From the January/June 2000 issue of the Operating Cameraman

Having driven cross-country from Cherry Hill, NJ to California, I exited the freeway at Hill Street, downtown Los Angeles. I recognized the stark white thirteen-story building known as Los Angeles City Hall, from having seen the original Dragnet TV series. Little did I know that nine years later I would be filming the documentary-style openings for the new version, Dragnet '69, for Jack Webb's Mark VII Productions at Universal City Studios. I didn't know a soul in the motion picture industry, which was still partially controlled by legendary studio chiefs Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner.

JOB HUNTING

The year was 1960, not the best time to be arriving on the Hollywood scene. Jobs were scarce due to the impact of television on the movie-going public, and Twentieth Century-Fox was on the brink of bankruptcy due to budget overruns on Cleopatra.

So with the Yellow Pages under my arm, I set out to look for a job. I went down the list of movie companies alphabetically that I would visit each day, then learned to arrange my daily visits geographically. It made more sense to drive to Twentieth Century-Fox and then to MGM in Culver City, rather than driving over the hill to Warner Brothers in Burbank, and then back to MGM.

My search was further complicated because I didn't have a special trade skill. Telling someone in the personnel department that "I could do everything and would do anything" didn't cut it, especially at the heavily unionized studios. And yet I did have some experience and a lot of enthusiasm to offer

My high school experience included still photography for which I received numerous awards as well as stage managing Damn Yankees and No Time for Sergeants at the Camden County Music Fair near Philadelphia. I had also worked as stage manager for the Latin Casino Theater Restaurant, a night club bigger than anything in Las Vegas.Some of the shows included Steve Parker's Holiday in Japan, Patti Page and Johnny Mathis.

After that I attended the prestigious Goodman Theater School in Chicago, studied art and interior design at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, and majored in radio, television and film at Miami University.

My burning desire was to be a Hollywood cameraman. Weeks of job hunting turned into months, so I started visiting some of the smaller production companies. I remember one interview in particular that lasted less than 30 seconds. I was asked what a key light was. I felt my mouth getting dry, my ears getting hot and sweat forming on my forehead. I didn't know the answer, but I mustered up the courage to venture a guess. "A key light hangs from the ceiling." Any hope of getting a job ended then and there.

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Finally I found a part time job with RSVP Productions for which I was paid $35 per week. The owner, Rick Spalla made his living by covering the Hollywood scene and also provided news film to Channel 9, KHJ-TV.

Before going out on an assignment, a decision would be made as to whether the film coverage would be sound or silent. Sound coverage meant using an Auricon Cine Voice 16mm camera. A two-person crew was required plus the on-camera host. Because three of us would be tethered together by sound and power cables, most shooting was done with the camera sitting on a tripod.

The Auricon camera was manufactured in Hollywood and was known in the trade as a "sound-on-film camera." We used single perf black and white film, and sound was recorded optically on the non-perf edge of the film. We would lug the camera, sound amplifier, cases, tripod, lights, etc and I would operate the sound amplifier to make sure the audio levels were correct.

The original Auricon did not have a reflex viewing system. This created several challenges for the cameraman. The subject could appear to be in focus through the viewfinder, but would be out of focus on the film plane. In critical situations, to verify focus the camera would have to be opened, the film unthreaded, the pressure plate removed, and a small prism inserted into the gate.

Focus would be assured by using a tiny magnifying glass with no handle, about the size of a dime, while the cameraman was looking at the image in the prism and focusing the lens. Not an ideal situation, especially when covering a burning building with its wall about to collapse. The zoom lens, a Pan Cinor, was very slow, rated at f4.5, but was actually about a half an f-stop slower.

There were several models of the 16mm Auricon camera. One accepted 1200-foot magazines, allowing a half hour show to be recorded. I remember one incident in particular while breaking down the camera after a shoot. Confident that I knew what I was doing, I spun open the threaded lid on what I thought was the feed side of the magazine, expecting to see a tiny short end. But much to my horror, I could see 1200 feet of exposed 16mm color film--the entire show--would around a core.

I quickly slammed the giant magazine door closed, not saying anything to anyone, and delivered the film to the lab. After a sleepless night, I picked up the processed film and looked at it. There was a slight orange streak indicating edge fog on one side of the film that stopped before it reached the picture area. I had been saved by the slow ASA rating of the color film, and no one knew that I had screwed up big time.

Sometimes I was sent out alone for an MOS shoot. This meant using a small but sturdy wind up Bell and Howell 70 Filmo camera with a three lens turret. Its big brother was the 35mm Eyemo, a combat camera used by the Army in World War II.

On the 16mm B&H Filmo, switching to another lens on the turret meant also switching the corresponding tiny lenses on the viewfinder turret. Later, the camera lens turret was modified to connect to the viewfinder, so switching the lens automatically changed the lens on the viewfinder turret.

Prior to that, I forgot more than once to make the necessary adjustment and occasionally filmed a subject using a 75mm camera lens while a 25mm lens was positioned in the viewfinder turret.

Then there was the dreaded parallax. If a subject was closer than 10 or 15 feet to the camera, an adjustment had to be made to the viewfinder. The problem went away when reflex viewing systems came into vogue.

ON THE BEAT

One of my more interesting assignments was covering the lengthy trial of the infamous mobster Mickey Cohen. After a while he began to nod in recognition when I entered the crowded courtroom.

Having worked for Rick Spalla for a year, I enrolled at USC, attending class five nights a week. I studied cinematography, editing, motion picture history, criticism, etc. Later I went on to establish a successful production and editing business with one of my professors, Herbert L. Strock, who had directed Battle Taxi with Sterling Hayden. We were hired by Consolidated Film Industries to re-edit movies in the Republic Pictures library that had deteriorated due to the nitrate film stock.

My next job was film librarian for David L. Wolper Productions on the TV series, Hollywood and the Stars. At the same time I got married, and received a raise in exchange for going on my honeymoon, due to the critical nature of my job--big mistake! It was a very slow time in Hollywood.

My union editors were working in a non-union capacity for Wolper Productions. But soon after the series was sold to NBC, I was asked to join the Film Editors Guild, which I did, and got another big raise. I was sent to Puerto Vallarta as assistant cameraman on an NBC documentary covering the making of The Night of the Iguana starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon. Produced by Ray Stark and directed by John Houston, the film was photographed by Mexico's legendary Gabriel Figueroa.

I had told my boss I was familiar with the 16mm Arriflex camera, when indeed I had never touched one. I banked on the fact that the cameraman, David Blewitt, who was also a terrific film editor, wouldn't notice if I loaded the magazines incorrectly or threaded the camera wrong. I sweated bullets until we returned to Hollywood and the film dailies were processed without a hitch.

Puerto Vallarta was a challenging location and the daily routine was incredibly grueling. A dugout canoe, launched though the surf, would take us to the speed yacht where we would transfer our camera gear for the half hour journey to Mismoloya Beach.

From there we transferred our equipment to a raft that took us to the dock where we finally unloaded our camera gear, ready to begin our day's work. There was the additional emotional burden of knowing that President John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated, and wondering if the United States would come under attack by unnamed Communist forces during our absence.

In Mexico I also learned about the "turistas"--you don't want them! I would squat in the jungle bushes fearing an iguana would nip at my "exposure" while attempting to fend off battalions of mosquitoes. They were everywhere including the inside of our hotel room at the El Rio in Puerto Vallarta. The hotel didn't have window screens to keep the hungry pests away. Sometimes in the middle of the night when the mosquitoes were on the attack, I would spray DDT onto the nude body of our producer, Bill Kronick, and he would return the favor. After returning from Mexico, I worked as an assistant cameraman and cameraman on several episodes of Hollywood and the Stars.

NEW CHALLENGES

After Wolper Productions, I formed my own company, Directions Unlimited. I filmed numerous TV commercials, mostly local, and tried to produce a TV documentary about the declining fortunes of the American railroad industry and ended up owing Deluxe/General Laboratories several thousand dollars, due to my own declining fortunes--art imitating life.

Through the union I became an apprentice editor in the shipping department at Paramount Pictures. I would occasionally have to rewind a 35mm feature film print after a screening. Huge VistaVision prints offered a challenge because they could easily spin out of control on the high-speed electric rewinds, flying like spaghetti all over the place. But most of the time I sat on the second story fire escape of the editorial department watching Bonanza being shot on the Western street below me. After a while I pretended I was directing the show and the crew was working for me.

The real challenge I had in the shipping department was to answer the phone before anyone else. The required greeting was: "Film shipping department." Much better for me to answer "Hello." After all, I was now a "producer" whose friends and business associates knew that they could reach me at Paramount Studios.

John Orland the producer almost got fired from Paramount Pictures. From the projection room I had picked up the 35mm reels of cut work print from Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way, a big World War II movie starring John Wayne. I then delivered them back to the cutting room. Later my boss received an angry phone call from Preminger saying one of the reels I had picked up, signed for and was supposed to deliver back to the cutting room was missing. I said losing a 35mm reel of the movie was impossible on my short trip from the projection room to the cutting room. Even Howard Koch, studio head, got involved and I was afraid they were going to call the police and have me arrested. Otto Preminger had a reputation for screaming at his actors to get good performances out of them, so I had visions of him screaming at me.

Luckily, a maintenance man discovered the mangled 35mm reel at the bottom of the dumbwaiter which was used to transport film between the first and second floor of the editorial building. The reel had fallen down the shaft through the narrow opening between the floor of the dumbwaiter and the side of the wall. My career was saved by the dumbwaiter.

COVERING THE NEWS FOR KHJ

After my stint at Paramount I reestablished my relationship with KHJ-TV by providing film footage for several of its local show openings. Rick Spalla was long gone and Clete Roberts was the current on-camera host who had come over from KNXT. His company, USTV News, provided news film on a contract basis to KHJ. I began to work as a cameraman for Clete Roberts on several outside projects for KCET. Clete was a well known TV personality, very handsome, and had a reputation for going on the scene of breaking news wearing a trench coat which became his signature.

More than once, people would approach our table in a restaurant and ask Clete for his autograph. He always obliged and made it a point to introduce me as his cameraman. Handshaking and polite exchanges could always be expected whenever I accompanied Clete Roberts on a news story.

By 1964 the technology had changed dramatically since the last time I had been in the TV news business. Now everyone was using Kodak Ektachrome EF color film with a daylight speed of around ASA 40, and with a magnetic stripe along one side for sound film recording. The sound amplifier had gotten much smaller and lighter, so now in addition to shooting, I could also ride the audio levels.

The Auricon Cine Voice was still being used but it was common practice to have the top of the camera chopped off to accommodate a 400-foot magazine. It had a true reflex viewing system. The lens of choice was an Angenieux zoom lens. Body braces were being used to support the Auricon camera, which stuck out in front of you and probably would be labeled as ergonomically unsafe by today's standards. It helped if you were a former football player, which I was.

For silent filming the Bell and Howell 70 DR camera was being used, but now with a linkage between the camera turret and viewfinder turret. I used quartz lights for standard lighting setups and a Frezzolini Sungun for run-and-gun situations. KHJ-TV was always very budget conscious, and I knew that Clete Roberts' days of being anchorman and supplying news film were coming to an end. During this period I was hired by Clete to accompany him to Seattle, Washington, where I would film the original Shamu killer whale being loaded onto an airline freighter for the trip to Sea World in San Diego.

Clete again hired me to film a TV special about the infamous rebellion on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Mario Savio was the leader of the Free Speech Movement. His group of students went on strike and Governor Ronald Reagan called in the California National Guard to restore order on the campus. It was potentially a very explosive situation, with memories still fresh in my mind of the Kent State tragedy a few years earlier. Yet what I most remember about the Cal Berkeley rebellion story was the shared shock and embarrassment of having left our station wagon parked in front of the airline terminal with the motor still running.

In our haste to get our equipment on board the airplane, we had totally forgotten about our car. Clete, in his charming way, summoned a stewardess and told her the story. She in turn told the pilot, who radioed the air traffic controllers, who notified company officials, and within minutes we were assured by the smiling stewardess that our vehicle would be taken care of.

In the summer of 1965 the Watts riots broke out. I was hired as a freelance cameraman to cover the story. It was one of the most frightening situations I have ever been in. I was driven into the riot area by a KHJ radio reporter who seemed to be a little too daring in such a frightening and dangerous situation. He drove and talked nonstop while I hunkered down, afraid of being shot by a sniper. Later I concluded that this nameless reporter's "courage" was the result of being well fortified with alcohol. After our station wagon was stolen in Watts, I teamed up with a black LAPD plain-clothes officer who drove me around in an unmarked car.

When members of the National Guard approached us with their guns drawn, he showed them his police credentials. When some threatening individuals came up to our car, he was able to charm them with his street talk. I received verbal credit from KHJ air for my work and a Los Angeles Times TV column proclaimed that KHJ's news-film coverage was second only to KTLA. I was very proud of the fact that I had bettered all three television networks, beaten only by KTLA with its telecopter.

I decided it was time to reenter the TV news business through my own Directions Unlimited film company. I made a verbal and written presentation to Malcolm Klein and Wally Sherwin at KHJ-TV that included the Los Angeles Times article about my news-film coverage of the Watts riots. Soon after, I was awarded the news film contract. One of the conditions was that I had to quote them a weekly fee for these services. For any news stories they wanted covered beyond the scope of our contract, I would bill additional personnel costs, film and lab charges. My company initially used Eastman Kodak to process EF color reversal stock but it took several hours to get the developed film back. Later we switched to CFI where I arranged to get our film onto processing machines ahead of other customers. Eventually we got even faster service at Newsfilm Laboratory.

I provided film coverage to KHJ-TV five days a week, which consisted of at least two camera crews, one sound and one silent. On the weekends, if necessary, I could always be counted on to cover a breaking story by myself.

A newsreel cameraman's job can be very stressful but doing it for KHJ-TV made it even more stressful. There always seemed to be more news stories than there were camera crews. In many instances I would arrive in the middle of a press conference. Arriving late, I would have to crawl to the speaker's podium on my hands and knees below the field of view of the assembled newsreel cameras so I could squeeze a microphone onto the crowded lectern. I used my own lights even if the subject was properly lit in case the other cameramen turned off their lights and left early.

BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN ERA

In the mid-60s the life of a newsreel cameraman was getting better. Most places that had regular press conferences, including the mayor's pressroom at City Hall, now had permanent lighting so you just had to determine the correct exposure and shoot. There was no need to worry about placing a microphone on the podium because there was one permanent microphone and an audio junction box that we all plugged our sound amplifiers into for sound/film recording.

Adapting to these changes wasn't easy. Los Angeles International Airport had recently installed boarding tunnels (now called Jetways) that passengers used to either board or disembark from an airplane. Prior to that, people used a set of mobile stairs and famous passengers would pose at the top for pictures that usually included some of the airplane and the name of the airline. Needless to say it was a very photogenic opportunity.

All that changed with the advent of the tunnels (Jetways). On one occasion when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had just arrived at LAX, the assembled newsreel crews and on-camera reporters were told to wait until they came out of the newly installed Jetway and into the airport waiting area. One of the crews broke ranks and ran down the Jetway. You can imagine what happened next when most of the news crews, myself included, stormed inside the Jetway. About half a dozen cameramen connected by cable to half a dozen audio men connected by cable to half a dozen reporters, plus still photographers and newspaper reporters, turned into a sea of out-of-control media which erupted into fistfights.

Meanwhile Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were still inside the airplane. When order was finally restored, Taylor and Burton, probably without ever knowing what caused the delay, came out of the Jetway and we all got our coverage.

SHOWTIME

At KHJ-TV in the mid to late '60s Wally Sherwin concocted a format for a new program called Tempo. It was to be broadcast live for air four or five hours a day. There would be live hosts at KHJ's studio anchoring the show and taking live telephone calls from viewers. The engineering department took one of the big 2-inch quad video tape machines and adapted it to accept a 3-second loop so a caller who said something offensive could be bleeped before it went out over the air.

The new format also included more news coverage. Wally decided that he wanted to use young good looking reporters, so he held several auditions which I attended. The kids looked the part but had no on-air experience. The best of the lot were hired and were sent out with me and my news crews. Often it was a painful experience, but we survived. Occasionally I would shoot feature stories with some of the show's hosts: Stan Borman, Jack Wells, Don Mcquire (who later wrote the movie Tootsie), JoAnne Pflug, Maria Cole and former Congressman Bob Dornan. After lots of growing pains, Tempo was nominated for a local Emmy by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Not every Hollywood event was as glamorous as people might expect. In 1965 I covered a post-premiere party for the movie King Rat, at the famous Whisky-A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip. I wanted to get a wide shot of the large crowd, searchlights and arriving limousines. I decided to climb up a metal ladder on the side of the building to get to the roof. I put my B&H 70 DR in a small custom-made case and attached a thick strap to each side of it. Then, with the strap around my chest and camera case hanging behind me, I started up the ladder. I was one story above the ground when the strap started to slip and, with each vertical step, the strap moved a little more until it was up around my neck. I started to choke as the camera case began swinging back and forth behind me. It seemed like a life-or-death struggle to reach the roof. Unnoticed by the throngs of people below, with each step becoming more difficult, I finally reached the roof. It was frightening and exhausting, but I got my shots and lived to tell about it.

BLUE RAIN

One of my strangest experiences on a technical level was with Ektachrome EF color film stock. I began to notice white dots with little blue tails on individual frames of the processed film which I called "blue rain." They were very annoying and each day the problem was getting worse. I also noticed the "blue rain" on film that was shot by other local TV stations. Mysteriously the "blue rain" was occurring only on film that was shot using my Auricon cameras. I consulted the film lab and its personnel said there was nothing physically on the film. It seemed to be a chemical reaction to something. Then I consulted Birns & Sawyer's camera repair department and Eastman Kodak Company. No one had any answers. About a month later, Eastman Kodak called me and said they had finally discovered what was causing the problem. It was a chemical reaction caused by magnesium particles. We deduced that the 400-foot magazines were beginning to show some wear and microscopic magnesium particles were floating around inside and contaminating the film. We took the necessary steps and the "blue rain" ended in Los Angeles.

I'VE SEEN IT ALL

Among the many stories I've covered though the years are the Los Angeles Dodgers' first appearance in a World Series at Chavez Ravine, the Shah of Iran's visit to Los Angeles, the groundbreaking for Jack Kent Cooke's Inglewood Forum, the opening of the Los Angeles Music Center, the grand opening of the Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood and the world premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the world premiere's of Camelot, 2001, Black Tights, Far From the Madding Crowd, Move Over Darling, Grand Prix, numerous Academy Awards Shows originating from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, numerous City of Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parades, and a peace march to protest the Vietnam War.

This last event took place near the Century Plaza Hotel where President Johnson was staying and turned into a full-scale riot.

In addition I covered the Beatles' visit to Los Angeles, the dedication of the San Diego Freeway leading into the San Fernando Valley, Robert Kennedy's assassination at the Ambassador Hotel and his flag-draped casket being loaded onto a military airplane for the trip back to Washington DC.

As a news cameraman I am privileged to have had an insider's view of Los Angeles during the tumultuous decade of the '60s; its glamorous movie stars, city government, public officials, sometimes controversial LAPD, hippies, sports, freeways, social change, UCLA and USC, new buildings sprouting up, and other subjects that could fill a book. It was a great beginning.