Norton Gardner

In October 1918 Norton Gardner was noted as a well-known cameraman for Pathe, and in November 1918 he was one of four newsreel cameramen who covered the surrender of the German Fleet, filming from HMS King George V. By August 1922 he was also doing work for Topical Budget No.575-1, and he continued to work for them until at least November 1925, when he was one of the team covering Queen Alexandra’s funeral for Topical Budget No.744-2. Stories that he filmed for the Daily Sketch Topical Budget include ''PLEASE TO REMEMBER THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER’ - BUT BRIDGEWATER CELEBRATES’ in Daily Sketch Topical Budget No.584-2 of November 1922, and ‘ROBIN HOOD COMES TO LIFE AT NOTTINGHAM’ in Daily Sketch Topical Budget No.604-1 of March 1923. After the launch of British Movietone News in 1929 Gardner did freelance work for that newsreel, but he apparently did not find regular employment on the newsreels. When Jimmy Gemmell [qv] later recalled his newsreel colleagues he admitted that ‘there were one or two bad ones: a bloke named Gardner - he couldn’t take pictures to save his life.' However Patrick Wyand [qv], who joined Movietone in 1934, recalled Gardner as ‘a still man who did a considerable amount of freelance work mainly for Movietone as a cameraman.'

Sources

Kinematograph Weekly, 24/10/1918, p.68, ‘With the Camera-Men’; 28/11/1918, p.66, ‘Trade and General News’: Kevin Brownlow’s interview with Jimmy Gemmell, 25/10/1972: J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels: Vol.II’ (1988), p.35: NoS Number 128751; Daily Sketch Topical Budget Number 584-2; Date released 6/11/1922: NoS Number 128944; Daily Sketch Topical Budget Number 604-1; Date released 22/3/1923.