Ben Vettrano was a Pathe cameraman whose first credit is for ‘PLANE CRASH’ in Super Sound Gazette No.35/63 of August 1935. He covered domestic stories, including ‘KING GEORGE’S LAST JOURNEY TO HIS CAPITAL’ in No.36/7, and ‘THE FUNERAL OF HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V’ in No.36/9, both of January 1936. In August 1936 Vettrano was apparently in Berlin, being credited alongside UFA for ‘OLYMPIC GAMES IN BERLIN’ in No.36/65. His first solo credit was for ‘SOHO - TERRIBLE BLAZE’ in No.36/18 of March 1936, and Vettrano became something of an expert in covering fires, filming another nine such stories during the year - including ‘GREAT FIRE AT CRYSTAL PALACE’ in No.36/97 of December 1936. In May 1937 Vettrano was in the camera team for ‘THE CORONATION OF THEIR MAJESTIES KING GEORGE VI AND QUEEN ELIZABETH’ in No.37/38. Vettrano’s last surviving prewar credit is for ‘LONDON COACHING MEET’ in Pathe Super Sound Gazette No.38/44 of June 1938, but he also worked for Pathe after the war.
In April 1945 Vettrano was in the Pathe camera team with Jock Gemmell [qv], Frank Bassill [qv], George Stevens [qv], and Gene Werner [qv], which filmed the enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury for ‘1945 PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY’ in Pathe Gazette No.45/34. In May 1945 Vettrano was also part of the camera team that filmed the Victory Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul’s, for inclusion in the ‘FRUITS OF VICTORY’ feature in Pathe Gazette No.45/40. The Pathe archive also has film which Vettrano shot in 1945 of holiday queues, and of an anti-queue petition, which were not used in the reel. There is also film from July 1953 of Vettrano at work in the newsroom at the Pathe News.
Sources
BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Number 1477 (Pathe rota dopesheets 19/4/1945).