/KJOK6sMlq402V-GKpLLEAA_kBG37_2kRgCLcBGAs/s400/Dawson%2Bwith%2BAustrrian%2Bbattery%2B1915.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Dawson at the Eastern front with Austrian artillery battery (1915)</b></h3>
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<b>Press photograph, private collection Ron van Dopperen</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ksjaYlo86UYbO7gFsky9qa5ko8Tso6d_/view?usp=sharing">Link to scan original press photograph</a></b></h3>
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<b>The Road to Ivangorod (1915)</b></h3>
In his diary Dawson describes how he gained access to the frontline in the summer of 1915 and covered the attack on Ivangorod in Russian Poland. All photographs with an asterisk in this magazine were taken by Dawson. His original notes were translated into German for this publication.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XrgVVSTxMgcX4t0Lpd0CHLIzzRji5sea">Because of its unique and historical value we have scanned and uploaded all five articles by Dawson from his war diary. You are free to read and download his own story here.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-55017300041586462112018-07-09T07:27:00.000+02:002018-07-09T07:27:01.055+02:00The War Photographer - Ernest Brooks Ernest Brooks, the first official British photographer in World War I, featured in a special episode of the YouTube channel <i>The Great War</i> that was broadcasted in October 2016.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MR8aO_m7Mb4/WGZtAG-AzcI/AAAAAAAACik/77Z2ulQ2r2ERXK42fn9nQga7PNZ3OY5CACLcB/s1600/8th%2BBtl%2BEast%2BYorkshire%2BRgt%2Bgoing%2Bup%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bline%2Bnear%2BFrezenburg%2B1917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MR8aO_m7Mb4/WGZtAG-AzcI/AAAAAAAACik/77Z2ulQ2r2ERXK42fn9nQga7PNZ3OY5CACLcB/s640/8th%2BBtl%2BEast%2BYorkshire%2BRgt%2Bgoing%2Bup%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bline%2Bnear%2BFrezenburg%2B1917.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<h3>
<b>An example of Brooks' iconic World War I pictures: Soldiers of the 8th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, going up the line in the Ypres Salient, 1917</b></h3>
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Ernest Brooks' photos from World War I have become icons of the entire war and are even recognized today. But his experience as an official war photographer was not always glorious and especially in the beginning he staged photos instead of showing the real horrors of the war. But as the war dragged on, more and more photos by Brooks captured small moments in this gigantic conflict that showed the humanity behind the numbers.<br />
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<b>Episode <i>The Great War</i></b></h3>
You can watch the episode on Brooks photographic work in World War I here on this weblog. You can subscribe to this interesting YouTube show on the Great War and watch a new video report on the First World War every Monday, Thursday and Saturday.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-11971073722453048642018-07-04T07:22:00.004+02:002023-08-07T07:32:15.108+02:00Filming the American Attack on Château-Thierry (Western Front, 1918) In July 1918, Lieutenant Edwin H. Cooper - photographic officer of the 26th "Yankee" Division - filmed the American attack on the German lines near Château-Thierry. For his extraordinary bravery during this offensive Lt. Cooper received the Distinguished Service Cross.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlZxZOO1y5E/WduLUMnd-kI/AAAAAAAADMo/c4sJh5Ndgdo6r1qhZCowNM-pkDm8Td3MgCLcBGAs/s1600/photomania-699163cb78eac074e9a9af811cdba025.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="900" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlZxZOO1y5E/WduLUMnd-kI/AAAAAAAADMo/c4sJh5Ndgdo6r1qhZCowNM-pkDm8Td3MgCLcBGAs/s640/photomania-699163cb78eac074e9a9af811cdba025.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<h4><b>Edwin Cooper with his movie camera during the attack on Château-Thierry, 20 July 1918. Signal Corps photograph from the National Archives. Courtesy Harry B. Kidd.<br /></b><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pTU9xDB3TYn4AgI6YW3aH7Es75DAjvh5/view?usp=sharing">Link to high res image</a></b></h4>
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In fact, both Cooper and his movie camera operator Sergeant Eikleberry were awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross. Cooper's report on how his photographic team covered the attack with their cameras is one of the best documented first-hand accounts on World War I battle cinematography. It is extraordinary that after one hundred years Cooper's personal account has never been given proper credits before because his story has all the vivid details and inside information one can hope for. In his memoirs Cooper tells how he set up his photographic work, having arrived in France in October 1917 as one of the first official military cameramen of the U.S. Signal Corps. Two of his cameramen got wounded in July 1918 while covering the attack on Château-Thierry. Lieutenant Cooper himself also risked his life then while assisting in the evacuation of wounded soldiers and taking in a large group of German prisoners.<br />
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<b>War Films Found at the National Archives</b></h3>
We were extremely fortunate in having found footage from the National Archives, that was shot by Lieutenant Cooper shortly after he had gone over the top during this attack in the summer of 1918. These pictures fully match his story and illustrate how Cooper against all odds managed to capture the attack on film. His film - partly retrieved also at the Imperial War Museum - as well as <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/albums/72157689389898395">numerous pictures of his photographic work</a> with the 26th U.S. Division all make it possible to reconstruct Cooper's story on how he and his fellow cameramen filmed World War I. It is a truly remarkable story that definitely needs to be preserved for history, so we have edited Cooper's account into a video on the making of his war films.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RgGqt18dCcA/WduM32c-l9I/AAAAAAAADM4/mk1v3quhizw8-TTwYAyZnbHJMdU_IZE4wCLcBGAs/s1600/Filming_the_American_Attack_on_Ch_teau_Thierry_1918.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="320" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RgGqt18dCcA/WduM32c-l9I/AAAAAAAADM4/mk1v3quhizw8-TTwYAyZnbHJMdU_IZE4wCLcBGAs/s640/Filming_the_American_Attack_on_Ch_teau_Thierry_1918.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Scene from Lt. Cooper's war films for the U.S. Signal Corps</b></h4>
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<b>The Cameraman: Edwin Cooper</b></h3>
Born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1881, Edwin Cooper started working as a photographer at an early age. From 1911 he worked with the celebrated photo artist William Rau in Philadelphia and before the outbreak of World War I he had also taken up the movie camera, making travelogues in South America. Cooper was promoted to Captain in September 1918 when he was assigned to the 5th U.S. Army Corps as photographic officer. During the Meuse-Argonne battle he was in charge of pictorial coverage for this corps. Throughout his life he remained active as a photographic reporter and lecturer, producing three color documentaries during World War II. In November 1948, while fishing out on Silver Lake near Harrisville, NH, Cooper fell from his boat and was drowned. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qnP8ZdI4hy0/Wu1UKwGyIPI/AAAAAAAADgM/4459hzsRSrMcWc_O6s0imtgMIJOwcTXngCLcBGAs/s1600/Remember%2BEdwin%2BCooper-page-001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1281" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qnP8ZdI4hy0/Wu1UKwGyIPI/AAAAAAAADgM/4459hzsRSrMcWc_O6s0imtgMIJOwcTXngCLcBGAs/s640/Remember%2BEdwin%2BCooper-page-001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0Bkdc3VEQlRyNHBqcHc">Cooper's report on his film coverage during World War I was originally printed in the American photographic trade magazines. You can read and download an extended version here. </a><br />
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Reconstructed with still photographs and moving pictures, here is Cooper's personal story on how he and his fellow cameramen filmed the American attack on Château-Thierry.<br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-88171296886491220062018-06-27T07:38:00.002+02:002023-08-09T11:48:01.613+02:00U.S. Signal Corps Cameraman Wesley Strait (1918-1919)A private photo album of an official World War I cameraman is something extremely rare. So we were surprised to find such a collection recently on Niles Laughner's <a href="http://militaryoutfitter.blogspot.nl/2010/12/very-happy-american-in-paris-1918-1919.html">Military Antiques weblog</a>. These pictures all come from U.S. Signal Corps photographer Wesley Strait's personal estate.<br />
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<b>Wesley Strait (France, 1918)</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/33765808264/in/album-72157680547851674/">Link to low res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Strait was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1893. At an early age Wesley shared an interest in photography with his twin brother Jess and both young men soon started working as a press photographer for the New York newspapers. When the motion picture industry expanded across the country Wesley also learned how to handle a movie camera and in 1917 he became a cinematographer for the Vitagraph Company which was then operating in Flatbush, Brooklyn.<br />
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<b>Filming for the U.S. Signal Corps</b></h3>
When the U.S. entered World War I both Strait brothers joined the U.S. Signal Corps which has been assigned to cover the American theater of war in France. In a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9evwS1U0BkdOGI3UE5YanBlMjA">production file</a> of a Signal Corps film, now at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., we recently found a reference to Wesley Strait, mentioning his work at the Filing Department of the Signal Corps photographic laboratory near Paris during World War I. This department was responsible for filing all film and preparing all original negatives for shipment to the United States.<br />
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Niles Laughner has this wonderful description on Strait's World War I pictures:<br />
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<i>His album, in the permanent collection, is huge. Somehow, Strait managed to get into most of the images, as in the ambulance shot ... he is on the stretcher! He had lots of girlfriends, some of which are shown here. He witnessed the wonders that most Americans then (and perhaps now) had only read about ... the Moulin Rouge for instance. He colored many of the shots, an example here has him with North African French troops ... and that's him with the movie camera. The image with his mom (family resemblence ...!!) and either a sister or girlfriend and the family cat is a lovely shot taken before he left for Europe. I suppose no one really remembers him, but his photos, and his sense of humor in some of them, survives him in this album. </i></blockquote>
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<b>Strait's personal autographed picture of World War I military commanders (1919)</b></h3>
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<b>Work after World War I</b></h3>
After his return to America Wesley Strait worked for the <i>New York World</i>, the <i>World-Telegram</i> and the <i>Daily Mirror</i>. He was the official photographer of the New York World's Fair (1939) and a member of the Press Photographers Association of New York. After his work for the World's Fair, he did freelance photography up to 1942 when he was employed by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, a war industry.<br />
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On December 16, 1942, Wesley Strait died unexpectedly at the age of 49 as a result of a stroke at Adelphi Hospital in Brooklyn, New York City.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/albums/72157680547851674">We have uploaded a selection of pictures from his personal album on our photo channel. </a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-19921253570960753132018-06-20T07:56:00.001+02:002018-07-26T08:19:28.154+02:00World War I Films in ColorIn 2014, the same team that collaborated on the renowned World War II series <i>Apocalypse</i> produced a similar documentary series on the Great War. As with the previous production, the new series has some remarkable colored footage including scenes from Wilbur H. Durborough's film <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=958QR_Cdg5U&feature=youtu.be">On the Firing Line with the Germans </a></i>(1915).<br />
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<b>Durborough and General von Schlieffen in East Prussia, June 1915</b></h3>
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<b>Online Release <i>On the Firing Line with the Germans </i>(USA, 1915)</b></h3>
As described in a <a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2016/11/now-online-firing-line-with-germans-usa.html">previous weblog</a>, Durborough's film has been restored by the Library of Congress and the movie was uploaded on the internet in November 2016. After almost one hundred years an original World War I film is back on the screen. To coincide with this online release the authors prepared an extended story on the making of Durborough's remarkable war film. Based on our previous book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918/dp/0861967178">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a></i>, we added new information that was found in early 2016 in the German archives as well as in the American and Dutch newspapers.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Jbd8N_Y3D4uDEHAxqbdWSwPA6I5GnEtu">We recently prepared a new, extended story on Durborough's photographic work during World War I. You can read this Durborough Film Annotation (2nd edition) here.</a><br />
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If you are interested to see Durborough in color here is a scene from <i>Apocalypse World War I</i>, episode 2, showing his film work at the Eastern Front in 1915. <br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-35255525418543580132018-06-13T06:30:00.003+02:002023-08-07T07:33:19.823+02:00American War Correspondents at the FrontThe National Archives in Washington, D.C. once again revealed an interesting collection on World War I. An excellent series of pictures showing American war correspondents at the front was found recently by the authors.<br />
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<b>Adrian C. Duff (U.S. Signal Corps) with his movie camera camera, together with American reporters. St. Nazaire, France, 2 July 1918. From the National Archives in Washington, D.C. </b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/32524715106/in/album-72157677910447381/">Link to high res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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<h3><b>Photographic Files at the National Archives</b></h3>
The photographs are from <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/45273476">Record Group 165 "Unofficial Collection of World War I Photographs"</a>. This group is part of the files of the Historical Branch, War Plans Division, War Department General Staff, and was assembled by the Committee on Public Information (CPI), America's propaganda agency during the First World War.<br />
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In these pictures are some correspondents that we mentioned in our book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918-ebook/dp/B01E9Z1PBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485606446&sr=8-1&keywords=dopperen">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a></i>. Most of the journalists were newspaper reporters, such as Herbert Corey who was in Germany at the beginning of 1915 and after the American entry into World War I went to France. We also found a wonderful series of photographs showing Irvin S. Cobb who covered the Great War for the <i>Saturday Evening Post. </i>Cobb wrote a book about his experiences, published in 1915, titled <i>Paths Of Glory</i>. After a second visit to France with the American Expeditionary Force he succesfully publicized the achievements of the unit known as the "Harlem Hellfighters". One of the pictures that we found shows Cobb with General Doyen (U.S. Marine Corps) in France.<br />
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<b>Cameraman Albert K. Dawson</b></h3>
As far as cameramen are concerned, we found two pictures in these files, showing Albert K. Dawson who accompanied the German and the Austrian army during the First World War for the American Correspondent Film Company. The picture showing him before his tent during the siege of Przemyśl in May 1915 is without a doubt the <a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/45500358">best image reproduction </a>we have ever seen. There is another photograph showing Dawson in a German military car when he visited Belgium in January 1915.<br />
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<b>Albert K. Dawson (right) in military car at Antwerp, January 1915. Third from left: Josef Schumacher of the Zentralstelle <span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">für</span> Auslandsdienst (ZfA). Photo </b> ©<b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> Brown & Dawson. From the collection of the National Archives. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=10X2UpJI_ZcRq7xjgCDzeZhshdBx3cj7Z">Download link to original high res photograph here.</a> </b></h3>
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<span id="goog_1359392471"></span><span id="goog_1359392472"></span><br />This picture is also in our book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographers-Great-War-1914-1918/dp/0861967178/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515272819&sr=8-1" style="font-style: italic;">American Cinematographers in the Great War</a>, and the reproduction has Dawson's personal handwritten comments on his trip through Belgium. The high res scanned image from the collection of the National Archives for the first time reveals the identity of the man in the middle: Josef Schumacher, who was in charge of pictorial publicity for the Zentralstelle für Auslandsdienst, Germany's foreign propaganda agency during World War I. This once again confirms the story we have described in more detail in our previous publications about the use of Dawson's pictures by the Germans for propaganda purposes.<br />
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Finally the picture file at the National Archives also shows cameraman Adrian C. Duff who was a news photographer and joined the U.S. Signal Corps in 1917. Duff made national headlines in 1912 when he got in a plane with aviator Frank T. Coffyn and for the first time in history photographed New York City from above.<br />
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<a href="http://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.nl/2015/09/adrian-c-duff-camera-kid.html">There is more on Duff and his World War I pictures in this previous weblog. </a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/144112920@N02/albums/72157677910447381/with/32186639530/">We uploaded this collection to our photo channel on Flickr, and you are free to download these photographs here.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-88418988934523113322018-06-09T08:14:00.001+02:002018-06-09T08:14:33.743+02:00Watching American World War I Newsreels Watch silent movies with new musical scores by renowned silent film accompanist Ben Model. Some of these are from DVD releases (uploaded with permission) and some are rare one-of-a-kind 16mm prints of lost films in Ben Model's collection.<br />
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<b>American troops on parade in Paris, 4 July 1918</b></h3>
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<b>Parade 4th of July in Paris</b></h3>
To give you a feeling what it must have been like to watch a newsreel during World War I here is Ben Model's presentation of a 1918 newsreel showing U.S. troop on parade in Paris on the Fourth of July.<br />
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The original footage comes from a contemporary British Gaumont newsreel which was issued for home use after the Great War on 16 mm format around 1948. American troops as well as Red Cross nurses are seen parading along the Champs Elysee and the Place de la Concorde. The film segment ends with footage of President Poincare and General Foch. The musical score is by Ben Model © 2012.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/silentfilmmusic/featured">You can watch all of Ben Model's silent film presentations on his YouTube channel here.</a><br />
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<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-47588375282738952852018-06-06T12:03:00.004+02:002023-08-12T08:01:15.092+02:00Ernest Schoedsack - Cameraman with the U.S. Signal Corps (1918)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<b>Ernest B. Schoedsack (1919) when he was making movies in Poland </b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XOVHPFlEDryidwz23GJwG45YL5UlN8dv/view?usp=sharing">Link to low res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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Best remembered as co-director of the 1933 classic <i>King Kong</i>, Ernest B. Schoedsack was a pioneering documentary film maker who was one of the first cameramen to take his movie camera into the Thai jungle and covered the nomadic tribes of Iran. His name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame testifies to his extraordinary skills as a film director, producer and cinematographer.<br />
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<b>Adventure Story</b></h3>
Schoedsack's life and career has all the makings of an adventure story. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on June 8, 1893, Schoedsack ran away from home at the age of twelve and headed for California. By the time he was seventeen he was working as a cameraman for the Mack Sennett studio. During World War I Schoedsack shot numerous comedies for Mack Sennett, and he also was listed as cinematographer for the Mabel Normand Film Company. When in 1917 America declared war on Germany, Schoedsack enlisted in the Photographic Division of the Signal Corps and was sent to France.<br />
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Most of Schoedsack's biographies only have a few words on his film work during the First World War. Apart from Kevin Brownlow's excellent research - he interviewed Schoedsack on his World War I experiences - not much is known about this extraordinary episode in his film career. As is shown in his <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1V7QeRjhhS_D7ckIxvdal1yY14qZEQvoo">World War I Registration Card</a>, Schoedsack was very much interested in the military. From 1915 he was a non-commissioned officer for the National Coast Guard in California. Initially he expected to be sent to the U.S. Coast Guard but there simply wasn't any call for anti-aircraft. When he learned about the new Signal Corps Photographic Division, which was set up to cover the Great War, Schoedsack soon applied for a position. After a brief stint as an instructor at the Columbia School of Military Cinematography Schoedsack was sent to France.<br />
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<b>Sailing for France</b></h3>
The <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gmAtp_IfVL0jmn_zM4pSWDdNzA_A82_u">shipping records of the American Expeditionary Force</a> show Schoedsack sailed on the SS <i>Covington</i> from Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 15, 1918. He was listed as a private soldier, assigned to the U.S. Signal Corps Photographic Division. Schoedsack at first was assigned to the Signal Corps photographic laboratory near Paris. Shortly before his death, Schoedsack recalled his experiences in an interview with Kevin Brownlow:<br />
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<i>"We finally reached Paris, and were taken off to Vincennes. The Signal Corps occupied the Pathé chateau, and they had a laboratory and cutting rooms on the fourth floor of the Pathé factory. The other floors were being used as a gas mask factory. The gentleman in command was a very nice old bloke. He had been an optometrist up in Oakland. He was a reservist in the National Guard, and they had to give him a job someplace. So, optometrist pertaining to lenses, lenses to photography - voila! The only officer remotely connected to the picture business was Al Kaufman. The other three executive officers were characters they had no use for anywhere else. The general idea was to stay in Paris and have fun."</i></blockquote>
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Schoedsack was now getting impatient - he wanted to get to the front and film the Great War:<br />
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<i>"I complained a lot, and agitated a lot, and finally they said, 'You want to go the front? All right, you can go to the front. A cameraman (Harris Thorpe) pulled out of the combat area and I got my chance. I wanted a light camera. Oh, no. They gave me this damn great Bell and Howell and this great trunk. It weighed a hundred pounds. They needed the light cameras, the Debries, down in Paris, I guess, where all the action was. I had no directive, no passes, no nothing. They didn't even give me a gas mask or a helmet, although I did get a .45 and some ammunition. I got a truck down the combat zone, but an MP stopped me because I had no gas mask or helmet. There were some fresh graves by the side of the road, and one of them had a gas mask and a helmet. The helmet was bashed in on one side, and I remember the name inside was Kelly. Anyway, that got me into the combat zone. There was hardly any activity in the daytime. All the barraging and banging around was at night. Photographically, there was very little you could do."</i></blockquote>
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<b>Cameraman with the 77th Division, A.E.F.</b></h3>
In his interview with Kevin Brownlow Schoedsack did not mention when he was sent to the front but thanks to research by Harry B. Kidd we are now able to reconstruct parts of his film work during World War I and identify some of the movie scenes that he shot while he was in France. On August 25, 1918, Schoedsack's picture was taken in the destroyed village of Mareuil-en-Dôle. This was in the Aisne region, near Château-Thierry. The picture shows Schoedsack cranking a Bell & Howell movie camera among the ruins of a church. The captions mentions he was a private soldier with the Photo Unit of the 77th Division of the American Expeditonary Force (A.E.F.).<br />
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<b>Ernest B. Schoedsack at the front in France, during the afttermath of the battle at Château-Thierry with the 77th Division, A.E.F. Indentification by Harry B. Kidd. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42642564@N02/12884367784/in/album-72157641758554183/">Link to Harry's original post on Flickr</a></b></h3>
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Bahman Maghsoudlou in his book on the making of Schoedsack's film <i>Grass</i> (1925) mentions that on his arrival in France Schoedsack was placed at the head of the Photographic Unit of the 77th Division. This would have made him a Lieutenant 2nd Class, commanding a team of still and movie photographers. Schoedsack indeed stayed with the 77th Division until the end of the First World War, and he must have recorded many film scenes for this American Division that are now in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., notably "Occupation of the Baccarat Sector" (111-H-1300), "Oise-Aisne Operations" (111-H-1358) and "Meuse-Argonne Offensive" (111-H-1417). But the contemporary records do not produce any evidence that Schoedsack was commissioned as a photographic officer. For example on October 23, 1918, Schoedsack went into a plane and filmed the German lines above the Argonne frontline sector that had just been captured from the enemy. Thanks to research by Harry B. Kidd, the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_J95DN3U1jKaiNhjsFisLb2083gsituK">production records </a>have been retrieved. These documents show Schoedsack was a private soldier when recording these scenes just a couple of weeks before the end of World War I.<br />
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<b>After the Great War</b></h3>
Schoedsack was discharged from the American Expeditionary Force in February 1919, but he did not immediately go back to the United States. After the Armistice he joined the American Red Cross and worked on behalf of Polish war relief, helping thousand of Poles escape the Russian occupied territories. Schoedsack at this time also met his lifelong friend and fellow film maker, Merian C. Cooper who, like Schoedsack, was a fervent anti-Bolshevik and also an aspiring film director. Together they filmed the war between Poland and Russia. Shortly afterwards, Schoedsack also covered the war between Greece and Turkey for the American newsreels.<br />
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<b>Ernest Schoedsack, filming a Polish wedding dance, 1920. From the collection of the Library of Congress</b></h3><h3><b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zuBPVWpzCzrsUGllA-ecQkp2KQxgPXMa/view?usp=sharing">Link to low res image</a></b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div>
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During World War II Schoedsack served in the Air Force. While testing equipment in a tank at Edwards Air Force Base, a shell exploded nearby and his head hit the bottom of the tank turret, detaching the eye retina. Subsequent operations couldn't repair the damage and Schoedsack was virtually blind for the last 35 years of his life.<br />
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Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack died on December 23, 1979. He was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.<br />
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<b><i>With special thanks to Harry Kidd for his research and input on this weblog</i></b></div>
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Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6472447187003320713.post-83898553340184749262018-05-30T07:19:00.001+02:002018-05-30T17:45:20.177+02:00Susan Moeller's "Shooting War" (1989)Susan Moeller's <i>Shooting War</i> (1989) still ranks as one of the most interesting and comprehensive studies on the history of American war photography.<br />
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The best war photography, Moeller demonstrates, bares the essence of war by distilling the chaos of combat into indelible visual icons, like the flag-raising on Iwo Jima or the naked, napalmed young Vietnamese girl. When Teddy Roosevelt led his troops up the San Juan hills, most Americans still believed in war as a glorious adventure, and photographers dutifully memorialized that romantic conceit. Seventy years later, horrific images from Vietnam helped convince millions that war was little more than organized murder.<br />
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<b>Pictorial Censorship in World War I</b></h3>
<i>Shooting War </i>is full of first-hand accounts by the finest photographers who risked their lives in pursuit of the elusive "truths" of war. And although the book mainly deals with still photographers it did provide us with a lot of useful background information when we started our research on the American film cameramen of the First World War.<br />
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As described by Moeller, in contrast to the anything-goes attitude of the Spanish-American War, World War I saw the establishment of military censorship of information emanating from the battle zone. Where picture captions sent from Cuba in 1898 mentioned specific locations and dates, captions during the Great War invariably settled for such generalities as "Our Heroes at the Front." Subject matter was censored as well. Photographs depicting the dead, the dying, or the wounded were suppressed, purportedly in deference to the feelings of those back home and, more probably, for fear of sparking antiwar sentiments.<br />
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Here are some scenes from an interview with Susan Moeller which was broadcasted by C-SPAN when her book was first published.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SHDRRhKoqqU" width="459"></iframe><br />
<br />Ron van Dopperenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14487667858515984324noreply@blogger.com0