I seem to remember the great Tom Hopkinson ( Editor, Picture Post 1940 -1950 ) making some rather unkind remarks about the attitude & mental competence in general of press photographers & their like. I was soon to discover the truth for myself.
An Edinburgh Festival during the 1960s. I was to appear on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport & film the arrival of Marlene Dietrich. A total of about 12 - 15 photographers were also gathered for the same purpose. The plane arrived, stopped, the door opened & out she came, to stand for a short while at the top of the steps. Lots of clicking sounds from the press photographers with their ' stills ' cameras . I too ran my film camera for about 10 seconds or so.
She descended with considerable grace & dignity, as one would expect. A few more clicks & that was it. The press ' boys ' were finished & could now be seen packing up their equipment, without even a ' look - back & moving away, job finished. I watched with some incredulity. Was this IT !
Suddenly, she makes her way towards me. Pushes past with a loud " Excuse ! " starts to run towards the front of the aircraft, throws away her tiny handbag, safely retrieved by her close friend & associate, Burt Bacharach, stops beneath the window to the cockpit & shreiks " Hi " ! at the top of her voice. ( even I was getting frightened .) The window slides open, the pilots head emerges. " Great flight no bumps " says she. He retaliates with " Glad to have you aboard " & so on. They have a little friendly chat. Then each says " Bye ." Eventually she turns towards
me, another " Hi " & a vastly exaggerated mock pose for the camera, a brief squeeze of my arm as she passes .
An official car awaits & she's away.
No trace of the photographers, they believe they've done their job & have long gone.
What I did with little effort was edited into a short film for the BBC programme ' Monitor' & provided a few pleasing moments.
Needless to say, every newspaper carried almost the same picture of her standing at the top of the steps, on the following morning. There were many other great pictures to be had to include her wide variety of antics. They just had to be observant but they were not.
Thanks Tom, you were right.
An Edinburgh Festival during the 1960s. I was to appear on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport & film the arrival of Marlene Dietrich. A total of about 12 - 15 photographers were also gathered for the same purpose. The plane arrived, stopped, the door opened & out she came, to stand for a short while at the top of the steps. Lots of clicking sounds from the press photographers with their ' stills ' cameras . I too ran my film camera for about 10 seconds or so.
She descended with considerable grace & dignity, as one would expect. A few more clicks & that was it. The press ' boys ' were finished & could now be seen packing up their equipment, without even a ' look - back & moving away, job finished. I watched with some incredulity. Was this IT !
Suddenly, she makes her way towards me. Pushes past with a loud " Excuse ! " starts to run towards the front of the aircraft, throws away her tiny handbag, safely retrieved by her close friend & associate, Burt Bacharach, stops beneath the window to the cockpit & shreiks " Hi " ! at the top of her voice. ( even I was getting frightened .) The window slides open, the pilots head emerges. " Great flight no bumps " says she. He retaliates with " Glad to have you aboard " & so on. They have a little friendly chat. Then each says " Bye ." Eventually she turns towards
me, another " Hi " & a vastly exaggerated mock pose for the camera, a brief squeeze of my arm as she passes .
An official car awaits & she's away.
No trace of the photographers, they believe they've done their job & have long gone.
What I did with little effort was edited into a short film for the BBC programme ' Monitor' & provided a few pleasing moments.
Needless to say, every newspaper carried almost the same picture of her standing at the top of the steps, on the following morning. There were many other great pictures to be had to include her wide variety of antics. They just had to be observant but they were not.
Thanks Tom, you were right.
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