News on Screen

Alf Le Verne was a cameraman with Green’s Film Service of Glasgow, and worked on the regional newsreel, Scottish Moving Picture News, from its launch in 1917. According to a colleague, Le Verne was the first newsreel cameraman to cover a rugby international at Murrayfield. ‘The Directors of Murrayfield and the Rugby Union would not allow movie cameramen into Murrayfield. Alf Verne went through with a big pal. Alf was dressed as a woman in the very advanced stages of pregnancy. They got through the turnstile, and in the safety of the crowd, Alf was relieved of his camera. From the crowd he took pictures of the first rugby match, and Green’s supplied their sections to Pathe. They had an arrangement with Pathe and sold these excerpts to them...Alf Verne was the only cameraman to take film of the first Kelvin Hall when it was burnt to the ground. Alf was actually inside the building and was practically hosed out by the firemen before the roof fell in!...He was also the first cameraman to film the visit of the Fleet to the Forth. He dodged all the security guards and actually went out on the Forth Bridge, strapped himself to one of the girders and took the Fleet coming. This would be in about 1915.' Le Verne continued working for Green’s until about 1922.

Sources

Interview in the Scottish Screen Archive, recorded c. 1980 with David Gouk, a former film operator.