News on Screen

Eddie Edmonds apparently joined Gaumont before 1914, having previously worked for ‘a firm of Bishopsgate candlemakers.' He may have worked as a cameraman on the Gaumont Graphic, and was reported as continuing to take film after the outbreak of war. In 1918 he returned to Gaumont as a cameraman, and was still working for them in 1940, when he filmed the London blitz for the Gaumont British News. In August 1940 Edmonds and H.J. Morley [qv] acted as rota cameramen for ‘THE KING VISITS CANADIAN AND POLISH AIRMEN IN BRITAIN’ in Gaumont British News No.703 of September 1940. In February 1940 Edmonds filmed the launch of a new battleship, but the film was not released until December 1940, and only appeared as ‘THE QUEEN LAUNCHES THE HMS DUKE OF YORK’ in No.731 of January 1941. In March 1941 Edmonds went as a war correspondent with the Commandos to film ‘BRITISH RAID ON THE LOFOTEN ISLANDS’ for Gaumont British News No.750. According to a later account ‘he was said to have dictated the choice of landing-points according to what suited the camera.'

In August 1941 Edmonds and Gaumont sound engineer Adam Prentice [qv] went to Iceland on board a battleship to film ‘MR CHURCHILL RETURNS FROM MEETING MR ROOSEVELT’ for Gaumont British News No.797. Ronnie Read [qv] of Paramount later recalled the 6’ gun practice on board ship, noting that ‘Edmonds...was up on the signal deck while they were firing and got a pretty good shaking up.' Ray Densham [qv], who joined Gaumont British in 1942, described Edmonds as ‘one of the nicest and most amazing old fellows I have ever known - did a parachute jump at well over 60, and never moaned or complained about anything.' In July 1944 Edmonds and Gaumont sound engineer Harry Abbott [qv] filmed ‘PRESENTATION OF SOVIET AWARDS’ in London for Gaumont British News No.1104 of August 1944. In June 1945 Edmonds again worked with Abbott on the demobilisation sequence of ‘HOUSING FOR BRITAIN’ in Gaumont British News No.1198. Later that month, when Gaumont filmed Churchill’s election tour for ‘PRELUDE TO THE ELECTION’ in Gaumont British News No.1199, the camera team consisted of Edmonds and sound engineer Paul Alley [qv] shooting sound, and Sid Bonnett [qv] shooting silent cut ins.

After the war Edmonds continued to work for Gaumont British News, and in October 1945 he filmed ‘PREPARATIONS FOR THE SPEED RECORD BID’ with sound engineer Bill Hooker [qv], for Gaumont British News No.1233. In March 1947 Edmonds also worked in the team which provided ‘ENGLAND V SCOTLAND RUGBY’ for Gaumont British News No.1378, and in July 1947 he filmed ‘AAA MEETING AT THE WHITE CITY’ for No.1414. In 1950 Edmonds was described as ‘the most widely experienced man in the newsreel business.' He worked as a cameraman for the Gaumont British News until its closure in January 1959, when he seems to have become freelance, supplying a number of stories to British Movietone News. His first surviving Movietone credit is from March 1960 as cameraman for the Welsh local ‘WALES v FRANCE’ added to No.1608A. Terry Gallacher [qv], who became Movietone’s assignments manager in March 1961, recalled of Edmonds that ‘I assigned him to the opening of the Runcorn/Widnes Bridge in July 1961, at which time I understood that he was seventy-two years of age.' The result was ‘LARGEST IN EUROPE’ in British Movietone News No.1677A, where Edmonds worked with Notman [qv]. Edmonds was the doyen of newsreel cameramen, and it was reported that ‘once he broke his back and continued to work for a week before he realised it had happened!' His last credit is for ‘THE DERBY,' in British Movietone News No.1878A of June 1965. He was still alive in 1971.

Sources

BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Number 1015 (rota shotlist, 15/8/1940), Number 1495 (Edmonds and Abbott rota dopesheet, 19/6/1945), Number 1094 (text of Ronnie Read’s speech to camera, and rota shotlist, 16/8/1941), Number 1028 (R. L. Jay’s shotlist, 28/2/1940), Number 1401 (Edmonds and Abbott rota dopesheet, July 1944), Number 1496 (rota dopesheets, 25/6/1945), Number 1530 (Edmonds and Hooker dopesheet, 22/10/1945), Number 1675 (Edmonds’ rota dopesheet, 15/3/1947), Number 1711 ('Edmunds’ [sic] rota dopesheet, 19/7/1947): M. A. A. Sinkins ‘A Salute to the Newsreel Cameramen,' Kinematograph Weekly, 14/1/1943, p.43: Cine Technician, November-December 1945, p.114: Cinema, 20/9/1950, p.15, ‘Newsreel Camera Aces’: P. Norman ‘The Newsreel Boys,' Sunday Times Magazine, 10/1/1971, p.11: J. Ballantyne ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels Vol.III’ (1993), pp.73-4.