Learning on ScreenErnest James Henry Wright ("Jim / Jimmy")
Profile
- Dates
- 1928-1956
- Role
- Cameraman; News editor; Editor
- Newsreels / Cinemagazines
- British Paramount News
- Search
- Search for all stories where Ernest James Henry Wright is credited
- Notes
- Wright was J. E. F. Wright’s father. Wright was interviewed for the IMW Dept. of Sound Records - Access number 4891/8. There is a photograph of him in Cine-Technician, July-August 1943, p.73. The shotlist also indicates that Wright may appear in the comic shots in ‘MORE CUTS, MORE TO COME!' in BPN No.1722 of August 1947. There is a BECTU History Project audio recording of him, recording no. 123 (1990).
Career
Jim Wright joined British Movietone News when it was first set up in 1928, apparently in an editorial capacity. Wright afterwards joined British Paramount News, probably replacing John Slee [qv] as news editor, and in July 1934 he organised the filming of the opening of the Mersey Tunnel. According to one account Wright gained an advantage by visiting the site beforehand, and persuading the workmen to conceal his sound cables in the access road. The resulting footage appeared in ‘ROYAL VISIT TO LANCASHIRE’ in British Paramount News No.354. In December 1936 Wright was credited for a shot of a newspaper placard in ‘KING EDWARD ABDICATES’ in No.605. By 1937 Wright was assistant to Tommy Cummins [qv], editor of Paramount News, but he was occasionally credited for filming, as in ‘SLUM CLEARANCE BRINGS RUIN SAY SMALL OWNERS’ in No.697 of November 1937, and ‘CHELTENHAM STEEPLECHASE’ in No.734 of March 1938. Wright remained in this post after the outbreak of war in September 1939, and in April 1941 he was still credited as news editor of British Paramount News.
In 1942 Wright became one of Paramount’s war correspondents, having first gained Cummins’ approval - ‘although it took me some time to persuade him to let me have a crack at it.' Wright then spent some months trying to persuade the Air Ministry to let him film with the RAF, and finally in 1943 he was sent on the first USAF training course for war correspondents who wanted to film daylight bombing raids. They were trained in high-altitude flying, but Wright recalled that he was not very attentive, and ‘on one of our raids over Lorient, my oxygen mask froze up on me, due to negligence on my part...and I passed out for a couple of minutes’: ‘We were about 29,000 feet up at the time, damned cold, hands and feet frostbitten.' Wright filmed on a number of Flying Fortress raids, using an Akeley fitted with a 4-inch lens, the first being apparently a mission to Hamm with the 91st Bomb Group in March 1943. In April 1943 some of Wright’s footage appeared in British Paramount News No.1263 as ‘OVER PARIS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: Paramount cameraman flies with US bombers which raided Renault works.'
In May 1943 Wright transferred to Tunisia with the USAF, and filmed raids over Tunis. After the German withdrawal he filmed raids on Italy, and his work appeared in British Paramount News No.1277 of May 1943 as ‘ALL-OUT AIR BLITZ HAS AXIS GUESSING: Paramount War Correspondent James Wright flies with Fortresses on US raids on Sicily.' Wright noted that ‘if these raid films give some measure of satisfaction to people who have had to take it in the past, then I am more than repaid for the effort taken in getting them.' In September and October 1943 Wright’s footage of USAF attacks on French targets was featured by Paramount, and Wright himself appeared on camera in ‘INVASION REHEARSAL’ in British Paramount News No.1309. Wright afterwards returned to Italy, and in January 1944 he was working with Universal News war correspondent Eric Barrow [qv] at Anzio. Wright noted on his dopesheet that ‘for the actual landing operations on the beach there was only one place allotted for the British Pool, so Barrow and I drew for it’: ‘I lost, so Major McCreary gave me the opportunity to fly on this Special Air Support Mission... Unfortunately there was a lot of haze and the sun was in the wrong place for good photography.'
In February 1944 Paul Wyand [qv] met Wright outside Cassino, and found him ‘quite convinced that he could sneak into Cassino with a hand camera, shoot off a couple of rolls of film, and make his way out again.' Wright did in fact take film from a hill within 600 yards of the town, and supplied footage for ‘MONASTERY BOMBED (FIRST PICTURES)' in British Paramount News No.1356 of February 1944, and ‘GIANT BLITZ ON CASSINO’ in British Movietone News No.773 of March 1944. Wright was the first war correspondent to enter Cassino with the first line of troops, noting that ‘I walked in behind the tanks and secured shots of the town being systematically demolished.' However, Wright did not enjoy taking risks, and in one of his dopesheets from Cassino observed that ‘a telephoto lens would be appreciated so that I do not have to go so near to my subject and risk my neck every time I cover war material.' As he reported in March 1944, he had ‘lost my 6 inch lens (and 2 inch) during the last bombing raid I covered’: ‘I am considerably hampered in coverage of this description with only one lens (and one camera).'
In June 1944 Wright filmed the liberation of Rome for ‘GATEWAY TO VICTORY’ in British Paramount News No.1387, co-operating with Eric Barrow [qv] of Universal and Paul Wyand [qv] of Movietone to film the Pope giving thanks. Wright was the first newsreel war correspondent to be decorated, receiving the MBE. He featured with his son, James Wright [qv] in ‘PARAMOUNT WAR CORRESPONDENT JAMES WRIGHT AND HIS RAF FILM UNIT SON ARE DECORATED AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE,' in British Paramount News No.1426 of October 1944. Maurice Ford [qv], who filmed this, noted on his dopesheet that both men had made 43 operational flights - which in Jim Wright’s case had risen to 48 by the end of the war. In February 1945 it was announced that the Newsreel Association was forming a special newsreel unit to cover the fighting in Burma, headed by Wright and including six cameramen. Wright announced that ‘we have been trying to do something like this on the other fronts ever since the war began, but for various reasons, it has been impossible’: ‘We shall use maps, drawings, charts and even cartoons to support actual shots, making a sort of documentary newsreel with diagrams explaining the strategy.'
In May 1945 Wright was in Calcutta, trying to cover the fall of Rangoon using Ronnie Noble [qv] of Universal, Oscar Bovill [qv] of Pathe, Alec Tozer [qv] of Movietone, and John Turner [qv] of Gaumont. Wright afterwards returned to Paramount, where he was credited as ‘news editor’ of the British Paramount News, working under the assistant editor John Stagg [qv], and the editor, Tommy Cummins [qv]. He may still have been working for the Newsreel Association, for in September 1945 he co-ordinated the newsreel coverage of the re-occupation of Singapore, again using Turner and Noble, with the addition of Ray Phoenix [qv] of Movietone. He also took some cut-ins himself. In October 1947 Wright appeared in the comic shots at the end of ‘MOTORISTS PROTEST BASIC CUT’ in British Paramount News No.1738, jacking his car up on bricks.
In June 1948 Cummins moved to be editor of the Pathe News, and Wright was appointed as his successor at Paramount. In August 1949 Wright defended the newsreels against charges of political bias, levelled by the left-wing magazine Tribune. It contrasted ‘the unsympathetic shooting of Labour Ministers with glamorised shooting of Tories,' and complained that the British Paramount News was ‘one of the worst offenders.' Wright considered these accusations ‘disgraceful and untrue,' but early in 1950 he was involved in the filming of Winston Churchill’s election address, which had been organised by the Newsreel Association. According to Howard Thomas, Wright encouraged Churchill to work without the prompter, and ‘make his speech off the cuff,' but Churchill refused. The result appeared in British Paramount News No.1975 of February 1950. Wright dressed as Father Christmas for ‘CHRISTMAS ENDS TITLE’ in British Paramount News No.2484 of December 1954. In August 1956 Wright was still being addressed as ‘Editor and General Manager’ of British Paramount News.
In 1942 Wright became one of Paramount’s war correspondents, having first gained Cummins’ approval - ‘although it took me some time to persuade him to let me have a crack at it.' Wright then spent some months trying to persuade the Air Ministry to let him film with the RAF, and finally in 1943 he was sent on the first USAF training course for war correspondents who wanted to film daylight bombing raids. They were trained in high-altitude flying, but Wright recalled that he was not very attentive, and ‘on one of our raids over Lorient, my oxygen mask froze up on me, due to negligence on my part...and I passed out for a couple of minutes’: ‘We were about 29,000 feet up at the time, damned cold, hands and feet frostbitten.' Wright filmed on a number of Flying Fortress raids, using an Akeley fitted with a 4-inch lens, the first being apparently a mission to Hamm with the 91st Bomb Group in March 1943. In April 1943 some of Wright’s footage appeared in British Paramount News No.1263 as ‘OVER PARIS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: Paramount cameraman flies with US bombers which raided Renault works.'
In May 1943 Wright transferred to Tunisia with the USAF, and filmed raids over Tunis. After the German withdrawal he filmed raids on Italy, and his work appeared in British Paramount News No.1277 of May 1943 as ‘ALL-OUT AIR BLITZ HAS AXIS GUESSING: Paramount War Correspondent James Wright flies with Fortresses on US raids on Sicily.' Wright noted that ‘if these raid films give some measure of satisfaction to people who have had to take it in the past, then I am more than repaid for the effort taken in getting them.' In September and October 1943 Wright’s footage of USAF attacks on French targets was featured by Paramount, and Wright himself appeared on camera in ‘INVASION REHEARSAL’ in British Paramount News No.1309. Wright afterwards returned to Italy, and in January 1944 he was working with Universal News war correspondent Eric Barrow [qv] at Anzio. Wright noted on his dopesheet that ‘for the actual landing operations on the beach there was only one place allotted for the British Pool, so Barrow and I drew for it’: ‘I lost, so Major McCreary gave me the opportunity to fly on this Special Air Support Mission... Unfortunately there was a lot of haze and the sun was in the wrong place for good photography.'
In February 1944 Paul Wyand [qv] met Wright outside Cassino, and found him ‘quite convinced that he could sneak into Cassino with a hand camera, shoot off a couple of rolls of film, and make his way out again.' Wright did in fact take film from a hill within 600 yards of the town, and supplied footage for ‘MONASTERY BOMBED (FIRST PICTURES)' in British Paramount News No.1356 of February 1944, and ‘GIANT BLITZ ON CASSINO’ in British Movietone News No.773 of March 1944. Wright was the first war correspondent to enter Cassino with the first line of troops, noting that ‘I walked in behind the tanks and secured shots of the town being systematically demolished.' However, Wright did not enjoy taking risks, and in one of his dopesheets from Cassino observed that ‘a telephoto lens would be appreciated so that I do not have to go so near to my subject and risk my neck every time I cover war material.' As he reported in March 1944, he had ‘lost my 6 inch lens (and 2 inch) during the last bombing raid I covered’: ‘I am considerably hampered in coverage of this description with only one lens (and one camera).'
In June 1944 Wright filmed the liberation of Rome for ‘GATEWAY TO VICTORY’ in British Paramount News No.1387, co-operating with Eric Barrow [qv] of Universal and Paul Wyand [qv] of Movietone to film the Pope giving thanks. Wright was the first newsreel war correspondent to be decorated, receiving the MBE. He featured with his son, James Wright [qv] in ‘PARAMOUNT WAR CORRESPONDENT JAMES WRIGHT AND HIS RAF FILM UNIT SON ARE DECORATED AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE,' in British Paramount News No.1426 of October 1944. Maurice Ford [qv], who filmed this, noted on his dopesheet that both men had made 43 operational flights - which in Jim Wright’s case had risen to 48 by the end of the war. In February 1945 it was announced that the Newsreel Association was forming a special newsreel unit to cover the fighting in Burma, headed by Wright and including six cameramen. Wright announced that ‘we have been trying to do something like this on the other fronts ever since the war began, but for various reasons, it has been impossible’: ‘We shall use maps, drawings, charts and even cartoons to support actual shots, making a sort of documentary newsreel with diagrams explaining the strategy.'
In May 1945 Wright was in Calcutta, trying to cover the fall of Rangoon using Ronnie Noble [qv] of Universal, Oscar Bovill [qv] of Pathe, Alec Tozer [qv] of Movietone, and John Turner [qv] of Gaumont. Wright afterwards returned to Paramount, where he was credited as ‘news editor’ of the British Paramount News, working under the assistant editor John Stagg [qv], and the editor, Tommy Cummins [qv]. He may still have been working for the Newsreel Association, for in September 1945 he co-ordinated the newsreel coverage of the re-occupation of Singapore, again using Turner and Noble, with the addition of Ray Phoenix [qv] of Movietone. He also took some cut-ins himself. In October 1947 Wright appeared in the comic shots at the end of ‘MOTORISTS PROTEST BASIC CUT’ in British Paramount News No.1738, jacking his car up on bricks.
In June 1948 Cummins moved to be editor of the Pathe News, and Wright was appointed as his successor at Paramount. In August 1949 Wright defended the newsreels against charges of political bias, levelled by the left-wing magazine Tribune. It contrasted ‘the unsympathetic shooting of Labour Ministers with glamorised shooting of Tories,' and complained that the British Paramount News was ‘one of the worst offenders.' Wright considered these accusations ‘disgraceful and untrue,' but early in 1950 he was involved in the filming of Winston Churchill’s election address, which had been organised by the Newsreel Association. According to Howard Thomas, Wright encouraged Churchill to work without the prompter, and ‘make his speech off the cuff,' but Churchill refused. The result appeared in British Paramount News No.1975 of February 1950. Wright dressed as Father Christmas for ‘CHRISTMAS ENDS TITLE’ in British Paramount News No.2484 of December 1954. In August 1956 Wright was still being addressed as ‘Editor and General Manager’ of British Paramount News.
Sources
BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Number 1076 (E. J. H. Wright to J. B. Priestley, 5/4/1941), Number 1351 (Wright’s rota dopesheet, January 1944), Number 1356 (Jim Wright’s rota dopesheets, 15 and 17/2/1944), Number 1364 (Wright’s dopesheet, 17/3/1944), Number 1387 (Wright’s dopesheet, June 1944), Number 1426 (M. Ford dopesheet, 24/10/1944), Number 1487 (copy of letter from E. J. H. Wright, 7/5/1945), Number 2661 (D. Poloni to E. J. H. Wright, 14/8/1956): E. J. H. Wright ‘Filming with the Forts,' Cine-Technician, July-August 1943, pp.73-76: Star, 2/2/1945, ‘Plan to Film Burma Battles’: Kine Year Book 1946 (1945), p.271: T. Ramsaye (ed) ‘1947-48 International Motion Picture Almanac (New York, 1947), p.896: ‘Year Book of the Association of Cinematograph and Allied Technicians 1948/49,' p.54: Tribune, 5/8/1949, p.2, ‘Beware of the Newsreels’; 12/8/1949, ‘Beware of the Newsreels’; 19/8/1949, p.14, ‘Newsreels: More Denials’: J. C. Gemmell ‘Newsreels - Ancient and Modern,' Cine Technician, January-February 1952, p.5: R. Noble ‘Shoot First!' (London, 1955), pp.111-2: P. Wyand ‘Useless If Delayed’ (London, 1959), pp.102-4: H. Thomas ‘With an Independent Air’ (London, 1977), p.140: information from Jim Hamilton, February 1999.
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