"After
several weeks recovering from the asthma at Taylor's Point
and Artarmon, in March 1945 Ken Hall, my old boss at Cinesound
and Cinesound's Managing Director, invited me to become
the RAAF liaison officer on a Columbia film being produced
at Cinesound on the life of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
"The war in both Europe and Japan was tapering off
by this time and I was due to be discharged from the RAAF,
but Ken asked if I would extend my RAAF service so the
film could have the backing of the RAAF. I told Ken I
was prepared to do this but I needed the RAAF's permission.
I saw the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George
Jones, who granted permission on the condition that everything
in the film pertaining to flying was 100% correct.
"The film's production lasted nine months altogether
and during this time I provided extensive technical advice
about flying and about facts relating to Smithy's life
and achievements.
"The old Southern Cross was brought out of retirement
in Canberra to use in the many flying sequences in the
film. She hadn't been flown for ten years. Harry Purvis
(as Captain) and I travelled to Canberra, flight tested
her, flew her to Sydney and flew her many times for the
'Smithy' film. It was wonderful to fly the old girl and
to fly again with Harry. The Sydney Morning Herald
of Tuesday, May 22, 1945 reported:
Canberra - Monday - It was a spick-and-span Southern
Cross which was on display at Duntroon today. The fuselage
had been repainted, the original blue colour and the wing
and engines silver. The words "Southern Cross" in silver
letters, and stars representing each of the Australian
States, in the same colours, were on the fuselage.
After her test flight this afternoon the historic monoplane
was granted a certificate of airworthiness. It will be
used in the film "Smithy" ... which is to be financed
by Columbia Pictures. The last time the Southern Cross
was aloft was on July 18, 1935, when it was flown from
Kingsford Smith Airport, Mascot, to Richmond for sale
to the Federal Government. ...
The crew of today's test flight were Wing-Commander G.
H. Purvis (test pilot), Wing-Commander John Kingsford-Smith
... (co-pilot), Warrant-Officer M. J. W. Bunt (sic Burt)
(engineer), and Mr. H. Affleck, representing the Civil
Aviation Department. The Southern Cross attained a speed
of 100 mph during its ten minutes in the air.
And
the Daily Telegraph of 29 May, 1945, reported:
Pilots
are finding it difficult to fly slow enough to enable
cameramen to 'shoot' the Southern Cross sequences of the
Kingsford Smith film. An RAAF Avro-Anson was found to
be the only plane roomy enough for the cameramen, and
slow enough to fly beside the old Southern Cross. The
Anson is being flown by Wing-Commander John Kingsford-Smith
... He has to fly with the flaps and the undercarriage
of the Anson down. Most camera shots are at present being
taken over the sea, but on Thursday the Southern Cross
will be over the city at 1 o'clock.
"The
liaison with Cinesound meant I had almost daily contact
with Ken Hall who was directing the 'Smithy' film.
"During production, I began to experience difficulty
getting on with Ken, and over the months on the film we
had several quite heated differences of opinion which
I found difficult to understand. One evening when he and
I were about to return from Richmond RAAF base after filming
there all day, in front of several others Ken stated to
me he strongly believed Air Force officers were 'grossly
overpaid'. He backed up his opinion with various other
views - all of which I found offensive - and from then
on our relationship deteriorated and didn't improve. It
was an omen of things to come.
"On completion of the Smithy film in 1946 I was formally
discharged from the RAAF. It seemed an eternity since
I'd joined as an instructor six years earlier.
"My discharge meant I was again available for civilian
employment and Cinesound, as my pre-war employer, was
bound by National Security Regulations to re-instate me.
"During the months making the Smithy film I had several
times initiated discussions with Ken Hall about the terms
of my reinstatement with Cinesound and Ken knew I was
keen to re-establish myself in the film industry. I had
worked in the industry for nine years prior to joining
the RAAF, for over seven of those with Cinesound, and
film production was in my blood. I had a good overall
grasp of the industry, and I believe I had good skills
in film production itself - in story writing and diaglogue,
supervising photography, and in production and editing.
"Ken's and my early discussions had centred on the
level of responsibility I would assume once reinstated.
We agreed I would be solely responsible for the newly
established and successful Industrial Section. I would
be promoted to Laboratory Manager. I would be able to
quote for jobs. And I would be given a substantial salary
increase.
"Later discussions with Ken however were not as positive.
He began to hedge about my re-employment and it became
more difficult to get a definite answer from him about
it. Eventually, I wrote to him setting out what I saw
to be the terms of employment and he, eventually, responded
with a date for my re-commencement.
"Cinesound was owned by Greater Union Theatres (who
owned several theatres in Sydney including the State Theatre),
and GUT was in turn owned by four separate holding companies.
In late 1945, having confidence in the future of Cinesound,
I bought shares in one of the GUT holding companies.
"On 18 February 1946 I re-commenced with Cinesound.
Unfortunately, problems surfaced almost immediately. The
first was that instead of commencing as Laboratory Manager
as previously agreed, I was appointed Laboratory Supervisor.
Then, the promise of managing the new Industrial Section
was not adhered to when its management was split into
two jobs. Then, the promise of my being able to quote
for jobs was broken, and my salary increase never eventuated.
"I noticed that business had dropped off over the
years and in my view this was due to inefficient administration,
bad business deals and over-staffing. I endeavoured to
introduce several (then) modern technological innovations
to laboratory practice to both increase efficiency and
enhance laboratory safety, but all my suggestions fell
on deaf ears.
"Ken had always maintained that Cinesound was a one
man show with him as general manager, laboratory manager,
business manager, editing manager, newsreel, camera and
sound boss etc. But Cinesound was becoming too big for
such centralised control and, if it was to be successful
in the future, I could see that Ken would need to start
delegating responsibility and relinquishing control.
"I was becoming increasingly frustrated by my inability
to do what I believed should be done and to gain any satisfaction
from the job. I knew I could make good profits for Cinesound
if given a chance, but I was never given a free hand.
I felt I was still being treated as the youngster I'd
been when I first joined Cinesound thirteen years earlier.
"The final crunch came when Ken took the view that
my leaving Cinesound seven years earlier to join the Air
Force had been an example of disloyalty to Cinesound.
He maintained that, because of this disloyalty, I shouldn't
expect particular consideration from Cinesound on my return.
"I was deeply hurt by his attitude and felt I could
no longer work for Ken. On 24 October 1946, eight months
after re-commencing with Cinesound, I handed in my resignation.
"Looking back, it was unlikely I'd fit in to Cinesound
on my return from war. I had jumped five ranks in four
years in the RAAF and had come to assume a lot of responsibility.
I had changed significantly over that time and it seemed
inevitable that Ken and I would grow apart. I believe,
for whatever reason, Ken resented my experiences during
the war. I think he realised this during the making of
the Smithy film and decided he didn't want me back. When
I did start back there again I believe he showed his resentment
by trying to hold me back. His behaviour towards me though
was only part of his overall management style at Cinesound
at the time, and this was one of the confirming factors
in my decision that Cinesound was no longer the place
for me.
"I left Cinesound though with many regrets, because
over several years the company had meant a great deal
to me. ...
"Early in 1946 while working on the 'Smithy' film,
I'd been impressed by the organisational ability of Cinesound's
'contact' man and production manager on 'Smithy', Lloyd
Ravenscroft.
"I approached Lloyd and persuaded him to form a partnership
with me in film production. After my disappointment with
Cinesound I was determined to start my own company, and
on 26 November 1946, Kingcroft Productions Pty. Limited
(the name derived from each of our surnames) was formed.
...
"Ken and I sadly remained antagonists for over twenty
years and then in the late sixties I was invited to a
Channel 9 party after the screening of a program known
as 'This
is Your Life' on the subject of Ken Hall. (Ken was now
Managing Director of Channel 9). I went to the party reluctantly,
and when Ken and I saw each other we shook hands. The
following day, I rang him and invited him to lunch for
old times' sake. Shortly after the lunch, Ken rang and
asked if he could hire my theatrette at Kingcroft to screen
a film he didn't want to show at Channel 9. I told him
he couldn't hire it, he could have itl Since that time,
Ken and I have been the best of friends, and it wasn't
until I read his book, 'Directed by Ken G. Hall', that
I realised the very hard time he'd had managing Cinesound
under Norman B. Rydge of Greater Union Theatres.
"The last time I saw Ken was in April 1992 at an
archivist exhibition at the National Trust headquarters
in Sydney addressed by Gough Whitlam, and we yarned for
quite awhile. Ken was 92 at the time and still in excellent
health." (pp.67-74)
|