Ariel L. Varges

Ariel Varges was an American newsreel cameraman, whose first assignment was in Mexico in 1915, filming ‘the flight of Pancho Villa’ for Hearst’s International News Pictorial. Varges filmed with a Moy and Bastie camera, and took still photographs with a Graflex. Later that year he travelled to Serbia with Sir Thomas Lipton’s Red Cross unit, and filmed with the Serbians until the allied landing at Salonika in October 1915, still working for Hearst’s International News Pictorial. Varges then became attached to the British army, and may have been responsible for supplying stories such as ‘BRITISH TROOPS AT SALONIKA’ in Topical Budget No.229-2 of January 1916, and ‘WITH THE ENGLISH AT SALONIKA’ in Gaumont Graphic No.505 of the same date. By July 1916 Varges was reportedly ‘official photographer of the British forces’ at Salonika, and was said to be taking film and photographs ‘with the consent of the Allied military authorities.' This may explain the regular appearance of newsreel items such as ‘MACEDONIAN CAMPAIGN’ in Gaumont Graphic No.566 of August 1916, and ‘RED CROSS WORK AT SALONIKA’ in Topical Budget No.264-1 of September 1916. However, in October 1916 the British government condemned the pro-German bias of Hearst’s organisation, and withdrew all co-operation.

In order to continue working with the British it was said that Varges became ‘a captain in the British army, detailed on photographic and intelligence work,' but it is more likely that from November 1916 onwards he was attached to the War Office Cinematograph Committee (WOCC), with no more than honorary rank. At this date the Topical Film Company were agents for the WOCC Salonika films, and this may explain the large number of items from this area which appear in the Topical Budget, including ‘FIGHTING DISEASE’ in No.273-1 of November 1916, and ‘FLYING IN MACEDONIA’ in No.281-1 of January 1917. In the latter month Varges travelled to Mesopotamia, again paying his own fare. He continued to supply film to the WOCC, and remained in the area until the end of the war. Much of his film from Mesopotamia seems to have ended up in the War Office Official Topical Budget, such as ‘WITH THE BRITISH IN BAGHDAD’ in No.323-2 of November 1917, and ‘OUR TROOPS IN MESOPOTAMIA’ in No.362-2 of August 1918.

Sources

Picture Palace News, 22/7/1916, p.200, ‘With the Camera in the Firing Line’: PRO, FO 395/9, file 202749/94652, F. A. Swettenham to Montgomery, 10/10/1916: T. Ramsaye A Million and One Nights, p.691: American Cinematographer, July 1938 p.275, ‘Ace Newsreeler Gives Light On How He Films News Of The World’: IWM, Stephen Badsey’s biographical index of British official cameramen, 1914-1918.