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"Fox Movietone"
This classic camera is a well used Newsreel camera from the earlyFox Movietone Newsreel days. It very possibly came from the cameradepartment of the New York office. Although it is well documentedthat Fox Movietone had cameramen in many parts of the world in the1900s its whereabouts are unknown.
The Fox Newsreel was established in 1919 by William Fox and thefirst edition premiered in New York in October of that year. Foxwas the last of the major newsreels to start production; however itis written that it expanded rapidly outpolling its rivals.
Being silent in those early days, explanation of incidents depictedon the screen were described by titles interspersing the handcranked images at regular intervals. At the first Academy Awards in1929 FILM FACTS writes 'Joseph Farnham was awarded an Oscar for'Best Title Writing.' This art form would later not berecognised.
The photograph of this Fox Movietone camera came from a collectionof pictures from Bill Lambert ACS and sent to former FederalPresident Ron Windon ACS for restoration and to be added to theRobert Feeney ACS Archive.
It is a Debrie camera. It looks very similar to a camera usedby Bert Ive filming a documentary in the Northern Territory withAborigines and similar to equipment seen in photographs of FrankHurley.