News on Screen

Ken Gordon’s mother was a musical comedy star, and he learned about stage lighting at an early age. In 1904 Gordon was employed on lighting by Films Limited at their show at Hengler’s Circus in London, and he was soon working as a projectionist both there and at the Earls Court Exhibition. Gordon wanted to become a civil engineer, and studied electrical engineering whilst working as a still photographer with Bolak’s Press Agency. He afterwards became a press photographer on the Daily Mirror, and in 1908 covered the stadium events at the London Olympic Games. After a number of provincial jobs Gordon returned to London in 1911 to work in the laboratories at Gaumont, making the transition from press photography to newsreel work. He was the replacement for Brooks-Carrington [qv], and his first major assignment as cameraman was at the Coronation of George V in June 1911. In the following month he was one of the crew of Gaumont’s mobile laboratory at the investiture of the Prince of Wales in Caernarvon.

Gaumont then sent him to Paris ‘to collect cameras and dark room equipment for filming and processing on the spot,' in order to cover the Coronation Durbar in Delhi in December 1911. Gordon not only took film of the Durbar, but also helped to develop and edited it, before printing 150 copies for immediate distribution in India and Australia. On his return in 1912 Gaumont sent him to their Newcastle branch, where a darkroom had been fitted up by Sowerbutts [qv]. In Newcastle Gordon not only equipped cinemas but also took locals and newsfilm for the Gaumont Graphic. Gordon then left Gaumont to cover the Balkan War from the Turkish side, taking stills for London News Agency Photos and film for Jury’s Imperial Pictures. He was probably succeeded in Newcastle by Inglethorpe [qv]. Gordon afterwards worked for a number of small film companies until the outbreak of war in 1914, when, as a member of the Territorial Army, he was called up into the 25th Cyclist Battalion.

Gordon was sent to France and was later wounded, recalling that ‘on leaving hospital and joining the R.A.S.C.[Royal Army Service Corps], I was instrumental in putting forward the scheme for making Army Training Films.' This was not adopted [see entry for Bloomfield], but in June 1917 Gordon was ‘lent by the War Office’ to be official cameraman on the Royal tour of the north-east, employed by Gaumont and using Gaumont’s Newcastle branch as a base for developing and editing the films. Gordon’s footage was probably that used in ‘THE KING VISITS TYNESIDE’ in the War Office Official Topical Budget No.304-1, and ‘THE ROYAL TOUR’ in No.304-2, both from June 1917. Gordon probably did other work for the War Office Official Topical Budget, recalling that he was employed by the Ministry of Information and that ‘I did a few jobs for them during my various leaves.' However, he was not given a permanent post as cameraman, and returned to France when he was fully fit.

Gordon was demobilised in 1918 and seems to have rejoined the Ministry of Information, working for the Pictorial News (Official) before it was privatised. His first credited work is for Topical Budget No.395-2 of March 1919, but his subsequent appointment as ‘official photographer to the North Russian Relief Force’ provided extensive newsreel footage, from his item ‘WITH OUR RUSSIAN RELIEF FORCES’ in No.409-2 of June 1919 to ‘CLEARING UP IN RUSSIA’ in No.425-2 of October 1919. His last regular item for Topical Budget appeared in No.446-2 of April 1920, after which he seems to have worked for Master Films, and on the ‘Film Pie’ series for the Neville Bruce Film Service, which was directed by Neville Bruce and Malins [qv]. Gordon provided further items for the Topical Budget in November and December 1920, but he was then recruited to film in Ireland for the Pathe Gazette, presumably working with Gemmell [qv] on items such as ‘REPRISALS BY ORDER’ in No.735 of January 1921.

Gordon remained with Pathe for many years, taking film not only for the Pathe Gazette, but also for the Pathe Pictorial, and for Eve’s Film Review. In December 1922 the principal cameramen on the Pathé Pictorial and Eve’s Film Review were named as Gordon, Arthur Fisher [qv], and D. Tampieri [qv], and they were said to be expert with all types of camera, including high-speed and microscopic. Early newsreel credits are not available, but Gordon was in the camera team for ‘THE GRAND NATIONAL’ in Pathe Gazette No.1384 of March 1927, and covered all the major sporting events in that year. He also became a cameraman for the Pathetone Weekly after it started production in 1930. In October 1941 Gordon was one of the cameramen who supplied film for ‘ARMY EXERCISE IN BRITAIN’ in Pathe Gazette No.41/82, working alongside Frank Bassill [qv], and in September 1942 he and Bassill also filmed London’s new deep air-raid shelters, although the film was not released.

In 1944 Gordon covered the invasion of Normandy, providing material such as shots of Churchill in France for ‘THE BATTLE OF THE RIVERS’ in Pathe Gazette No.44/60 of July 1944. In 1944 Gordon also covered the liberation of Paris, and was instumental in organising the Association of Cine Technicians (ACT), in conjunction with George Elvin. In September 1944 the ACT reached an agreement with the Newsreel Association over staff wages and the employment of ‘learners,' for which Elvin and Gordon received the credit. In May 1945 Gordon filmed the German surrender on Luneberg Heath, for ‘VICTORY IN EUROPE’ in Pathe Gazette No.45/39, and the first demobilisation of British troops in Belgium, for ‘DEMOB’ in No.45/52. After the war he spent six months in Germany, filming both the occupation and the war crimes trials - including the Belsen trial in September 1945, where he worked alongside Ian Struthers [qv] of Paramount. Gordon’s first film of this was released as ‘THE BELSEN TRIAL’ in Pathe Gazette 45/78 of the same month. Gordon’s return to Britain was featured as ‘WELCOME HOME KEN’ in Pathe Gazette issue number 45/100 of 13 December 1945.

A large man with a quick temper, Gordon was Pathe shop steward for the ACT, and resisted the postwar recruitment of new blood which was organised by Howard Thomas. This was in keeping with the ACT’s policy on ‘learners,' but Thomas had a different interpretation, recalling that ‘Ken Gordon typified the worthy employee who has failed to reach executive level in his own company and then seeks power by organising the staff.' However, even Thomas recognised Gordon’s skill as a news cameraman, and in 1947 he was sent to film in Palestine, being featured in ‘THE WORLD AS I SAW IT’ in Pathe News 47/79 in October 1947. Gordon was apparently in the camera team which filmed ‘THE LAST JOURNEY’ - the funeral of George VI - for Pathe News No.52-15 in February 1952, and he also provided film for ‘THE CORONATION OF H.M. QUEEN ELIZABETH’ in Pathe News No.53-41 in June 1953. Gordon officially retired in 1955, but was still filming for Pathe News in 1965.

Sources

Kinematograph Weekly, 21/6/1917, supplement p.li, ‘Newcastle Notes’; 28/6/1917, p.100, ‘Hull and Coastal Notes’: Cinema, 28/6/1917, supplement p.xlii, ‘Round and About Newcastle’: Kine Year Book 1921, p.591, ‘Kenneth R. L. Gordon’: Film Renter (Technical Supplement), 2/12/1922, pp.67-8, ‘The Cameraman and His Work: Real Interest Reels’: Cine Technician, December 1936-January 1937, p.112; June-July 1940, p.58; September-October 1941, pp.112-17; November-December 1945, p.115; July-August 1947, p.123; November-December 1948, p.194; January-February 1952, pp.2-5: BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Issue Number 1108 (Gordon’s rota dopesheet, October 1941), Number 1397 (rota dopesheet, 10/11 September 1942), Number 1399 (rota dopesheet, 22/7/1944), Number 1495 (rota dopesheet, 18/6/1945), Number 1521 (rota dopesheets, 17/18 September 1945): Motion Picture Herald, 2/9/1944, p.30, ‘British Newsreels Sign Basic Labor Agreement’: Film and Television Technician, October 1969, p.17: K. Gordon ‘Forty Years with a Newsreel Camera,' Cine Technician, March-April 1951, pp.45-50: Kevin Brownlow’s interview with Bertram Brooks-Carrington, 20/10/1972, transcript p.21: H. Thomas ‘With an Independent Air’ (London, 1977), p.135: NFTVA, Luke McKernan’s biographical index of Topical Budget staff: Information from Peter Hampton, March 1999.