Chicago news crews seen covering the 1932 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
This post is for Lenslinger, Weaver, Dustin and everyone else stuck in Charlotte covering the DNC. From my files, Red Felbinger writes about shooting the 1932 RNC. No word though if they got their longer platforms to sleep on during speeches though….
The outfit I draws the pay check from tells me to dash out to the Chicago stadium to cover a convention…well, you know the topical flicker button pushers is supposed to git the facks themselves, so me and the noise collector steers the ole truck out to the stadium early in the mornin to fog a coupla cans on a convention.
Well, when we moves in I sees the joint is all dolled up in American flags and fancy pitchers of George Washington. Right away I knows maybe its gonna sorta be a special big affair because I sees a lot of other 666 button pushers setting up on the camera stands, and since they is busy shinin up lenses I don’t bother them to git the lowdown on jest what it’s all about and who is runnin the shindig.I ain’t been much of a hand of buttin in and askin questions, ever, anyhow…well they is a brass band playin though the only guys in the joint so far is the tripod jugglers and ushers and guys what sells stale pop and wilted hamburgers.
So I goes to work settin up the tripod and trying to level up my camera box, a stunt I aint jest exactly mastered yet…and I chews up a coupla heaters as the ole time flies…and a coupla hours later a coupla guys gits up before the mikes on a platform, but I don’t pay no attention as I figgers it’s only hombres testin out the mikes…but I sees the other 666ers grind, but I gathers they is jest testin the equipment waitin for the crowd since I don’t see no stampede for the seats.
Well, this testin business keeps up for hours, the way it seems, but I is still waitin for the people to file in so’s things will start, but they jest don’t come…and by and by the guys up at the mikes go home and the 666ers pack up for the day and I finally axes tony Caputo “What you goin home for?” and Tony comes back “Why, you lug! The first day’s session is all over!”
“What you mean?” says I…”Well, in case you don’t know it, you has taken in the openin of the Republican Convention,” cracks Charlie Geis.
Well, blow me down. here wuz I out to make the Republican shindig and I always thought they had a big crowd at them affairs and raised a lot of hell, and all I sees the first day is guys go up before a mike, do a lot of talkin and say nothin, jest like these here engineers from the radio company when they is testin. and since all the seats wuz empty I jest naturally figgered things hadn’t started…well, the next session looked more like things, however…They talked about maybe the country wuz gonna go wet agin … I wuz right on my toes then…also all the other six-six-six historians got a workout the rest of the week.
Sam Sabath and his noise collector Graham took up a position in the corner of the stand…Tony Caputo and Ralph Saunders fogged can after can…Charlie Geis kept swingin lenses in between cheese sandwiches…and in the upper tier I sees another delegation of 666 guys, Charlie David, Urban Santone, Eddie Morrison, Beeland and Buchanan.
So you know 666 had quite a few red hot delegates there…well, them Republicans sure wore down our delegation the night they has their wet session…paradin around with beer pales and the likes.
Then a big mess of halfhour speeches by some birds which wuz wet and more speeches by guys what claimed to be dry and about 1 a.m. they finally gits together and their drys won the match…well, I got up and cheered right quick like, not because I is dry, but I had been standin up on that hot platform for hours, and I wuz dyin to git down to my favorite spot for a coupla cool ones, and even if the country is goin dry agin I guess we ain’t gonna have much trouble findin the cool ones anyways.
Well, the convention lasted three days, but when the Republicans got tired of talkin they finally gives up and goes, but my 666 pals wuz still there and we still had plenty cans raw stock left, so we won over the Republicans. Most of the boys now agree on our platform which is “longer platforms for the newsreels at political conventions so’s we kin put cots on em beside our equipment so we kin rest on the long winded speeches.”