06.18.10 | guest-blogs | FanFare GuestsPrint this Post
Guest contributor Bob Campbell writes:
Traditional movie Newsreels, produced between their theatrical debut in 1911 and their demise in 1967, are wondrous windows on the world that once was, and collectively serve as a perpetual record of our shared history and popular culture.
Today we have instant and worldwide access on our televisions, computers and hand-held devices to witness news in real time as it happens. Prior to the advent of the newsreel, Americans primarily depended on radio and print media for news and information. Only by going to the movies and watching the newsreels could one see and hear history in relatively real time. The newsreels superbly fulfilled that important purpose until television came along and access to filmed news went from twice weekly on the silver screen to daily broadcasts on the TV screen.
Theatrical newsreels were typically structured much like a daily newspaper. They changed twice weekly taking about 10 minutes to tell 6 or 7 short stories. Each newsreel focused on current events, politics, natural and other disasters, sports, movies and contemporary pop culture in general. Occasionally an entire newsreel would be devoteed to a single story or event of optimum interest, like the attack on Pearl Harbor or the inauguration of a president.
Theater owners routinely booked their newsreels from any of five major newsreel companies: Pathe News (1910-1956), produced by Pathe Film, later distributed by RKO Radio Pictures (1931-47) then Warner Bros. (1947-56); Hearst Metrotone News (1914-67), produced by Hearst, distributed by Fox Corp. (1929-34), then MGM (1934-67), the name was later changed to News of the Day; Paramount News (1927-57), produced and distributed by Paramount and promoted as "The Eyes of the World;" Fox Movietone News (1928-63), produced and distributed by Fox Corp; Universal News (1929-67), produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, later Universal-International.
A sixth newsreel series The March of Time (1935-51) was created by Time, Inc. in part to upstage the fierce competition among the five major newsreel companies. It was conceived as a costly $50,000-monthly news magazine to offer "pictorial journalism" to movie-goers by integrating authentic news footage with freshly-filmed reenactments and dramatizations. While popular with audiences, it proved controversial among media purists and never managed to attain profitibility.
The March of Time's compelling visuals and the commanding voice of narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis were satirized with considerable bombast by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. Welles' pioneer masterpiece is a thinly-veiled bio of William Randolph Hearst. In Citizen Kane, Hearst's own Metrotone News is further satirized during the opening sequence, which establishes the film's plot utilizing a fictitious newsreel titled News on the March. Enjoy some scenes from Citizen Kane by clicking here to see the theatrical trailer.
By the mid-1920s it was estimated that between 85-90% of the 18,000 U.S. theaters exhibited one of the five major newsreels to a weekly audience numbering in excess of 40 million people. By the 1930s, most newsreel companies released two editions weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays. The March of Time was released in monthly installments.
Among the most shocking newsreel footage ever captured was the fiery crash of the German Zeppelin The Hindenburg on May 6, 1937. After successfully completing many transatlantic air ship crossings, The Hindenburg crashed upon landing at Lakehurst, N.J. All newsreel companies had photographers on hand when the explosion took place. Here is the Pathe News coverage of this horrific event.
Here the 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Bridge is depicted with awesome images and narration. The controversial bridge opened in 1940 and the collapse four months later was captured on film by local camera store owner Barney Elliott. This newsreel sequence was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
Foreshadowing today's reality television, this provocative and harrowing Universal-International newsreel clip features a foolish mom recklessly tossing real knives at her two infant daughters purely for the purpose of "entertainment."
In 1938, a pre-Citizen Kane Orson Welles broadcast his stunningly authentic "War of the Worlds" radio simulation. Many listeners tuning in by chance concluded the fictitious alien invasion to be actually happening, which triggered a national panic. In this brief Universal News clip, Welles coyly responds during a national press conference.
In 1929, Fox opened the Embassy Theater in New York City as an "all-newsreel" theater. They ran the biweekly editions of all five major newsreel companies back-to-back and continuously throughout the day. Author Raymond Fielding in his book "The American Newsreel, 1911-67" writes; "(newsreel companies) discovered that in FDR we had the greatest single attraction. Announcement of his fireside chats, which were always filmed, brought hundreds of patrons to the theater. Anti-New Dealers came to hiss. The vigorous years of the New Deal under FDR and the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Chang Kai-shek aroused great interest in newsreels." The all-newsreel theater concept expanded with more companies participating and proved immensely popular in Britain and other countries.
Universal was the last company to produce theatrical newsreels and the phenomenon died on screen in 1967 following a decade of dwindling dollars, diminished audience interest and declining quality and in 1974, Universal Pictures gifted its entire Universal Newsreel library to the U.S. National Archives exclusively for public purposes. This included 30 million feet of film produced between 1929 and 1967.
In the end, newsreels simply could not compete with the timeliness and relevancy of television news. Audiences quickly became accustomed to a daily diet of TV news and sitting through it all again while seeking real-world escapism at the movies was an unappreciated redundancy.
Television news began in 15 minute doses on NBC in 1948 with Camel Newsreel Theater, anchored by John Cameron Swayze. It was a daily live news broadcast that featured Movietone newsreel footage. The following year the name was changed to Camel News Caravan and the footage was provided instead by NBC News cameramen. Newsreel footage was no longer necessary. In 1955 the sponsor, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, cut its sponsorship to 3 days a week. The other two days were then sponsored by Chrysler's Plymouth brand and called Plymouth News Caravan, anchored by David Brinkley. These newscasts were replaced in October 1956 by The Huntley-Brinkley Report.
Here you can sample a typical American newsreel from the 1940s. From 1942-45, the U.S. Government commissioned a newsreel series called United News that was collectively produced by the major studios on behalf of the Office of War Information and distributed worldwide to America's Armed Forces. A WWII War Bond drive is showcased in this United News report loaded with celebrities of the day, including James Cagney, Irene Dunne, Ronald Colman, Tyrone Power, Joe Louis and so many more. Enjoy this piece of history:
The history of movie newsreels is profoundly complex and we have scarcely scratched the surface in this brief distillation. To learn more, a website called History of the Newsreel offers a detailed, chronological history and is highly recommended.
Theatrical newsreels served the nation well in an era when motion pictures defined our world. Newsreels are abundant with original source content and today represent ideal teaching tools for comprehending our shared history and culture.
Bob Campbell is co-creator and producer of the original PBS series Matinee at the Bijou. He is currently working to bring back the series in a sequel to be hosted by the magnificent Debbie Reynolds.
I remember very well the newsreels at the local movie theater when I was a kid. Most of the time I regarded them as something I'd wish would quickly finish so we could get on the the cartoon or the Roy Rogers feature. But I remember very clearly one afternoon in the movies seeing a newsreel showing the French pulling out of Indo-China, having been defeated by communist rebels. I was old enough to my dad coming home from World War II after defeating Germany and Japan, and I knew France was one of our Allies against the Axis. I believed the US was then the most powerful nation in the world, on the side of right, and yet here was an ally getting its butt kicked by these ragtag Oriental rebels. It was confusing and kinda scarey, like maybe things weren't as good and steadfast as I had thought.
Years later, as US involvement in Vietnam continued to grow, I remembered the newsreel shots of French soldiers aboard crowded troop ships leaving that same area. Years later, there were TV clips of US soldiers pulling out of 'Nam with the last big scurry to get aboard the last helicopters going out. At least the French left with more grace and dignity in the newsreels.
Here in the UK, I seem to remember that PATHE NEWS ceased in 1970, when Bob Danvers-Walker announced on the BBC that Pathe was closing because of television providing a more immediate bulltin. Also, British Movietone News continued until just a little later.
I noticed that the World War II United News newsreel referred to boxing champion Joe Lewis as "the boy who beat Max Schmelling."
growing up in the 1950's, my friends and i usually spent saturday afternoons at the movie theater. we got to see the newsreel, five cartoons, the coming attractions, a serial(this kept us coming back to see if the hero was killed in that car that went over the cliff) and a double feature, all for the low, low cost of 15c cents.
Newsreels were a part of my moviegoing experience for many years. With three new editions released each week, they were truly "The Eyes and Ears of the World," to quote Paramount's tagline, in the days BTV. I, for one, miss them.
Thinking about newsreels brings to mind something I experienced at the age of eight that was connected with one.
Many a Saturday night was spent at my aunt and uncle's home in south Minneapolis, where I'd bunk with my cousin, Bob, up in his attic bedroom. Five years my senior, he was more like a big brother than a cousin, and I always looked forward to my visits because he'd invariably treat me to a movie.
On one such occasion in 1943, Cousin Bob took me to the nearby neighborhood El Lago Theatre to see a Bob Hope picture entitled THEY GOT ME COVERED. There I succeeded in making my bow as an entertainer and embarrassing him in the process.
We arrived at the theatre early in order to catch the short subjects preceding the feature. As was customary, batting leadoff was a newsreel. In this instance it was one from RKO-Pathe, which opened with a crowing rooster atop a globe. Each succeeding story was heralded by an onscreen headline with a small, encircled still representation of said rooster at the bottom right of the frame. Well, the first time it appeared, I gave out with what I considered a stellar imitation of the rooster's crow, and... hey! Darned if it didn't evoke laughter from a goodly number of patrons in the nearly full theatre.
To my immature way of reckoning, if my effort was funny once, it would be twice as funny a second time. However, my encore effort evoked far less of a positive reaction from the captive audience. That's when I should have quit; SHOULD have, but didn't.
Still encouraged by the initial response I'd received, I elected to to give it one more try upon the chanticleer's third appearance. But that time my effort was met with grumbles as well as a sound whack on the arm accompanied by a brusque "SHUT UP!" from my cousin. Thus ended my debut as a mimic.
Maybe its my imagination, but to this very day whenever I see Bob, the upper part of my right arm begins to throb.
Here in the UK we had 5 newsreels they were - Pathe, Paramount, British Movietone, Gaumont British and Universal - which was probably the least popular. New editions every Monday and Thursday. Sometimes made very quickly, for example the Grand National which is run on a Saturday afternoon would be shown in the London cinemas the same evening. In the late 50s Gaumont British made special beginings which incorporated the cinema where it was showings name. Paramount would be the first one to go, I think, in 1959.
I have always loved newsreels because as Lillian Gish once said "we are the first people in the history of the world, before or since, to leave a living record of our Century. We've got everything up there on film from Victoria's funeral on."
Fox MovieTone News had a funny newscaster called Lew Leher. Blackhawk Films once released a 20 minute clip of selections from his "Newsettes" which were hysterical, and I have never been able to find them. Does anyone know where I can get them?
It would be great if all the film companies compiled their newsreels footage and released them in box DVD sets. When I get the money, I would be among the first to purchase such a compilation.