Interview with a Photographer from the American Magazine "Life" - Part Three

Author: (American) Lorne Gadd
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Walter B. Ryan (hereinafter referred to as Ryan): After graduating from high school, I found a job at a film company. After that, I worked as an assistant to a photographer who had an office on Lake Street in Washington. We took many photos on the luxury liner Mary Queen. But his business started to decline, and he couldn’t afford to hire me, so he had to let me go. At that time, I found that a photography agency called Pix was looking for staff, and I was hired by this agency in March 1937. Cornell Capa worked with me in the darkroom at Pix for a year. Sometimes, I also did some simple photography work. Once, Pix wanted to capture a parade held at Madison Square Garden for a competitive performance. I climbed up an oak tree and took some excellent photos. Life magazine published them and thought, "This young man did a good job." Starting in 1941, I signed a contract with Life magazine’s Washington office to work on a pre-paid basis. In late August, one afternoon, Life magazine told me, "Hurry to Norfolk; the British Royal Navy’s ‘Glory’ is arriving." This was a British aircraft carrier that had suffered severe damage from German bombing in the Mediterranean. The ship’s captain was Lord Louis Mountbatten (Lord Louis Mountbatten, a British naval marshal, a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and the Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia during World War II. Annotation). I couldn’t find a suitable train, or else I could have arrived in Norfolk in time from Washington. So I had to travel along the Potomac River and finally found a ship that departed that night, but all the cabins were full. I persuaded the captain, and he let me sleep on a bench in the engine room. The ship arrived in Norfolk at 6:34 a.m. the next morning. I hurriedly hailed a taxi—just like in the movies—but on the way, I was blocked by a truck with 120 trailers. In the end, I arrived at the street pier gate, but the Marine guard there told me, "The ‘Glory’ is at the fourth street pier." Carrying my large camera bag, I ran out of breath. At the gate, the Marine guard said, "I can’t let you in." I said, "I really have to get in, or I’ll lose my job. I really have to get onto the ‘Glory.’" The guard said to another Marine, "Take this guy aboard." When I boarded the deck of the "Glory," Lord Mountbatten was just walking down from the bridge to inspect his soldiers. I bent one leg and took a photo from below. The journey from Norfolk back to Washington was just as difficult as the trip there. I had just returned to Washington when Life magazine told me, "You have to go to Iceland immediately." This was because American forces would be setting up a base there. Within a few hours, Life magazine had arranged a passport for me to go to Iceland, and I arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, by plane. Because Canada was at war, all my photography equipment was seized by customs. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer stayed with me until I boarded the plane to Iceland. After arriving in Iceland, I walked around and saw a stack of Life magazines at a newsstand. I habitually picked up a magazine and flipped from the back page to the front, and when I reached the cover, I was overjoyed because it featured the photo I had taken of Lord Mountbatten. The editor had enlarged the photo and cropped the sailors out, leaving only Lord Mountbatten’s upper-body portrait. It became an excellent cover. I boarded the "Golden Falls" ship, and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer handed my photography equipment to the ship’s captain, saying, "Don’t give him these yet until the ship is 15 miles out to sea." P21-22