News on Screen

Jack Cotter began his film career in about 1909 as the projectionist at the Palace, Woolwich. After the outbreak of war in 1914 he joined up and served in the balloon section of the Royal Flying Corps. After demobilisation Cotter was interviewed for a job on the Topical Budget, and in November 1919 his film of ‘SOME OF THE PRIZE WINNERS AT THE NORWICH FAT STOCK SHOW’ appeared in No.430-2. This was followed by several other stories, but this material stopped appearing in January 1920, and according to a later account he did not get the job. Cotter seems to have joined the staff of the Pathe Gazette in 1920, and was certainly there in April 1922, when he helped to pirate the Cup Final from Topical Budget, working alongside Bassill [qv], Scales [qv], and Leslie Wyand [qv]. The material was released as the ‘CUP FINAL’ item in Pathe Gazette No.872 of May 1922. In the following year Cotter also helped to pirate the first Wembley Cup Final from Topical, dressing as a West Ham fan and disguising his camera as a giant hammer. His footage was used for ‘WEMBLEY CUP FINAL’ in Pathe Gazette No.977 of May 1923.

However Cotter’s first credit on the issue sheets is for filming the ‘DUBLIN HORSE SHOW’ in Pathe Gazette G1214 of August 1925. In preparing to film the eclipse of the sun in June 1927 for the Pathe Gazette, using a 21’ lens, Cotter set fire to his camera. He continued to film regularly for Pathe until ‘THRILL FOR RAF PAGEANT,' in Pathe Gazette No.1614 of June 1929, after which he joined Movietone as cameraman. His first recorded work for the company is ‘ROYAL AIR FORCE KEEPS ITS VIGIL IN THE CLOUDS’ for British Movietone News No.96 of April 1931. Cotter was Movietone’s pilot, but in January 1932 he ‘crashed in a garden in Poole while bringing home pictures of the Dartmoor prison riots,' which appeared as ‘DARTMOOR IN THE GRIP OF EMERGENCY DECREES’ in British Movietone News No.138A. By February 1932 Cotter was the company’s chief cameraman, and took delivery of the first of Movietone’s new sound trucks. Cotter featured in British Movietone News No.223, of September 1933, demonstrating his camera for the Duke of Gloucester. Cotter was also described as Movietone’s ‘aerial specialist,' and he filmed Cairo from the air for ‘A RARE ASPECT OF THE WONDERS OF EGYPT’ in British Movietone News No.298A of February 1935.

As chief cameraman Cotter organised the pirating of both the 1935 and 1936 Cup Finals, the rights to which had gone to rival companies. Cotter reportedly claimed that ‘pinching is the life-blood of the newsreel business,' and his schemes were very elaborate, the pirating of the Cup Final in April 1936 involving both aeroplanes and autogyros, the latter being featured in ‘THE F.A. CUP FINAL 1936’ in British Movietone News No.360. Cotter seems to have combined the job of chief cameraman with that of production manager, and when Jack Ramsden [qv] was brought in as Movietone’s production manager in February 1938, the ‘Cine-Technician’ observed that ‘his appointment leaves Jack Cotter free to use his camera to cover unusual stories in his own inimitable way.' Cotter continued to be featured both behind and in front of the camera, and son afterwards was sent to Palestine to film a series of featured reports, beginning with ‘IN PALESTINE TODAY’ in British Movietone News No.494 of November 1938. Ronnie Noble [qv], who joined Universal in 1939, remembered Cotter as ‘a man of outstanding physical appearance’: ‘Short, very thick-set, red, red face, with a bald head. You’d pick him out of a million.'

On the outbreak of war in September 1939 Cotter became a war cameraman, being featured as ‘MOVIETONE’S WAR CORRESPONDENT’ in British Movietone News 540A of October 1939. Cotter’s first report was ‘WITH THE B.E.F. IN FRANCE’ in No.542 in the same month. Cotter was subsequently replaced as Movietone cameraman at BEF HQ by Norman Fisher [qv], but he remained in France until 1940. Cotter was essentially a home front cameraman, and he filmed the Blitz for Movietone, one of his surviving credits being for ‘AA DEFENCE AIDED BY ATS’ in British Movietone News No.597 of November 1940 - a story with Martin Gray [qv] as soundman. In March 1941 Cotter and Gray also filmed ‘C-IN-C HOME FORCES SEE ARMY MANOEUVRES’ for No.614. In 1942 he travelled to Gibraltar to film ‘NEWS FROM GIB’ in British Movietone News No.678 of June 1942, before joining the convoy route to Malta for a series of reports which began with ‘HAZARDS OF CONVOY’ in No.683A of July 1942. In 1943 and 1944 Cotter continued to cover home front stories for Movietone, and appeared in front of the camera interviewing British soldiers in ‘HOME FROM CAPTIVITY’ in No.783 of June 1944. In the same month he was one of the correspondents who covered the D-Day landings, filming from a USAAF air ambulance and providing material for ‘LIBERATING ARMIES INVADE NORMANDY’ and ‘CONSOLIDATING IN NORMANDY’ in Nos.784 and 785.

Cotter returned to London to cover general war stories, but in November 1944 was sent to Paris to film the Prime Minister’s visit for ‘VIVE CHURCHILL!' in No.806A. He then returned to London to film general interest stories, until in May 1945 he travelled to Denmark to film Field Marshal Montgomery for ‘LIBERATION COPENHAGEN’ in No.833. At the beginning of August 1945 Cotter was in Germany, filming ‘ATTLEE AND BEVIN IN POTSDAM’ for British Movietone News No.844, but by the end of the month he was back in London, filming the Thanksgiving Service for ‘THE NATION GIVES THANKS’ in No.846A, and the new Labour Government for ‘HISTORY REPEATED AT NO.10’ in No.847A. Cotter afterwards became production manager at Movietone, holding this position until Jack Ramsden [qv] took over in 1948. Cotter remained with the company until 1950, when he retired to run a pub. Cotter was Terry Cotter’s [qv] uncle, and John Cotter’s [qv] father.

Sources

Kine Year Book 1935, p.331: Bioscope, 17/2/1932, p.10, ‘Luxury Recording Unit: Movietone’s New Sound Saloon’: B. Grant ‘To the Four Corners: The Memoirs of a News Photographer’ (1933), pp.189-90: J. Cotter ‘My Life of Reel Thrills,' [Newcastle] Sunday Sun, 20/1/1935, p.8: Cine-Technician,' March-April 1938, p.220, ‘Newsreel’; May-June 1951, p.81: BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Issues Number 1012, Number 1046, Number 1431: P. Wyand ‘Useless if Delayed’ (London, 1959), pp.42, 61-3: P. Norman ‘The Newsreel Boys,' Sunday Times Magazine, 10/1/1971, p.13: J. Ballantyne Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels Vol.III (1993), pp.27, 75: NFTVA, Luke McKernan’s biographical index of Topical Budget staff.