Angela popped over yesterday afternoon with my Christmas present - a splendid DVD of 50s, 60s and 70s promotional films made by Ramsgate Borough Council.
(And one about, ahem, Margate but we won't mention that. Except to say it was presented by Michael Aspel and called 'All Go Margate'. More like 'All Gone Margate' these days.)
Any road, being a bit obsessive over film credits, I happened to notice that the cameraman on most of these seaside epics is a chap with the delightfully appropriate moniker of Ron E. Haddock.
At first I thought it might be a nom de plume. You know, like Alan Smithee, the name conventionally appended as 'director' on Hollywood movies that have turned into such a box of bollocks that the real director has walked out. Or that, this being almost 40 years ago, Mr Haddock might by now have had his chips and gone to meet the great director of photography in the sky.
But no, not a bit of it. After tinkling the old internet ivories, I discovered that Mr Haddock was alive and well as recently as 2004, when he gave a talk to the Borehamwood Camcorder Club.
So in a spirit of briny nostalgia I've emailed the aforementioned club asking for Mr Haddock's contact details, in the hope that I'll be able to bring you an interview with the piscine cinematographer at a later date.
3 comments:
I'd be really interested in seeing the Margate one Rich.
According to the blurb on the back, the DVD was produced by Xarim Productions, 1 Hereson Road, Ramsgate, Kent, CT11 7DP. Tel: 0870 1620739. It's called 'Nostalgic Films of Thanet'. Interesting note on the DVD itself saying they take no responsibility for the quality or copyright. Hmm.
thankyouverymuchly
Post a Comment