Jump to content

E. M. Newman Travelogues

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jlewis68 (talk | contribs) at 21:58, 7 April 2014 (Added a "See also"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Edward M. Newman (March 16, 1870-April 16, 1953) was a film producer of many documentary film shorts produced by Warner Brothers and edited at Vitaphone studios in Brooklyn, New York in the 1930s.

Around 1930, the major studios in Hollywood discovered that travelogue shorts running under 11 minutes were among the cheapest to produce as “filler” on the theatrical program. The number of “faraway adventures” made for eager Depression Era audiences, who seldom traveled far from home, rapidly increased at this time, even though films of this type had been around for decades. Only one cameraman was needed, sometimes with a few assistants, along with one editor, sometimes a studio orchestra and usually a narrator. Much of the material could be shot silent and dubbed over later, although Fox Movietone News included on-location sound recordings with many of their “Magic Carpet” series.

Compared to the competion (which included Fox, Amadee J. Van Beuren “Vagabond Adventures” for RKO Pictures, Universal Pictures “Going Places”, Columbia Pictures “Rambling Reporter”, Educational Pictures “Treasure Chest” and other series and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Burton Holmes and James A. Fitzpatrick “Traveltalks”), the Warner-Newman travelogues were well-produced and often featured locales not covered in other series. One additional novelty was that the series name changed with each “season” (lasting September through August/September of the next year), spotlighting a specific theme such as U.S. history (as seen by famous sites) and “musical journeys”. This enabled the theater exhibitors to offer attendees something different and new each year.

Ira Genet collaborated as director and writer with many of these. Key editor was Bert Frank, who also worked on many other Vitaphone shorts, including some documentaries that assembled old silent film footage. Leo Donnelly was a key narrator in the earlier shorts, also handling Ripley’s Believe It or Not for Warner-Vitaphone.

When rival FitzPatrick with MGM started shooting in full Technicolor, Warner was already spending a fortune on their other two-reel musical and comedy shorts in color. As a result of this (along with various technical difficulties), the Newman series continued to be released in black and white until 1936, then opted for the more economical Cinecolor. Trade reviews tended to unfavorably compare them with the MGM Traveltalks, which boasted the full rainbow effect. Yet they continued to be praised for their expert commentary and interesting subject matter. In 1938, the so-called “Colortours” were regrouped as the Vitaphone Color Parade, moving on to multi-subject topics backed by Mechanix Illustrated.

A full list of the travelogues released between 1931 and 1938 are as follows (with review dates by Film Daily and copyright dates when release dates are not available):

Traveltalks

  • A Trip to Tibet / © March 19, 1931 / Tibet
  • Scenic of Algiers / narrator: Burnet Hershey; Newman Traveltalk / April 12, 1931 (Film Daily review) / featuring the "Paris of North Africa", Algiers
  • Animals of the Amazon / May 1931 / Brazil wildlife including sloths, giant anteaters, river dolphins and monkeys
  • Down the Blue Danube / June 28, 1931 (Film Daily review) / Vienna, Austria & Germany
  • Little Journeys to Great Masters / August 1, 1931 / Rome & Florence
  • Southern India / October 11, 1931 (Film Daily review)
  • The Road to Mandalay / November 1, 1931 (Film Daily review) / Burma
  • Mediterranean By-ways / Newman Traveltalk / December 6, 1931 (Film Daily review) / Morocco, Sardinia, Malta & Pompeii (Italy)
  • Java / January 2, 1932 (Film Daily review) / Singapore, Colombo & Java
  • Northern India / March 20, 1932 (Film Daily review) / includes Agra region
  • Oberammergau, Land of the Passion Play / April 3, 1932 / covers the 1930 performance in Bavaria (Germany)
  • Soviet Russia / May 15, 1932 (Film Daily review) / features Saint Petersburg
  • When in Rome / June 11, 1932 (Film Daily review) / Rome
  • A South American Journey (South American Journeys) / June 25, 1932 (Film Daily review) / Brazil & Argentina included
  • Paris Glimpses / July 9, 1932 (Film Daily review) / Includes the Eiffel Tower & Champs-Élysées
  • Dancing Around the World / August 24, 1932 (Film Daily review) / Spain, Sweden, Italy (cameo by Douglas Fairbanks visiting), the Zulu people & Java
  • Dear Old London / August 26, 1932 (Film Daily review) / features London Zoo
  • Berlin Today / August 31, 1932 (Film Daily review) / features police dog training in Berlin

World Adventures

Primary narrator was Leo Donnelly.

Musical World Journeys

  • Exploring the Pacific / September 23, 1933 / Cocos Islands, Galapagos & Tahiti
  • Samoan Memories / © October 25, 1933 / Samoa
  • The Cannibal Isles (In the Cannibal Island) / © February 28, 1934 / Fiji & other parts
  • Italy, the New and the Old / © March 2, 1934/ Venice
  • Spanish America / © March 2, 1934 / Cuba, Mexico, Panama & other parts
  • Jerusalem, the Holy City / © March 15, 1934
  • Heart of Paris / © March 24, 1934
  • Slackers and Workers of the Jungle / © July 16, 1934 / Ceylon elephants & Malayan monkeys
  • The East Indies / © July 23, 1934 / Indonesia
  • Picturesque Siam / © July 25, 1934
  • Dark Africa / © August 2, 1934 / Ethiopia & Gulf of Aden
  • A Visit to the South Seas / © October 4, 1934
  • Central America / © October 5, 1934

See America First

Mostly narrated by John B. Kennedy, these United States locational travelogues were distributed in a more chronological order (based on historical periods) after their initial releases. The first three were shown in Washington D.C. at a special screening.

  • Pilgrim Days / August 28, 1934
  • Boston Tea Party / August 28, 1934 / where the Revolutionary War began
  • Dixieland / August 28, 1934 / tour of the pre-Civil War south
  • Hail Columbia / © November 22, 1934 / covers terrain of Louisiana Purchase
  • Remember the Alamo / © January 2, 1935 / Texas tour
  • The Blue and the Gray / March 2, 1935 / profiles site of the Civil War (United States), along with veterans on parade (newsreel footage)
  • Westward Bound / April 13, 1935
  • The Trail of the 49ers / © April 22, 1935 / mostly California
  • Remember the Maine / May 4, 1935 / covers Spanish-American War
  • The Yanks are Coming / June 1, 1935 / vintage footage of World War I
  • Boom Days / June 23, 1935 / vintage footage from the last decade
  • The Mormon Trail / © July 6, 1935
  • Forward Together / July 13, 1935 / saluting the last few years and President Roosevelt

Our Own U.S.

Colortour Adventures

Filmed in “Naturalcolor” and Cinecolor

  • The Pearl of the Pacific / September 5, 1936 / Hawaii
  • Colorful Occupations / narrator: Paul Douglas / October 3, 1936 / ladybug farms, flower designing, balloons, Siamese cat breeding
  • Northern Lights / narrator: Jean Paul King / October 21, 1936 / Sweden
  • The Hollanders / narrator: Basil Ruysdael / January 2, 1937 / Netherlands
  • Along the Mediterranean / narrator: Howard Claney / January 23, 1937 / Morocco, Spain, Greece & Italy
  • Nice Work / narrator: Milton Cross / January 30, 1937 / Norway fishing, Hawaii sugar, Native American crafts
  • Land of the Midnight Sun / narrator: Alan Kent / February 27, 1937 / Norway
  • Nature the Artist / narrator: David Ross / March 20, 1937 / flowers from California deserts through a Holland, Michigan show
  • Cradle of Civilization / narrator: Kenneth Roberts / April 17, 1937 / Rhodes, Athens & Istanbul
  • Alpine Gradeur / narrator: Alan Kent / May 15, 1937 / Switzerland
  • Gateway to Africa / narrator: Howard Claney / June 12, 1937 / Morocco
  • Land of the Magyar / narrator: Basil Ruysdael / July 3, 1937 / Hungary
  • Crossing the Sahara / narrator: Howard Claney / August 14, 1937 / includes Morocco & Egypt
  • Long Bright Land / narrator: Howard Claney / September 18, 1937 / New Zealand including the kiwi
  • It's Work / narrator: Paul Douglas/ October 23, 1937
  • Mysterious Ceylon / narrator: Basil Ruysdael / November 20, 1937
  • Land of the Kangaroo / narrator: Howard Claney / December 18, 1937 / Australia
  • India's Millions / narrator: Basil Ruysdael / January 8, 1938 (© December 27, 1937)
  • Malayan Jungles / narrator: Howard Claney / February 5, 1938 (© December 26, 1937) / Malaysia including wildlife like the Chevrotain along with native sports
  • What The World Makes / narrator: Paul Douglas / March 12, 1938 (© December 27, 1937)
  • Pearl of the East / narrator: Howard Claney / March 21, 1938 / mostly India
  • Crossroads of the Orient / narrator: Basil Ruysdael / April 2, 1938 / Singapore
  • Toradja Land / narrator: Howard Claney / April 30, 1938 / Celebes (Sulawesi) & Borneo
  • Isles of Enchantment / narrator: Howard Claney / July 21, 1938 / Komodo (island), Flores & Bali
  • The Hermit Kingdom / narrator: Dwight Weist / August 27, 1938 / Siam

See also

References

  • Liebman, Roy Vitaphone Films – A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts 2003 McFarland & Company
  • Motion Pictures 1912-1939 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1951 Library of Congress
  • BoxOffice back issue scans
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=E._M._Newman_Travelogues&oldid=603215542"